Across Unknown South America Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Munic.i.p.al Theatre, Rio de Janeiro.]

The State extends roughly in a parallelogram from the ocean, south-east, to the Parana River, north-west; between the Rio Grande, to the north, and the Rio Paranapanema, to the south, the latter being two tributaries of the Parana River. The State can be divided into two distinct zones, one comprising the low-lying lands of the littoral, the second the tablelands of the interior north-west of the Serra Cadias, Serra do Paranapiacaba and Serra do Mar--along or near the sea-coasts. The first zone by the sea is extremely hot and damp, with swampy and sandy soil often broken up by spurs from the neighbouring hill ranges. It is well suited for the cultivation of rice. The second zone, which covers practically all the elevated country between the coast ranges and the Parana River, is extraordinarily fertile, with a fairly mild climate and abundant rains during the summer months. During the winter the days are generally clear and dry.

It is in that second zone that immense coffee plantations are to be found, the red soil typical of that tableland being particularly suitable for the cultivation of the coffee trees.

It is hardly necessary here to go into detailed statistics, but it may be sufficient to state, on the authority of the Directoria de Estatistica Commercial of Rio de Janeiro, that during the first eleven months of the year 1912, 10,465,435 sacks of coffee were exported from Brazil--mostly from So Paulo--showing an increase of 548,854 sacks on eleven months of the previous year. That means a sum of 40,516,006 sterling, or 5,218,564 more than the previous year; the average value of the coffee being, in 1912, 58,071 milreis, or, taking the pound sterling at 15 milreis, 3 17_s._ 5_d._ a sack--an increase in price of 4,628 reis = 6_s._ 2_d._ per sack, on the sales of 1911.

The other exports from the State of So Paulo are flour, mandioca, ca.s.sava, bran, tanned hides, horns, fruit (pineapples, bananas, cocoanuts, abacates (alligator pears), oranges, tangerines, etc.), wax, timber (chiefly jacaranda or rosewood), a yearly decreasing quant.i.ty of cotton, steel and iron, mica, goldsmith's dust, dried and preserved fish, sc.r.a.p sole leather, salted and dry hides, wool, castor seed or bean, crystal, _mate_, rice, sugar, rum (_aguardente_) and other articles of minor importance.

The area of the State of So Paulo has been put down at 290,876 sq. kil.

Its population in 1908 was calculated at 3,397,000, and it had then more inhabitants to the square kilometre than any other part of Brazil. It is useless to give actual figures of the population, for none are reliable.

Although this State is the most civilized in Brazil, yet a good portion of its western territory is still practically a _terra incognita_, so that even the best official figures are mere guess-work.

Owing to the wonderful foresight of that great man, Antonio Prado--to my mind the greatest man in Brazil--a new industry has been started in the State of So Paulo which promises to be as lucrative and perhaps more so than the cultivation of coffee. It is the breeding of cattle on a gigantic scale, the magnificent prairies near Barretos, in the northern part of the State, being employed for the purpose. Slaughter-houses and refrigerating plants of the most modern type are to be established there, and with such a practical man as Antonio Prado at the head of the enterprise, the scheme is bound, I should think, to be a success. With the population of the Republic gradually increasing--it could be centupled and there would still be plenty of room for as many people again--the So Paulo State will one day supply most of the meat for the princ.i.p.al markets of Brazil. A good deal of the cattle which will eventually be raised on the marvellous campos of Matto Grosso and Goyaz, and destined to Southern Brazilian markets, will find its way to the coast via So Paulo. The rest will travel perhaps via Minas Geraes.

For some years cattle breeding has been carried on successfully enough, but on a comparatively small scale, in this State. Experiments have been made in crossing the best local breeds, princ.i.p.ally the Caracu, with good foreign breeds, such as the Jersey, Durham and Dutch stocks. Pigs of the Berks.h.i.+re, Yorks.h.i.+re, Canasters and Tatus type are the favourites in So Paulo, and seem to flourish in that climate.

Sheep-breeding is also successful, and would be even more so if proper care were taken of the animals. Of the wool-producing kinds, those preferred are the Leicester, Merino, Oxford and Lincoln, the Oxford having already produced quite excellent results.

The Government of the State, I understand, is at present giving great attention to the matter, and is using discrimination in the selection of suitable breeds from foreign countries in order to procure the best animals of various kinds for the production of meat, b.u.t.ter, and hides. I also believe that an endeavour is being made to produce in the State a good breed of horses for military and other purposes.

The elevation of So Paulo city is 2,450 ft. above the sea level.

Thanks to the kindness of the President of the Paulista Railway, a special saloon carriage was placed at my disposal when I left So Paulo, and a railway inspector sent to escort me and furnish me with any information I required. I preferred travelling seated in front of the engine, where I could obtain the full view of the interesting scenery through which we were to pa.s.s.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Baron de Rio Branco.]

