82 
a family affair. The largest single area in cotton in Paraguay 
in 1923-24 was less than 50 acres in extent. Usually the ground is 
plowed and harrowed once before planting. Occasionally this is 
done in July or August, and a crop of beans is grown and turned under 
before the cotton is planted. From 7 to 15 pounds of seed are used 
per acre, depending upon the fertility of the soil. The seed is planted 
by hand, either in open furrows or in holes made with a hoe. 
When the plants are from 3 to 5 inches high they are thinned to 
3 or 4 plants in a hill, and about 2 weeks later they are again thinned 
to 1 or 2 plants in a hill. The rows are usually from 3 to 3)^ feet 
apart, and the hills are left from 18 to 36 inches apart in the row. 
After thinning the larger fields are given from one to three shallow 
cultivations with a plow, as may be necessary to keep them clear of 
weeds. The small fields are kept clean with the hoe, without the use 
of plow or cultivator. 
The small scale on which cotton production is conducted results 
in there being no special provisions for financing the production of 
the crop other than the extension of credit on a small scale by the 
country stores and dealers. As a matter of fact, the production of 
cotton and tobacco in Paraguay at present is about on the same scale 
and footing as on the isolated mountain farms of Georgia half a 
century ago. 
No commercial fertilizers are used in Paraguay. The soil is 
generally deficient in lime and no doubt commercial fertilizers could 
be used to good advantage. The soil is sandy in many localities. 
Much of the land in cultivation has been cropped to tobacco and 
garden vegetables for many years. None of the land is irrigated. 
Irrigation is unnecessary east of the Paraguay Kiver, but is needed 
in portions of the Chaco region west of the river. 
Land is cheap in Paraguay. Prices east of the river for land under 
fence, suitable for plowing, and land in cultivation in the mountain 
region ranges from $3.50 to $7.50 per acre, equivalent to from 475 
to 1,000 pesos per hectare. In the central region it ranges from 
$4.50 to $7.50 per acre. In the south the price is generally about 
$7.50 per acre. West of the Paraguay Kiver, in the Chaco region, 
very little of the land is improved. For unimproved land, either 
prairie or covered with a good growth of timber, the price ranges 
from a few cents up to $1.50 per acre. 
Should prices for cotton remain at a sufficiently high level, Para- 
guayan farmers would no doubt be induced to give greater prefer- 
ence to that crop. A great expansion of the industry, however, 
would call for a great increase in population, not only by the slow 
process of natural growth but also by immigration, in order to 
furnish the type and supply of labor needed. 
Table 55, published in the annual report of the Banco Agricola del 
Paraguay for 1923, gives the average daily and monthly wages paid 
to agricultural laborers in the different regions of Paraguay during 
1923, conversions to United States currency having been made at 
the average value of the Paraguayan peso for 1923, which was 
$0,018. 
