The farmer and mechanic. [volume], December 15, 1914, Page 3, Image 3

About The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??

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THE FARMER J
WTO FRITS FOR
AMERICAN STOMACHS i
MECHANIC.
How the Panama Canal Will Make Chile Our Wint-r
Fruit Garden
IVm-lios, Hub ami Cherri, t()r
to a IYuit Plantation That Has 1-1
?000i 1JSete Tw,s TJanu:
of Apple Trees and 45,000 Pea,",
Trends in Hearing It Has iwVi,
Miles of Railroads and It Pac ls and
Cans Uy Kleetrloitv How the
Fruits will Coroo to Xevv York
Talk IWtl. the Fruit King of Chile,
Or the Luther Burhank of South
America Somctlilng About Ills Iis
ewerics and Creations of NeW
Plants and Tns.
Copyrighted, 1914 by Frank ,
?enter.)
Santiago, Chile.
How would you like to have luscious
peaches at Christmas, ripe plums,
pears and cherries in then eart of
midwinter, and gTeat white muskmel
ons when the ground is covered with
snow? This is what you may expect
from Chile now that the Panama
Canal is completed and the war de
mand for American goods is turning
our shipping that way. The vessels
carrying our wares to Pacific South
America will furnish cheap return
freights, and the prospect is that in
the near future many of them will
come loaded with friut. The seasons
n this side of the equator are the
opposite of ours. The fruit begins
to ripen here late in our fall, and the
Chileans have plums, peaches and
pears ready for the market in the
midst of our winter.
From now on Valparaiso will bo
with two weeks tNew York, and
the canal has placed a South Amer
ican California, with its summer pro
ducts, almost at our doors. The pros
pect of a great exportation of Chilean
fruits to the United States is agitating
the farmers. The government is in
vestigating the subject, and schools for
teaching fruit growing and the pack
ing and exportation of fruits are be
ing established. Chile has long been
the chief fruit-growing country of the
lower half of our hemisphere. It al
ready has orchards of hundreds of
acres and its vineyards are yielding
about 50,000,000 gallons of wine every
ear. There is no land upon earth that
has better fruit possibilities and its
products arc now to be dropped upon
Uncle Bain's tables-
",,l ;.,;.. and i
;l :;f" "Him i hv. tmm-
- he .',,.-
, ' l" 'T"- lT' vt under :
fruit .tf.d m barn : , .,t, tr
,h- tre.-. I rs S..A..J.f Jv,v vti..,tli
T:pi-- on h: h'f-iMi.v Te
,t r a i! ' ; v . "h;
them .if- v
y 1..--
- a ! . : Cu!
j'lcV.t',, -'
iirn 1 . rt.-. .1 ..
I Jau-s. A farth.-r ..t. , '
i ?5 piu.,- lr..... fh:u ; . ;
1 r ar' , -t'P r. . , ' ' " ;
. i-s. ai..i s !i-,, f.lli,,i! ii i.it- !
Tn order to give you some idea of
what this great industry may do for
the United States, I have spent a day
with Don Salvador Izquierdo S. in go
ing over his fruit and nursery planta
tions, situated near the town of Nos
and about twelve miles from Santiago.
Don Salvador is the fruit king of
Chile, and I might almost call him
the Luther I?urbank of our sister con
tinent. He has an increased hacienda
of about 1,400 acres, covered with gar
dens and orchards, and plantations
for the raising of flowers, plants and
trees of almost every variety. He has
.now more than 13,000,000 individual
plants in the estate and he ships
plants by the tens of thousands to all
,iarLs of Chile, and also across the
Andes to Argentina, Uruguay and
-Mrazll. He is not only a grower of
nursery stock, but is likewise a scien
tific breeder of new varieties. Alto
gether he has introduced into Chile
more than 4,800 new varieties of
Jruits and plants, and ho has himself
originated by cross breeding hundreds
of valuable trees and flowers. Some
ff his experiments have been along
the line of creating trees not subject
lo certain blights and pests. He has
already created fourteen new varieties
of apples not affected by the insect
Known as the schizonera lanifera, that
'.in now destroying our apples of many
parts of the world. The new varieties
are grafted onto the stalks of ordin
ary trees. The insect crawls up the
Htalk, but it stops where the grafts
begin, and the trees and their fruit
re found to be safe.
Among the other experiments of
tfenor Izquierdo S. is the elongating
the roots of the eucalyptus and other
trees so that they can be grown upon
the dry lands of the tops of the moun
tains. This is done by sprouting them
in pots, where the young trees are
fed with nitrate of soda and treated
in such a way that their roots are
about four times the usual size. Be
ing planted, these long roots go far
down into the soil and tap the under
ground layers of water, and are ther
ore able to resist the drouth. It was
in recognition of this discovery that
the Jtoyal Agricultural Society or
London has just unanimously elected
I-on Salvador Izquierdo S. a member
01 that body.
