HORTICULTURE IN THE 



COPIAPO VALLEY, CHILI. 



229 



15,000 to 20,000 feet in height, through the Cordilleras 

 and the foot-hills of the coast, which rise from 500 to 

 1,000 feet, showing grim and sombre against the sky, gored 

 and gashed by the action of the atmosphere for thousands 

 •of ages, and without a speck of green upon their sides- 



We might at first thought imagine that the soil of this 

 valley would not be especially fertile, but, on the con- 

 trary, it is exceedingly rich, being composed of the 

 black, loamy clay dust which has been swept down from 

 the hills from time immemorial. When irrigated, it is 

 capable of yielding all kinds of semi-tropical vegetables, 

 fruits and flowers. 



I saw at various places fine fields of alfalfa, the favor- 

 ite pasturage of the region, which is greedily devoured 

 either wet or dry by cattle, horses and goats. It grows 

 here dense and heavy, often four and five feet in height, 

 and as many as four crops a year can be raised upon 

 the same fields. Large herds of Argentine cattle are 

 often seen grazing upon the alfalfa pastures in the vicin- 

 ity of Copiapo. Every year the herders who live in the 

 Provinces of Tucuman and San Juan find it a profitable 

 business to drive their cattle through the passes of the 

 Andes into Chili, and sell them to the people who live in 

 the Copiapo valley. They readily sell for a high price, 

 not only for the valley markets, but also to be taken to 

 Caldera and shipped to ports farther north in Chili and 

 Peru. Of course the herders must hire pasturage for 

 their stock until sold, and the valley farmers thus realize 

 ■quite a handsome profit, without much trouble to them- 

 selves. 



Maize and barley are also frequently raised in these 

 fields. The most profitable use, however, to which the 

 land can be put is in its conversion into kitchen gardens. 

 These are numerous, and generally well laid out with a 

 great variety of table vegetables. As the climate per- 

 mits the land to be used over and over again, there is 

 hardly any season of the year when growth and tillage 

 ■cease, although it is found there, as elsewhere, that a 

 rotation of crops is much to the advantage of the soil. 

 As might well be imagined, where land is so scarce and 

 vegetables so much in demand, very little fancy farming 

 occurs, but the size and quality of the vegetables, raised 

 as they are entirely without fertilizers, and with the eas- 

 iest industry, are something surprising. I do not think 

 that the most fertile ranches of California are more pro- 

 lific. A single field of onions, which I visited, must have 

 covered a dozen acres, and the ground was fairly hidden 

 by the crop, which would have done honor to the best 

 prize examples ever produced in Wethersfield ; and 

 could an old Wethersfieldian onion raiser have seen 

 these same onions selling for eight cents (about five cents 

 in our money) apiece in the market, I rather think he 

 would have indulged in a long Yankee whistle. Beets 

 ■carrots, parsnips, potatoes and other common garden 

 vegetables are sold singly at eight and ten cents apiece. 

 The people are glad to get, them at that, as they have no 

 other resource. Indeed, if you were living at the ports 

 all along this coast, you would find that you must go 

 upon the steamers to find the stalls of the hucksters. 



When I came to examine the methods of tilling adop- 

 ted in this region, nothing astonished me more than the 

 plough, which is used for turning up the soil. The 

 plough-share is nothing but a round straight beam of 

 wood, pointed and shod with iron at the end, having an 

 upright handle fitted into it at the other end, which is 

 grasped with one hand by the ploughman. I was fain to 

 ask the proprietor of one of the largest farms in the val- 

 ley, a very intelligent man, why he resorted to such a 

 primitive implement, and whether the people were too 

 poor or too ignorant to use the improved agricultural 

 implements of the United States. He replied that nei- 

 ther was the case, but that the wooden plough in use was 

 much the best for their purposes, as the soil was so 

 light and porous that it needed but little disturbance, 

 and as the nourishment of the plants came from the 

 water soaked into the soil from above, and not from any 

 moisture which the roots draw from below. His an- 

 swer shows how little the conditions of one country can 

 fit the necessities of another. 



All the reaping done here is by hand, with a machete — 

 a straight knife something like a butcher's cleaver, or 

 with a sickle. Scythes and mowing-machines are un- 

 known, and would not be used if given gratuitously. 



Besides vegetables many different kinds of fruit are 

 grown in this valley. Fig trees, growing variously to 

 thirty and fifty feet in height, bearing both the black 

 and the white fig, are common. The almond, nectarine, 

 olive, peach, pomegranate and quince all grow well and 

 bear abundantly. In many parts of Copiapo I saw the 

 beautiful date palm rearing its stately trunk and loaded 

 with bunches of yellow fruit. Few trees are more 

 striking than this lordly palm. The banana and the 

 orange can be raised, but both are of inferior quality. 

 The cherimoya, or custard apple, is also produced, but 

 it scarcely deserves mention by the side of the same fruit 

 which one enjoys in Peru and Panama. 



Vineyards are very common throughout the region. 

 One vineyard through which I walked covered a ten acre 

 lot, and I learned that it yielded annually several thou- 

 sand bushels of grapes, which sold at a high price. The 

 vines are generally trained upon upright poles about ten 

 feet high, though sometimes run upon trellises. The 

 wine of Chili, made from these grapes, especially that at 

 a town called Pisco, north of Caldera, is famous along 

 the coast. 



Here, also, I saw a strawberry of which I have never 

 heard in our own country. The fruit is about two inches 

 in diameter, and perfectly white in color. The flavor is 

 excellent, being of an agreeable acid. It does not seem 

 to be a mere accidental variety, but it is quite common 

 at Copiapo, where it is highly esteemed. 



It would not be expected, under the circumstances, 

 that the people would indulge very extensively in orna- 

 mental gardening, but the public walks, plazas and 

 front-door yards are not without decorative shrubbery 

 and flowers. The most common shade tree to be seen 

 is that which is known as the "pepper tree" (^Sikimts 

 ijiolle). It is really a beautiful object, often growing 



