THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Mat 1, 1865. 



444 THE CULTURE OP COTTON IN NORTHERN PERU. 



prices that have been obtained there, we may assume that each pound 

 of cotton would leave about two shillings net to the producer, and 

 therefore that the whole quantity would be worth to him from 10,000/. 

 to 30,000/. (say 65,000 to 195,000 Peruvian dollars). Comparing this 

 with the outlay, we have — 



Dollars. 

 Interest on 80,000 dols. at 10 per cent. . 8,000 

 Expenses of working the farm, 800 dols. per 



month, or per year 9,000 



17,600 



If we add to this the rent of the land (which, however, was almost 

 nil, for the whole estate of Tangarara, before Monte Abierto was dedi- 

 cated to cotton growing), and a further sum for unforeseen contingencies, 

 it may bring up our estimate of the annual expenses to 20,000 dols. ; 

 and even if we say 30,000 dols., there is still a wide margin left for 

 profit, at the lowest yield of cotton I have supposed possible — namely, 

 ] ,000 quintals, of net value 65,000 dols. 



Mr. Stirling's plantation near Amotape is of about the same extent 

 as Monte Abierto, and has at this time from 300,000 to 400,000 cotton- 

 bearing plants on it. Besides these two plantations, there are many 

 small plots all along the river, on lands rented by people of colour from 

 the large proprietors ; and on the tributaries of the Chira and Piura, at 

 from 1,000 to 2,000 feet elevation, where there is no need of machinery 

 to raise the water for irrigation, several landowners have begun planta- 

 tions on a considerable scale. All over the country there are spots 

 where the rains of the present year have penetrated sufficiently to 

 assure a crop of cotton from plants raised thereon. On the farms of 

 Mancora there are ravines running down to the sea, and here and there 

 expanding into basin-shaped hollows (like the Ouads of Africa), which 

 the rains have watered so well that the owner has sown cotton there, 

 chiefly of the Egyptian kind, to the extent of near a million plants. 

 When I left Peru, on the 1st of May, they were thriving well and pro- 

 mised to yield an abundant harvest. Of course only a single crop could 

 be expected from them, unless they should be revivified by another 

 rainy season, contrary to all past experience that such seasons never 

 occur in consecutive years. If all the projects prosper, the quantity of 

 cotton exported from Payta this year may be very far in excess of that 

 of any previous year ; and next year's exportation will probably be still 

 greater. 



There has been no lack hitherto of labour, at a fair rate of pay, in 

 the department of Piura ; but the actual extent of cotton growing will 

 no doubt tend to make it scarcer and dearer. People of mixed race 

 prefer to work for themselves rather than for a master, and this is most 

 notable where the negro element predominates ; the free African in 



