when sown in autumn an early harvest is possible, thereby 
avoiding the damages of the summer rains. Common wheat 
ripens in this district early in February. 
On irrigated lands, wheat is sown in Chile after a crop of corn, 
beans, etc.; the unirrigated lands to be sown with this cereal are 
ploughed in the spring before the sowing. 
Only of late years has machinery been employed in wheat¬ 
sowing and this to a limited extent. Seeders are used only in 
exceptional cases. Mowing is done chiefly by hand-sickles. The 
harvest season begins at the end of December in the north, and 
lasts to end of February in the south. Threshing machines of 
English and American manufacture are used. 
Fertilizers for increasing the production have begun to be used 
to a certain extent within the last few years, giving preference to 
phosphated guano and nitrate of soda. Therefore it can be 
safely stated that the cultivation of wheat is only superficially 
done, and that much can be expected from this industry in Chile. 
In fact, it is said that in a few more years the country will pro¬ 
duce from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 hectolitres per year; that is 
to say, when the lands that are suited to its cultivation have all 
been devoted to that industry, and cultivation made extensive by 
the use of modern machinery and of the fertilizers which are so 
abundant throughout the country. 
The quotations on April 1st, 1901, in the Santiago market 
were $8.30 per 72 kilograms of white wheat and $9.00 per 72 
kilograms of “Candeal” (hard) wheat. 
BARLEY. 
Barley is cultivated in Chile more or less under the same cir¬ 
cumstances as wheat, only on a smaller scale, and the lands where 
it grows are confined more to the central and northern districts. 
The Provinces of Aconcagua, Santiago and Colchagua are good 
producers of an excellent quality of barley, from which the first- 
class beer of the country is manufactured exclusively. 
The total area devoted to the cultivation of barley in Chile can 
safely be estimated at 200,000 hectares, which yield more than 
one million and a half hectolitres; of this, 700,000 to 800,000 
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