Agriculture—Government support and supervision—Annual productions—Agricultural schools—Cattle-breeding—Coffee—Sugar—Tobacco—Forestry—Rice—Beans—Cacao—Balsam—Treatment by natives.
It is only natural, in a country where agriculture forms one of the most important sources of revenue, that the Government should have directed its particular attention to the supervision and control of the industry. The Land Law of Salvador consists of no fewer than 245 separate articles, which are contained under eight different "titles," as follows: Title I.: Concerning the government and control of the industry, and which contains six chapters; Title II.: Concerning persons who devote themselves to agricultural industry, containing five chapters; Title III.: Concerning rural property, which contains four chapters; Title IV.: Concerning live-stock and game, consisting of four chapters; Title V.: Concerning public roads, containing but one chapter; Title VI.: Forest culture, containing three chapters; Title VII.: Water for public use, containing two chapters; Title VIII.: Concerning administrative justice and guarantees afforded to rural property, consisting of two chapters. This Land Law is a model of common sense, and shows evidence of much ability in construction; it might well serve as a model for similar executive ordinances in other countries, not excepting that of[229] Great Britain, where agricultural legislation and Governmental assistance are sorely needed.
The Government of Salvador exercises its control over all agricultural matters, firstly by the Executive, through the medium of the Department of the Interior; secondly, through an Agricultural Board; thirdly, through Departmental Governors, who are assisted by Local Boards; fourthly, through municipalities, with their Mayors and Agricultural Committees; and, fifthly, through the services of Rural Inspectors, Special Assistants, and Commissioners. It is to be observed that the Land Law of Salvador, while of an administrative character, leaves in force the Civil Code of Civil Procedure, even in those questions especially relating to rural property, without prejudice to the few provisions relating to these codes, and which can be regarded as additional or modifying provisions.
The annual amount of agricultural produce exported from the Republic of Salvador may be put as follows: Coffee, 30,000 tons; Sugar, 70,000 cwt.; Rubber, 500 cwt.; Balsam, 1,300 cwt. These figures, however, are exclusive of the considerable amounts of each commodity consumed in the country, and which likewise comprise large quantities of cereals, such as corn, beans, rice, wheat, etc. The Government is encouraging the cultivation of henequén, or Sisal agave, as well as cotton, maize, and other useful plants, which will figure to some degree in future returns from the Department of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Councils and Committees of the Department, besides contributing to the development and increase of agriculture, also assist the scientific improvement of the crops, circulating[230] among cultivators all those provisions which they judge to be opportune, and as likely to conduce to the prosperity of the industry. A step in the path of agricultural progress is the creation and maintenance of the School of Agronomy, which is carried on upon a plantation of some 200 manzanas in extent, where there is water in abundance. The farm is located between the cities of Sonsonate and Izalco, and lies at 450 metres elevation above the level of the sea. The school building is constructed on a tableland, which occupies the most elevated part of the plantation, and consists of all the usual departments considered to be indispensable for an establishment of its kind. It possesses laboratories for the study of, and experiments in, chemistry and botany, and a small model dairy, provided with all the necessary apparatus, instruments, and tools. The total cost of the institution and its equipment amounted to $64,498.19. It was inaugurated on June 4, 1907, and in the month of September of the same year student classes were opened, and they have since been maintained, under the direction of the Agronomical Engineer, Don Félix Choussy, without interruption. This school ranks as one of the most pronounced successes which the Government of the Republic has achieved.
It would be difficult to find any locality in South America, not excepting the Argentine Republic or Uruguay, where the breeding of cattle could be engaged in, nor where finer butcher\'s meat can be grown more successfully, than upon the magnificent pastoral ranges of Salvador. Cattle are not only abundant, but they seem to thrive with practically little or no attention. The meat secured is of a delicious and firm nature, but, unfortunately, as in all tropical countries, it must[231] be cooked and eaten the same day that the animal is killed. The natives do not deem this any objection; but Europeans, who are accustomed to the taste of tender and juicy meats, do not so generally approve. The price of beef is moderate in extreme, and it can be found on sale in the markets all the year round.