V: it 1 cannot give you a better idea
of th possibilities of fruit raising in
Chile than by takingyou with Don
Salvador over his great fruit estate.
We start at the station in Santiago
and within an hour have ridden out
to the little station of Nos. Our wa
i-s through th,c ,
and we n vaI1"y "f ''hil--
oth sidei nf k " aml vineyard
private fifn trftm ami take the
pnvaie car lm owned i,v 1,. o V
dor for the haeiend-! JVJ- V 1
tance of ,ive m tvv ''
pulled by a horV, T ? 1A'1'' Car Kv
and within a shor, i ar'' razin
Salvador-- time an' 0,1
atVvUlors property. The et-ue i
surrounded by magnificent r -
It hes on a plain at th- foot of the
8.loplnK l cithern
enough to give the fall required for
by a branch of the Mapoeho river n
rushing stream so lar and sUflThat
of L i ;m,es the 1,000 acres
of plants, but also furnishes the elec
tric current that rims all the ma-
turLh tbr f th canals' turns
w ne that fflve estate 120
horsepower. This plant lights hi
saw "mm hun. runs
fl t and thr'rs and moves
the machines of a large fruit pack-in
,lu canning establishment
in W :i tiirashim?
DHmlneTrVVhi0h is this
P., Was iml'ortea from Ameri-
i' n; "s noise carries us back to
I at homf- Th" ain is com-
,11? J Vn Uxe lold, in enormous
ox-tarts, and it is fed direCt!v from
the carts to the thrasher. As the
barley pours forth it is ,-aught in
buckets made of skin holding a bushel
or more and carried by iuen t. a
great pile on the ground.
We next walk to the sawmill near
by, where the men are making lum
ber out of some of the trees that Don
alvauor has planted within the past
twenty years. The soil and climate
here are such that trees will grow
twice as fast as in our emmtrv Ti,r,r
are eucalyptus a hundred feet high
mat are not over fifteen years of age,
and palms as big around as a hogs
head that have been planted within
the past generation. The big trees on
this estate are numbered by the hun
dreds of thousands, and thev have all
been planted since 1884, which was
the time when Don Solvador began to
turn his ancestor's grain and dairv
farm into a nursey. Some of theae
trees are raised solely for wood, and
there are little forests of encalvptus
containing thousands of individual
trees that are being grown for this
purpose. Some of these trees axe only
a year or so old, while others are
from 75 to 100 feet hfeh.
Around the large fields making up
the plantation are rows of Dombardv
populars 100 feet high. These are the
fences of the estate, and they make
walls of green of wonderful beauty.
They often follow the irrigation ditch
es, making a double row of these trees,
walling the orchard or pastures within.
The rows of populars are often 150
feet high, and that although they are
only sixteen years old. The custom
of using them for fences and to mark
out the boundary lines is common
throughout the central valley of Chile.
This adds greatly to the beauty of
the country. It changes the face of
the landscape and makes it look great
ly like the farming regions of Frcnce.
It is safe to say that the country has
tens of millions of these beautiful
trees.
This great estate is divided by such
trees into sections. Some are devoted
to grain, some to vegetables and fruit
growing and others to the raising of
plants, flowers and trees like our lar
ger nurseries at home. Going onward,
we are soon in the nursery part of the
estate. We pass rapidly from one
great tree-walled enclosure to another,
riding on the railway. There are so
many separate plantations, and the
varieties are so different, that I can
not describe them. Don Salvador
tells me that altogether lie has SO, 000
different species of trees on the farm.
He sells a half million eucalyptus trees
every year, and receives single orders
for as many as 40,000 tret at one
time. He has one plantation of citrous
trees in their various stages of culti
vation, and here you may. see oranges,
lemons and grapefruit of every vanety
Ie has long lines of poplars from
stock that came from South Carolina,
and in one of the nurseries there are
20.000 acacias. In another section we
find L'eO.OOO peach trees ready for
sale, and as we pass this we come into
acres of apple trees, ranging . n size
from mere sprous to .almost as high
as our heads. There are loO.OOO apple
trees in this field, and they are twice
as tall and as thrifty as trees of the
same age in our Ame riean nurwriM.
I had a snapshot made of Don Saba
dor and myself as we stood in the nur
sery -to show. the height of the trees.
Our next visit is to a plot contam-
'..';:; a
Tailing .. , ir v-. rui.
Part ,,i tIi- -Mahhshn. en'.
i.iore thai 1 tw.-U- msi
Variety t,
1 l. vf r .
f r.iiir.i.n! tii. :
- 'in go ra.div iron
v. :ti r.. It..
par' ..f , ii.
n f".n.- .d-' r r... n.:.,p,.
cf!'!' ... u u , '-.i.-r ft :u tu ir-l--n
"f x he Cnil-d ;ut f ; :,- d:
iiW'f it,diijtriv t-.r fe..f . l. ?..
t
as
in
iort
,'!a.-. t.. auoti er. Tin- H..A-r.- are
hey ar- of :;iir;uM f-ry,
th- tefJUert- t r-. .....!
