302 Voyage of the Novara. 



The zealous and far-seeing director is also endeavoimng to 

 induce tlie Chilean landowner to grow turnips, and otlier 

 tubers, which might be used for foddering the cattle in 

 winter, and so lead to a more economical system of cultiva- 

 tion, and consequent improvement of the race of farmers 

 themselves. At present, where this kind of farming is utterly 

 unknown, as soon as winter sets in, many a landowner finds 

 himself compelled, year after year, to sell or kill his cattle 

 owing to want of fodder, while he himself goes out as a day 

 labourer, till the return of spring. The introduction and 

 extension of such a system, which would enable him to main- 

 tain his herds and flocks all the year round, would put a stop 

 to his present unsettled mode of life, improve his farm, and 

 impart increased comfort and security to every relation of his 

 business. 



At this Escuela normal we likewise found the sorgho, or 

 Chinese sugar-cane, in course of cultivation with great success. 

 Though the temperature is occasionally so low in Santiago as 

 to form, during the winter, ice* about two lines in thickness, 

 the sorgho does not seem to suffer any damage, but gives its 

 three crops each year, besides being much used for fodder. 

 The first seeds of this species of grass, which has within four 

 years made the circuit of the globe, and is now profitably cul- 



* The whole consumption of ice used in Valparaiso and Santiago is supplied by 

 American ships, which take in their cargo at Boston, and sell it here at about 2|d. 

 per lb. It is cheaper to import the ice from America round the Horn than from the 

 Andes, though the latter are only 50 or GO miles distant, and though ice is found on 

 these at certain seasons at an elevation of only 6000 feet. 



