668 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tlie extent of cotton culture in Brazil at the end of the eighteenth 

 century. 



When, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the royal 

 family of Portugal came to Brazil, it ceased to be a mere col- 

 ony ; the empire was established, and a new impetus was given 

 to all industries. The ports were made free to friendly for- 

 eign powers, and the decree prohibiting the use of looms was 

 revoked. 



The Cotton Kegion. — The territory in Brazil capable of 

 yielding cotton is coextensive with the country itself. From Sao 

 Paulo all along the coast to the Amazon, and, for that matter, 

 throughout the entire country, cotton might be grown in almost 

 unlimited quantities. In reality, however, it is only cultivated to 

 any considerable extent in the drier regions of the north, and 

 along the valley of the Rio Sao Francisco, and in some parts of 

 the province of Minas Geraes. 



In the north — i. e., to the north of Sergipe — a belt along the 

 coast about fifty miles wide is, for the most part, devoted to the 

 production of sugar. Immediately beyond this is the region in 

 which cotton is actually grown, the width of which region de- 

 pends almost solely upon the distance which the j)roducers feel 

 themselves able to transport it. 



As cotton culture, replaced by the cultivation of sugar, has re- 

 ceded from the coast, the question of transportation has become a 

 very serious one with Brazilian planters. Roads are usually so 

 poor and markets so far away that the planters necessarily lose 

 the greater part of their profits in the expense of transportation. 

 The remedy generally recommended is railways; but railways, 

 where they already exist, have not in all cases been found a 

 remedy for this state of affairs. Cotton sent by rail from the in- 

 terior of the province of Sao Paulo to the seaboard at Santos pays 

 out in freight about thirteen per cent of its value. The planters 

 of Pernambuco pay out from twenty-five to thirty per cent of the 

 value of their cotton in freights. Along the large streams, where 

 it is possible to ship cotton by water, it can be moved with some 

 facility. As a rule, however, transportation is on horseback or 

 muleback, and it is thus brought to market often for a distance 

 of from three hundred to four hundred miles, trips sometimes 

 requiring three or four months for a troop of mules, over roads 

 that are nothing more than bridle-paths, and often very bad ones 

 at that. 



Varieties cultivated. — It is not to be supposed that only 

 native varieties of cotton are cultivated in Brazil. Indeed, the 

 three varieties best known to and used by Brazilian planters are 

 all exotic. The crioulo is a large bush from five to fifteen feet in 

 height, is very hardy, and, if properly cared for, will last two or 