2"T:fS. Tio-re :UV great ht.th..as-s .vn-l
taimng thousand. of .-rcliids. and in!
one S-etL.,1 ar,. 2U.0..M. rose t!e.- in- !
rludim more than !.-... vri. tes I
i nere :u- al.-.. vast beds of .,tuses ani J
water iihes, and near them a r- gr.vev j
of persiniTTi..r.s. which !.,ii :,l:id..r is
Oil "MU.-n.g iflto Chile. He 1
varieties of this; fruit hr.ehi
Japan, Korea and China, i.d h ex-
P" ts to make the Asiatie peisirunion
as popular in Chile a it is now in the
States.
Don Salvador is also . xpnnK-nth.g
in creating dwarf varieties of plants
and trees. He showed me a peach
tree as high as my km- th.. had ripe
lruit on it. and a fig tree in bearing
that was of the same size. lie is mak
ing the famous dwarf pines of Japan,
and has some which are now a foot
high and will remain so for years.
He is importing fruits and tree?
from everywhere, and that at reat
cost. As T walked through the plan
tation he showed nie forty new varie
ties of vines that had just been un
packed. They came from Kurope and
were in excellent condition. lint thi?
was not so of some other bowers, an
order costing $1.mi.o having all died
on the way.
During m stay 1 isited the pack
ing establishments where fruit and
vegetables are put up I might almost
s-iy by the ton. The hacienda has
great cement v arehouses eqnioped
with the most modern machinery lor
drying, preserving and canning. It
has great buildings tilled with tin
plates made by the steel trust of the
United States and brought here for
the purpose. The cans are made in
the factory by machines run by
electricity and managed by Chileno
men. women and children. The
peaches are peeled by a machine
dots the work of lf" women,
all of the f'-uit and egetables
lOokeo. by .-reani in the cans. Th
tory can make in, (too cans in a
and it ships its product away by tie
carload. In connection with the canning. I
want to tell you about the vegetables
and the fruit in the helds. I visited
one section where ninety acres of
vegetables were ready for the fac
tory. There were great sections of
ripe, red tomatoes, long rows of
green beans and an enormous quanti
ty of sweet corn. From there I went
to the peach orchard, which now have
4a,000 trees loaded with ripe fruit.
The trees are seven years old, and
some of the peaches are as big as my
fist, and of an exquisite flavor. Many
of the varieties have been created by
Don Salvador, and in some of these
he has succeeded in reducing the size
of the stones to half that of the com
mon peach of our country.
The orchards 1 say have now about
100 pounds of fruit to the tree, and at
this average Don Salvador estimates
that he has 4,500,000 pounds of fruP.
or at least 2,200 wagon loads. All of
this is ripe and ready for canning.
At five peaches to the pound he has
22,500,000 peaches, and he believes
that they could all be landed in goo 1
shape in New "York if fast eold
storage steamers were ready to take
them there via the Panama canal.
Don Salvador tells me that such
peaches can easily be carried that dis
tance in cold storage, and still have
four or rive days in which to be mar
keted. These peaches are ripe here
m the midst of our winter and they
would surely bring a. high price.
tha
and
are
lac
dav.
e l'. !.tioi.;.; tr-,
1
!i S- . fj J. I,, I Ml f., ,I 4.
New York i. f.e.ir Ui-, af!r tb
ships i'- v- Vjlp. it. .ue! s U prop
r fruit Meam-f-s e sen.l -e vh
varot.M a will brine the higiit
j.rie.-v ,tf a . v, ,.-;; s. f 't u. ,
'ther fruit t" .;o$np-le w i!h iie-m At
pres--T!t y-ju ..... (.rn. v.oj'r f;-it
from .i mi.(;u i p- I',.!,,.,,
they ar tvent-i. d.iy- .-i mr
fro.o New York, and ' .... ha u 1,. p.
a r.-;ght .p. r. tti. n. lb it n- -. ril
times as much as h.- ft from
Chib would . ,iv!. T,enu;i.i and NVu
Zealand b.iv to p.t ir-m $-." t.
JI.Sm freight up a box oT jf ; s pound
on a bushel to the Ui.n-d s-laU I!
We could ship out !ui! a' half that
price we would ha .in advantage ,.f
7'. cents per tni-he). , Apt 1 to tb,
a great ileal better than that.
