THE IvAND QUESTION AND COI,ONISATION JO9 



SCHMEiDER (Teo'iloro) : lya Agricultura en Chile en los liltimos cincuenta anos {A'^riculture in 

 Chile in the last FiftyYears). Santiago dc Chile, 1904 . Imprenta. lyitografia y encuadcmaci6n 

 Barcelona. 



Vald±S (Tagle Elias) : I,a cuesti6n obrcra y el credito agiicola en Chile (7 he Labour Question and 

 A",ncultural Credit in Chile). Santiago de Chile, 1911, Barcelona Press. 



Breve RESEfJA AGRf COLA DE CHILE (Short Notes on Agriculture in Chile). Santiago, 1909, Soc. 

 Universo. 



Chile: A General Sketch compiled by the International Bureau of American Republics. Wash- 

 ington, 1909. 



Republic of Chile: A short Description according to Official Data.Iyeipzig, 1903, P'. A.Brock- 

 haus. 



" El Mercuric, " Daily Newspaper of Santiago. "Vears 1912 and 1913. 



Chile is known almost exclusively as a mining country and above all as 

 the great storehouse whence the world obtains its supply of nitrates. lyittle 

 in known bj'' the general world of its agriculture or of the forests whicii form 

 a great part of its wealth. Its agricultural production has attained consider- 

 able importance, but is still capable of immense development, because there 

 is a large area of soil as yet untilled as well as whole regions of virgin forest 

 and unutilised pasture laud. In this article, we propose to give an outline 

 of the agricultural economy of Chile, and show the resources, the pro- 

 gress and the future of its agriculture, as we have already done in the case 

 of other cotmtries of Latin America ; and, finally, to consider the Chilian 

 land question, which is, in great part, only a problem of colonisation. 



§ I. Some geographical and demographic data. 



The form of its territor}^ is quite pecuUar to Chile, a long stretch 

 of land (757,366 square kilometres) extending north and south along the 

 shore of the Pacific Ocean, between the 17th. and the 56th. degree of 

 South latitude, and bounded in its total length on the East b}' the the 

 CordiUeras of the Andes. Its width varies from 140 to 420 kilometres, its 

 total length being 4,300 kilometres. 



Southern Chile has several islands along its coast between the 41st. 

 parallel of latitude and Cape Horn. 



Owing to its special conformation, its length stretching through 39 

 degrees of latitude, Chile presents much variety of climate. Its northern 

 part is tropical with tropical productions ; its middle part is temperate 

 and more adapted for agriculture, while the southern part has a cold 

 cHmate and is particularly rich in forests. The greater part of the 

 cultivated land lies between the Andes and the sea, more particularly in 

 the middle region, which also has the largest population. 



I. Geographical Zones of Agriculture. — We have spoken of three geo- 

 graphical zones into which Chile may be divided, and these correspond 

 with three distinct zones of production. 