Sheep are somewhat scarce, and they do not appear to thrive here as they do in some parts of Mexico or in Argentina. I should not consider Salvador a good sheep-country, and the breed is not in any way encouraged. Possibly the heat of the plains is a bar to any great success attending the raising of these animals, while, on the other hand, mutton is not a popular diet with the people, who are not in any case very heavy meat-consumers. On the great majority of small estates, and even among the poorest of the people, hogs are very largely bred, and some fine specimens are to be met with. Among poultry, fowls and turkeys, again, are numerous, and generally of excellent quality, large and plump birds being obtainable for very moderate prices at all times. In this case also it is customary to cook and consume the birds a few hours after they have been killed, so that a tender fowl is not often met with. I noticed but few ducks or geese, and the latter birds may be regarded as somewhat of a rarity. Quantities of wild-fowl, however, find their way to the market, and there they fetch moderately good prices. Immense flocks of duck are found at certain seasons of the year feeding and breeding upon the many inland lakes, and they afford excellent sport to the few guns which break in upon their almost undisturbed repose. These quiet and peaceful lagoons, in their entrancing scenic surroundings, form an ideal spot for the sportsman, since[232] they would be found an almost untouched field for his amusement.
Salvador, from the conformation of its surface and the nature of its soil, is essentially an agricultural State. The basin of the River San Miguel, that of Sonsonate, and the valley proper of the Lempa, no less than the alluvians bordering on the Pacific, are of an extraordinarily fertile character and especially adaptable for the production of tropical staples. Around the Bay of Jiquilisco and the port of La Libertad, cotton has been cultivated with success for the last sixty years, but it is only up to within comparatively recent years that the principal products of the State have included indigo, sugar and maize. In many respects the State of Salvador differs agriculturally from the South and other Central American Republics. In the first place, there is but little unappropriated land to be found in it, nearly the whole being the property of private individuals; secondly, the people are active and intelligent—naturally so, and not merely by education; they are unquestionably industrious. Certainly they are the best cultivators in Central America; and under favourable circumstances—that is to say, during periods of political tranquillity—they can find abundant employment for their labour.
Hot
Native Habitation in the Hot Country.
Sugar
Native making sugar from a primitive wooden mill.
Indigo, or, to give it its native name, "jiquilite," for long constituted the chief article in the exports of the country, but in point of importance it has had to give place to coffee. Indigo is found in practically all parts of Salvador, but especially in the districts of Zacatecoluca and San Miguel, and some idea may be obtained of the great space of ground which is, or rather which used to be, appropriated to indigo, when it is stated that it takes about 2 cwt. of the green plant to yield[233] 8, 10 or 12 ounces of indigo; on the land which is found most suitable to it, 12 ounces are seldom exceeded, but there are records which show that in favourable seasons, upon taking an average of five years, upwards of 12,000 serrones (1 serron=150 pounds) have been produced in the entire Republic. A quantity such as this, in former times, would be valued at $3,000,000 in the European markets; but as long ago as the year 1850 the value of the product had become greatly reduced, and it would not even then have realized one-half that sum. To-day, when aniline dyes take the place of indigo, it would be difficult to place anything like an accurate price upon such an amount of produce, nor to suppose that it would be marketable at all. How much the production has fallen off in later years can be seen when it is said that the total amount produced in 1891 was only 7,889 serrones, and in the year following, 9,587 serrones.
Indigo is produced from an indigenous triennial plant, Indigofera A?il, which is its botanical name, and the plant flourishes luxuriously upon nearly all kinds of soil. The land requires comparatively little preparation, being merely burnt and slightly ploughed. The seed, which is scattered broadcast, is sown in the months of February and April, and the growth of the plant is so rapid that by the end of August it has attained a height of from 5 to 6 feet, and is then fit for cutting. The product of the first year is but moderate, and it is at this stage called "tinta nueva," the strength being reserved for the second and third years, when the product is known as "tinta reto?o." When the crop is ripe, the process of manufacture is carried on daily without interruption until the whole of the crop[234] is garnered. Just as the plant requires little attention and no skill, so the manufacture of the indigo calls for neither a very difficult nor any expensive process; all that it needs is that it be cut promptly and at the proper period, otherwise it becomes worthless. This means that the proprietors of the larger estates must have an ample and a reliable supply of labour at hand, which desideratum cannot be implicitly relied upon in the present condition of the market.