'"The difference in dit. e, e woll
be a difference of thousands ..1 nubs
Tiie Tasrna niatjs. fot tnst.t nc.. -r- iciv
shipping fruit to Kurope. Tfo .vi.b;
a million boxes ,.1 .uppb.- tn-re i;il-t
year and receiveu iln'ivfruiu s-me
thin like fa.LM0,oo. tub an r.i;.e
as good apples an par', of the
world, and we shall send .nr triiit
north through the caurl t.. f-'utope :.v
well. If is said that we ought to b.
able to sdiip apples llier- at a ir. ight
rate of r0 or " cents a b.. - r Tr- ia
$1- to $i a tor:.-"
"Mention some kino- ..t fiuu tl.ii
'bile coubl send us and the month
when we ..ubl receive them," s aid I
. "'Mir fruit season la Ms Ir-m No
vember until May. During tlu.se
months we eoi;l1 give on the .. i ,,f
fresh fruits. Here are some ..f tlo in
We could furnish green aliuomis from
December to Jljf.e and ripe chestnut--
in March and April. C.ie.-n almon 1
ar' a delicacy which you (b not ha
in America, but the bring et , ,t noei."
prices in France. Ye could supply ou
with pea he:- during the months of
December, January. February. March
and April and ripe plums m Januar
February and Marm. We ean give ..'n
alligator i;irs r paltas ir March,
April, May. June. July a.al August!
and papayas in March. April. Ma .m.i
June. As to our grapes, 'hey
equal if not superior to an ii; v.e.
markets, and are ripe during Januarv.
February, March, April and May. :.nd
we have pears the sane- months.
have ripe fhgS from December t
April, and apples in your -arly s im
mer. Jong before your own apple.,
come on. We have also many lru;'
that you do not have f,,r whic"h I m
sure a market will be create. 1. Among
these are the nispero.-. frutillas.
lacunas ami ehirimoMas, all of w hi li
come on in the winter. We shall al
have oranges, b-mons and grapefruit
xor your summer consumption, .n.
VkatermeJons and muskmelor.s lor
winter. The Chilean muskm. ".:,
a-s big as a pumpkin and as d licious
as a itoekyford canteloupe. We raise
them in great quantities and could
send shiploads to New York in th
heart of your winter. They would sell
there at a dollar ami upward apiece,
for their size is such that one of them
would furnish a dessert for a dinner
party of a dozen or more."
As I looked at this great orchard I
could see that even now Chile eo'jlj
already supply a vast deal of fruit for
our winter markets. There are many
big orchards. These people can do
business in the large and they un
derstand all about scientific fruit
growing. Don Salvador is perhups
the best among them, but there are
many other fruit raisers who manage
their plantations almost as well, and
who, when the demand has been
created, will devote themselves to
raising fruit for us. Take the peach
orchard of which I am writing. It is
as clean and well kept as any I have
ever seen in the United States. It is
trimmed every year and the trees are
cut low, so that the branches, grow
from the ground. At the same time
the limbs are thin, so that the sun
gives a daily kiss to every peach on
the tree, bringing a ripe, rosy blush
to its cheeks. Around theh trunk
of each tree Ls a little ditch for ir
rigation, and sprinkletl over thus after
watering is nitrate of soda, which is
fed to the trees at the rate of 200
pounds to the acre. They have no San
Jose scale here, but Don Salvador
uses the lime and sulphur spray
every winter to guard against insect
pests of all kinds.
The same careful treatment is ob
served as to all kinds of trees. I am
told that the ordinary native work-
1
Has Chile fruit plantations large
enough to supply the American d -rnand?"
I asked.
"We have the plantations in bearing
to start the business, and we have ,
much soil adapted to these fruits that
we can furnish enough orchards to
reed nearly every American city. All
kinds of fruit produce abundantly
here, a single acre will yield from
ten to twenty thousands pounds and
we have millions of acres yet to b
planted."
"How about the nursery etock ?"
"That could be supplied right Ler
in Chile. 1 am ready to put my land
and nurseries at the disposal of anv
combination with large enough capi
tal and ships to go into this business
I would do all that I could d., to
help and that not only for the ak
of profit, but for the good of m coun
try." "Don you know of any syndicate,
who are considering this Lusins-s?"
"I do not know absolutely of any
plans that have beep, c mptet-j as to
its organization and d" ebjpmen?. 1
know, however, that the United Fruit
Company ha- been considering the
project and that there are other capi
talists who could probably be induced
to put money jp,t it If they realized
its great possibilities. The Chilean
government would do ail it could to
encourage the traffic and it would. I
am sure, rive rebates on the freights
of the government railroads in carry
ing the fruits to the p )rt. In ad
dition there will be m difficulty in
raisintr considerable capital hre. The
profits can b ea-sily de-monst-ated.
and I look upon the inauguration of
the business at an early date aft-r
our first ships go from here north to
New York."
For the blind there haj? ifr. in
vented a watch with the hours marked
by raised dots and da-shes that it
can b read by the senses of touch-
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