234 



Ensilage of Potatoes. 



holdings ; but that the complaint is general that they 

 cannot sell their produce, or, if they succeed in disposing of 

 it, that the price paid is so low as hardly to requite them for 

 the time and labour expended. The principal crops raised 

 are maize, manioc, sugar-cane, tobacco, alfalfa (lucerne), and 

 beans. Maize and manioc form the staple food of the 

 peasant class and poorer townspeople. It is found very 

 difficult to keep the former any length of time, as no sooner 

 is it stored than it is attacked by the weevil. The price of 

 maize varies between 50 c. (4d.) and 2 dol. (is. 4d.) per arroba 

 (25 lbs.). Manioc, called mandioc in Spanish, is still the 

 substitute for bread with a great number of the peasant 

 population. In the towns flour-mills and bakeries have been 

 set up, and bread has largely taken the place of manioc. 



Wheat is imported from Argentina. Many attempts 

 have been made to grow this cereal in Paraguay, but 

 hitherto without success. 



Cattle breeding is a better paying business than most 

 others at present carried on in Paraguay. It is, at least, 

 said to be one of the safest. The yearly increase on the 

 ■entire herd on an estancia may be reckoned at from 25 to 

 3 5 per cent. ; but the latter figure would probably only be 

 reached on estancias where the animals receive proper care, 

 and where the pasture is above the average. 

 [Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No, 1963. Price i J^.] 



In continuation of the experiments referred to in the last 

 number of the Journal (p. 37) to deter- 

 ^PotaSes^^ mine how far potatoes kept in silos can 

 be used as food for stock without being 

 subsequently cooked, M. Cormouls-Houles has communicated 

 to the Societe Nationale d/ Agriculture de France some further 

 results he has obtained in this connection. Two lots of 

 heifers received the same rations, except that potatoes which 

 had been kept in silos were substituted in the food of the one 

 lot for the cooked potatoes received by the other. The weight 

 of dry matter in the rations was as follows : — Hay .^dry 



