February i, 1892] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
551 
the PERUVIAN CORPORATION AND THE 
PROSPECTS OF PERU BECOMING A 
great COFFEE, CACAO, RUBBER AND 
VANILLA GROWING COUNTRY. 
CallinR on Sir Alfred Dent at bis 0!d Broad 
Street office, I was very kindly received and told 
a good deal about tbe misBion of Messrs. Boss and 
Sinolair and tbe objeot of the Peruvian Corpora- 
tion. The full results of the mission cannot be 
known till the formal reports are sent in ; but 
already enough is known to show there is no 
reason why l^eru should not booome a great ex- 
porter of ooilee, oaeao, rubber and vanilla — all 
four plants, as I understood, being reported to be 
growing well ; while the soil is described as very 
Hob, and the climate most delightful. Thera re- 
jnain the two necessary elements of success — 
labour supply and means of transport. As regards 
the latter, there are admirable, oven wonderful rail- 
way lineg penetrating through much of the country 
p> “0 occupied, and it is upon those lines that the 
jeruvian Corporation would wish to see the pro- 
ouoe thrown, because of their own property in the 
railways. I mentioned how, from the eastern 
Slopes and valleys of the Andes, probably 
"he Amazon and its branches would offer a 
ready and cheap means of transport by steamers, 
^d how successful the Amazon Steam Navigation 
V®' (under my friend Capt. Hudson) had been 
•n developing trade in these regions. “ We have 
ho desire, ' said Sir Alfred Dent, “to throw Peru- 
vian trade on to the Amazon ; we should rather 
ring grist to our own mill as owners of the 
ailway system; but the Corporation are, of course, 
® j y hhd anxious to encourage planting settlers 
and to sell land to them, and if any of these, 
astward of the Andes, preferred to use the 
mazon steamers rather than railways, there could 
he no objection." It is quite likely that Peru may 
“‘tract some of our Ceylon planters, and of the 
“apitalistsl interested in coffee in the East ; for in 
of our old staple, as well as cacao and 
rubber, there can be no question of the splendid 
market now offering, nor of the prospect of a 
steady demand; while no one would dream of 
going with money or planting experience to Brazil 
these unsettled times. It is quite possible that 
p ^,®y aoo a falling-off, if not partial collapse of 
imf ottports, if the civil war, now threaten - 
the ®®veral provinces, breaks out. In that case 
certainly be the greatest enoourage- 
that u*'’ coffee. If it bo true 
enn shrub has run wild there and is freely 
,_®®®®fored, a first step of the corporation, one 
lj„^ “ fhink, would be to establish an agency to 
the firs coffee that can be made available by 
Patna from existing gardens or from jangle 
V) a. As respects labour supply. Sir Alfred 
, «nt seemed to consider that as 2,000 to 8,000 
oollnV*?® ” railway work could readily be 
be .®®y Peru, there could not 
pliini difficulty in getting some to plant and 
Lt tv. ^ “Of >0 Pomf 
be -j mHovence, more especially in what could 
railway man as compared with the 
annti. plantation labour. However, from 
about** 'luarter 1 learn that Mr. Ross baa no feat 
BO '“*’0“' *^0*08 available on the spot, 
of n r ‘“®*® '’® ssf'sfaotory work to bo got 
Promin Peruviana in some shape. I am 
of the n '“‘P'view with Mr. Ollatd, the manager 
to ^I*s“ oil available papers up 
on thn iT*** *’® P'sosd at my disposal : meantime 
the rnJr®”?® ® ®0Py 0* ‘ho full report of 
holdern^.°t'tu°“ ^‘fsotora presented to the ehare- 
‘‘vfB at their meeting on the 8rd instant has 
not reached you, I send the copy handed to me 
by Sit Alfred Dent. It will be seen from this 
that " The Peruvian Corporation, Limited," hold 
about £4,197,713 of capital in the four principal 
railways in Peru (£1,102,187 of capital being held 
by other persons), that it is interested in other 
lines at present leased, and also in steamers which 
navigate Lake Titicaca and the river Desaguadeto. 
Other schemes are on loot for railway extension 
into Bolivia. Then in “ guano " so large is the 
interest of the Corporation that “ a contract lor 
the sale of 300,000 tons has recently been entered 
into on favourable terms with Messrs. Antony 
Gibbs & Sons," while there are claims on Chili 
and valuable mines' concessions among the assets. 
Altogether the capital raised and invested by the 
Corporation exceeds 17} millions sterling I But 1 
have yet to notice the part of the report, and 
operations of the Company, of most interest to 
Ceylon readers — that under the head of “ Land.” 
In the accounts the only item bearing on it is 
entered as “ Land Exploration £2,492 18 b Od ” which 
may be supposed to be the cost of the mission just com- 
pleted, or it may refer to the earlier Spanish mission. 
In any case, you will want (if you have not done so 
already) to reprint the whole of the portion of the 
report referring to " Land." It is as follows 
The data collected and received by the Corpo- 
ration in reference to the land in the interior of Peru, 
on the eastern side of the Andes, point to the Central' 
district as being the moat suitable for more immodiato 
colonization. 
By the Central district is meant the land laying 
between Oroya, on the Central Railway, and the 
river Ucayali, and by opening up this district It is 
thought that a large area could bo brought into 
communication with the coast, and the produce of 
the interior collected and brought down bv the 
Central Railway. 
With the objeot of effecting a settlement in this 
district, a commission, including three Spaniards 
practically acquainted with agriculture, was sent to 
Peru, and they made an expedition into the Central 
district, ^siting, besides other localities, the valley 
of Ohanchainayo and the lands adjacent to the Rivers 
Efie and Perene. 
The following are extracts from their Reports a 
translated : 
A careful examination of the cultivated lands from 
Chanchomayo to San Luis do Shnaro, shows the im> 
meuBo wealth of produce notwithstanding the wa at 
of labour, which is also a reason why other produce 
which might constitute immense wealth is not culti- 
vated ; because plants growing wild, as is tho case 
in many parts of these regions, would produce much 
more if cultisated for instance, the indigo plant 
the vanilla, cacao, cotton, caoutchouc tree, and raanv 
others, which can only be grown in these zones 
All thoso lands are broken, but very good plains 
are met with, and generally the lands are very healthy 
25 to 30 degrees contigr^a 
(77 to 86 I ahreiilmit), and elevation above the level 
of the sea is from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. There are no 
natural pastures, for which reason cattle cannot bo 
raised on a large scale. 
The products which constitute the actual wealth 
oie as lollows ; — 
SuoAa Cane.-— T he growth of this plant is extraor- 
uinary, snd^ it is out as often as twenty times. At 
present it is used for the msnufaotare of rum and 
alcohol, on account of their large consumption and 
good prices ; oioh " artoba ’’ (25 lb.) on the estate 
being worth 7 soles. 
OoFi'KE. — The coffee plant grows with great rapidity 
and begins to give frnit in two years, and produces 
to its lull in the third or fourth year. Each plant 
gives on au average from 8 to 10 pounds gross ; the 
consumption is very largo, and the produce is worth 
18 or 20 solos the quintal. The plant bears for twentv 
or thirty yoara, ^ 