The Paulista Railway was interesting, as it was the first line in Brazil constructed entirely with Brazilian capital. The line was begun in 1870, but since that date several extensions have been successfully laid out.

Up to 1909 the lines owned and worked by the Paulista Railway were the 160-metre-gauge trunk line from Jundiahy to Descalvado (north of S.

Paulo), and the two branch lines of the same gauge from Cordeiro to Rio Claro; Laranja Azeda to S. Veridiana; the two branch lines of 060 m.

gauge from Descalvado to Aurora and from Porto Ferreira to S. Rita do Pa.s.so Quatro. Then they possessed the one-metre trunk line from Rio Claro to Araraquara, with the following branch and extension lines: Visconde de Rio Claro to Jahu; Araraquara to Jaboticabal; Bebedouro to Barretos; Mogy Gua.s.so Rinco to Pontal; S. Carlos to S. Euxodia and Rib. Bonita; Agudos to Dois Corregos and Piratininga; and the loop line through Brotas. Of the total charters for 1,114 kil. 261 have been granted by the Federal Government and are under their supervision, whereas 583 kil. are under charter granted by the State of So Paulo.

The following statistics taken from the last Brazilian Year Book show the wonderful development of the pa.s.senger and goods traffic on the Paulista Railway:--

-----+-----------+-----------+--------------+------------+------------ Goods carried, Pa.s.sengers including Transport of Baggage and Line open. carried. Coffee. Animals. Parcels.

-----+-----------+-----------+--------------+------------+------------ Kilometres. Tons. Tons.

1872 38 33,531 26,150 4,919 -- 1890 250 348,150 300,857 5,768 2,613 1908 1,154 1,084,081 959,742 36,072 12,558 -----+-----------+-----------+--------------+------------+------------

At Jundiahy the Paulista Company has extensive repairing shops for engines. Formerly they had there also shops for building carriages, but these are now constructed at the Rio Claro Station, partly from material which comes from abroad. The rolling stock of the Company is excellent in every way--quite up-to-date, and kept in good condition--almost too luxurious for the kind of pa.s.sengers it has to carry.

It is princ.i.p.ally after leaving Campinas that the scenery of the line is really beautiful--wonderful undulating country--but with no habitations, except, perhaps, a few miserable sheds miles and miles apart. At Nueva Odena the Government is experimenting with Russian and Italian labourers, for whom it has built a neat little colony. After a time each labourer becomes the owner of the land he has cultivated. I am told that the colony is a success.

CHAPTER II

Coffee--The Dumont Railway

MY object in travelling by the Paulista Railway was to inspect the line on my way to the immense coffee plantations at Martinho Prado, owned by Conselheiro Antonio Prado. The estate is situated at an elevation above the sea level of 1,780 ft., upon fertile red soil. It is difficult, without seeing them, to realize the extent and beauty of those coffee groves--miles and miles of parallel lines of trees of a healthy, dark green, s.h.i.+ning foliage. A full-grown coffee tree, as everybody knows, varies in height from 6 ft. to 14 or 15 ft. according to the variety, the climate, and quality of the soil. It possesses a slender stem, straight and polished, seldom larger than 3 to 5 in. in diameter, from which shoot out horizontal or slightly oblique branches--the larger quite close to the soil--which gradually diminish in length to its summit. The small white blossom of the coffee tree is not unlike jessamine in shape and also in odour. The fruit, green in its youth, gradually becomes of a yellowish tint and then of a bright vermilion when quite ripe--except in the Botucatu kind, which remains yellow to the end.

The fruit contains within a pericarp a pulp slightly viscous and sweet, within which, covered by a membrane, are the two hemispherical coffee beans placed face to face and each covered by a tender pellicle. It is not unusual to find a single bean in the fruit, which then takes the shape of an ellipsoid grooved in its longer axis--and this is called _moka_ owing to the resemblance which it bears to the coffee of that name.

The coffee chiefly cultivated in Brazil is the _Arabica_ L. and to a small extent also the _Liberica_ Hiern, but other varieties have developed from those, and there are crosses of local kinds such as the Maragogype, which takes its name from the place where it was discovered (Bahia Province). Those varieties are locally known as Creoulo, Bourbon, Java, Botucatu (or yellow bean coffee), the Maragogype, and the Goyaz.

The Creoulo, the Botucatu and the Maragogype are wilder and show more resistance than the Java and Bourbon sorts, which are nevertheless more productive under good conditions and with careful cultivation, which the first three qualities do not exact.

The coffee tree is a most serviceable plant, every part of which can be used. Its wood is much used in cabinet making, and makes excellent fuel; its leaves, properly torrefied, and then stewed in boiling water, give a palatable kind of tea; from the sweet pulp of its fruit an agreeable liqueur can be distilled; from its beans can be made the beverage we all know, and from the sh.e.l.ls and residue of the fruit a good fertilizer can be produced.

