LONCHOCARPUS, DERRIS, AND PYRETHRUM CULTIVATION 33 
ew well, production never reached a commercial scale. It was not 
until 1939 that commercial production became a reality, when a 
Chilean, Sr. Luis Fontecilla, began to increase the acreage of pyrethrum 
on his medicinal-plant farm, Fundo Palermo, near the village of San 
Bernardo on the outskirts of Santiago. Even in 19438, the only grower 
was the firm Drogas Botanicas, S. A., organized by Sr. Fontecilla. 
In 1942 this firm harvested about 35,000 kilos from 40 hectares. 
Plants are propagated both with seeds and with splits. Principal 
harvest seasons are during October, March, and April, and plantings 
are at an altitude of about 3,500 feet. Locally the practice has been 
to grind an insecticidal powder from mixed flowers and floral stems. 
Peru 
Private landowners in Peru introduced pyrethrum in 1928. Begin- 
ning in 1933, extensive trials with pyrethrum were made by Peruvian 
agricultural experiment stations. Ten years later approximately 100 
hectares were in commercial production at elevations ranging from 
3,000 to 9,000 feet, principally in the Huancayo Valley of Junin 
4 =. , ee p< . “\ fey : = : 
9% 1. he Bae Ark ate! See ES 
Figure 17.—Harvesting pyrethrum flowers at Matucana, Peru. 
Province. Most of the present plantings are on the small landholdings 
of subsistence-farming Indians who have chosen the crop as a means 
of earning a little cash. Plants are propagated both by seed and by 
splits. The life of the average planting is estimated at 6 years, and 
yields are estimated at approximately 500 kilos per hectare after the 
first season. At higher altitudes the pyrethrin content is said to be 
usually more than 1.2 percent. ® 
18 Martin, WILLIAM. PYRETHRUM SITUATION IN PERU. 3 pp. [Hectographed 
report, filed in T. C. B., O. F. A. R., sent in by Benj. J. Birdsall, Amer. Embassy, 
Lima, Peru, April 13, 1943.] 
