THE NITRATE FIELDS OF CHILE 



217 



Loading caliche to be taken to the raaquina. Piles of caliche at the left. The " camp, - ' 

 or laborers' quarters, of a neighboring oflcina lies in the right background. 



this business. Methods of manufacture have been improved, and the 

 scale of operations has been increased greatly. New railroads have been 

 built and old ones extended, until now there are about 2,000 miles of 

 railroads, most of which have no other use than to serve the nitrate trade. 

 But perhaps most important of all has been the vigorous campaign to ad- 

 vertise the merits of nitrate as a fertilizer. Tests have proved that ni- 

 trates are about the most effective fertilizer known for such crops as veg- 

 etables, sugar beets, and some of the cereals. To help increase the de- 

 mand for this use particularly, representatives are maintained in every 

 important agricultural region by the Chilean Nitrate Committee, and 

 advertisements which are a part of this propaganda appear in agricul- 

 tural journals in all parts of the world. Importations by the United 

 Kingdom, Germany and the United States have been and still are in- 

 creasing rapidly, while smaller amounts go to widely scattered markets. 

 The exports of nitrates in 1830 are said to have been about 8,300 

 tons. At the time of the Peruvian War, fifty years later, the amount had 

 increased to 226,000 tons yearly — or less than the amount that two estab- 

 lishments might turn out now. Since 1880 the exports have reached 

 enormous proportions. The million-ton mark was passed in 1890; 

 almost a million and a half tons were shipped in 1900; and in 1911 

 the exports were but little short of two and a half million tons. To 

 take care of this greatly increased demand, plant after plant has been 

 built, until now more than 100 are in operation, several of which can 

 produce in a month more than the whole exportation amounted to in 

 1830. Lands which were offered for sale a dozen years ago could not 

 now be bought for ten times the figure quoted then. Shares of stock 