The chemical examination of the cinders of the coffee bean shows that it contains 6525 per cent of potash, 1253 per cent of phosphoric acid, 1100 per cent of magnesia, 612 per cent of lime, and some traces of sulphuric and salicylic acid, oxide of iron and chlorine.

An interesting study has been made by Dr. Dafert of the weight of the various components of the coffee tree at different ages, from which it appears that the proportion of potash increases progressively in the organs as they are more and more distant from the roots. The contrary is the case with lime and phosphoric acid, which preponderate generally in the seeds.

With this knowledge a scientific cultivator can judge exactly how to treat the exigencies of the different trees at different ages. Naturally, the condition of the soil has to be taken into consideration in any case.

According to experiments made by Dr. Dafert each kilo of coffee beans has extracted from the soil--potash 07880 gramme; phosphoric acid 04020 gramme; magnesia 03240 gramme; lime 01470 gramme.

These experiments apply merely to coffee grown in Brazil, and are no doubt at variance with experiments on coffee grown elsewhere. Taking all things into consideration, it has been proved by chemical a.n.a.lysis that the Brazilian coffee comes as near as any in its components to what the normal or perfect coffee should be.

The soil, the elevation of the land, the zone and the climate naturally have considerable influence on the quality of the coffee. The _Coffea Arabica_ seems to feel happy enough in a temperate zone and at elevations from 1,500 to 2,300 ft. The States of So Paulo, Minas Geraes, Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo fulfil most if not all these conditions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dr. Pa.s.sos.]

The coffee trees can stand cold--if not of long duration--down to freezing-point, as well as a fairly high temperature. Unlike the Liberia coffee, they fare better on undulating or broken ground than on the flat.

Two distinct seasons--the dry and the rainy--each of about six months'

duration--such as are found in the above-mentioned States of Brazil, seem perfectly to suit the growth of the coffee trees. The trees are in bloom for three or four days some time during the months of September to December. If the rains are not abundant when the trees are in blossom, and during the maturing of the fruits, the latter do not develop properly, especially those at the end of the branches, where the berries become dry before their time or even do not form. If the rain comes too long before the trees are in bloom it causes the blossoms to open before their time and they are frequently spoiled by the cold which follows. The coffee beans are collected in April, during the dry weather.

The coffee trees are very sensitive to winds, cold or hot, especially when blowing continuously in the same direction, which causes the undue fall of leaves and rupture of the bark at the neck of the roots. Wind, indeed, is one of the most dangerous enemies of coffee trees, and it is to obviate this danger that in many countries--but not in Brazil--a protecting plantation in lines of other trees--generally useful fruit trees--is adopted in order to screen the coffee trees from the prevailing wind, as well as to give a further income from the fruit produced.

It has been proved that even from good trees below a certain alt.i.tude the coffee is of inferior quality, while above that height the crop becomes irregular. In zones fully exposed to the sun the quality is superior to that of regions where the sun does not reach or only reaches for a short portion of the day.

The _Coffea Arabica_ is not particularly exacting in the quality of the soil, but the soil on which it flourishes best is that formed in great part by decomposed vegetable matter--as, for instance, from ancient trees mixed with volcanic earth, such as the famous red earth of the State of So Paulo. Volcanic cinders also are said to be wonderful fertilizers for the soil, and well adapted for the welfare of coffee trees.

One thing is undoubted, and that is that the State of So Paulo possesses the ideal soil for coffee plantations. a.n.a.lysis has shown that, curiously enough, the soil of So Paulo is not in itself very rich. It has an insufficient quant.i.ty of fertilizing substances, particularly of lime; but it should not be forgotten that locality and climatic conditions must be taken into serious consideration, and that we must not be misled by the difference between the apparent and the real fertility of the soil.

What would be a poor soil in Europe may prove to be an excellent one in a tropical country. So the famous "red earth" of So Paulo, which in a drier climate would be sterile and unproductive, is there excellent because of its extremely permeable, porous and powdery qualities.

The special terms used for naming the different kinds of earth suitable for the cultivation of coffee are: _terra roxa_ (red earth), _ma.s.sape_, _salmoro_, _catanduva_, _terra de areia_ (sand earth), _picarra_ (stony earth), and _pedreguelho_ (stony earth).

The _terra roxa_ is an argillaceous, ferruginous earth of diabasic origin, occasionally mixed with sand. It contains salicylic acid, oxide of iron, alumina, phosphoric acid, oxide of manganese, lime, magnesia, potash and soda.

The _ma.s.sape_, originally decomposed gneiss-granitic rock mixed with clay, contains oxide of iron. Its occasional blackness is due to the decomposed vegetable matter it embodies.

The _salmoro_ includes in its formation small stones indicating the incomplete decomposition of the rock from which it originates.

The _catanduva_--which is of inferior quality--is composed of much disintegrated vegetable matter and fine dust.

The names of the other kinds of earth well denote their quality.