Next to indigo, coffee ranks second in importance in the country\'s agricultural products; the very finest berry is grown in the Republic. It may be found in practically all parts, wherever the land rises between 1,500 and 4,000 feet above sea-level. The choicest and most productive plantations are located in the Departments of Ahuachapán, La Libertad, San Salvador, San Vicente, Santa Ana and Sonsonate. The berry is also grown in Usulután, La Paz and Cuscatlán, many hundreds of thousands of additional trees having been planted throughout this part of the country during the past two or three years.
The coffee-tree is a tender shrub, and needs careful attending and protection from the sun from the time of planting, and even for a lengthy period after it has begun to produce crops. It required a great many years to convince the cautious inhabitants of Salvador that there was money to be made in growing coffee, and up till some fifty years ago little attention was paid to the industry, since few opportunities existed for disposing promptly of a whole crop. The stimulus which latter-day transportation offers was wanting, as was the world-wide demand for the coffee-berry which has since been met with. Since the industry was first seriously entered upon, the resources of the State have been[235] greatly augmented, and the welfare of a large labouring class has correspondingly increased.
I was informed upon one estate, or finca, that the trees in Salvador were sufficiently matured when three years old to produce a fair crop, and that this yield continued to increase until the seventh year, when it reached its maximum. It is calculated that the outlay for labour and expenses in producing coffee amounts to between 21?2d. to 3d. per pound, while the retail price varies from 5d. to 1s. It may be taken, on an average, that one-half of the annual crop is consumed in the country, and that the remainder is exported. There is a general opinion prevalent among experts that Salvadorean coffee is superior in quality to that of Brazil, or even to the Blue Mountain (Jamaica) berry; while as to the pre-eminence of the aroma over both of these rivals there can be no question whatever.
Sugar-cane growing is an industry for which the genial climate and the bounteous soil of Salvador are admirably adapted, and the cane is cultivated to a greater or less extent in all of the fourteen different Departments. As I have pointed out in another part of this volume, when describing sugar machinery (see Chapter XII.), there is a great need of improved equipment, which, were it provided, would probably serve to double, and even in some cases to treble, the amount of this particular product. But even with the imperfect reduction work which is carried out upon nine-tenths of the fincas, sugar is produced to such an extent as not only to abundantly supply the home requirements, but to provide a considerable share of the country\'s exports. The greater part of the sugar used in the country is turned out in the shape of small blocks or cakes, weighing about 2 pounds each, and[236] bearing the name of panela, similar to that produced in Brazil and Mexico. A large quantity of this stuff, which looks and tastes very much like toffee, while it also resembles the maple sugar of North America, is used in the manufacture of native rum. Conical-shaped loaves of compact white sugar, weighing from 25 to 40 pounds each, are also manufactured, but are mostly made for export.
In the "golden days" of California, the greater part of the rum which was consumed upon the gold-fields came from Sonsonate in Salvador, being packed in 14 and 15 gallon casks and greybeards of from 3 to 6 gallons, suitable for easy transport to the Californian diggings.
For some years past Salvador has been gaining a reputation for the excellent quality of its tobacco, and there are several manufactories established in the Republic, which are doing remarkably well. One of the best known for cigars is that of Se?ora Josefa B. de Diaz, the amiable proprietress of the Hotel América, at Cojutepeque.
Half a century ago Salvador was exporting tobacco to Mexico, and had been doing a fair amount of trade with that country even in the time of the Spanish dominion. The tobacco production collectively in all the provinces of the Republic yield a net revenue to the Government of more than ￡500,000 annually; but the method of administering and collecting the taxes in former times helped as much as anything else to retard the industry. For instance, under the old régime a general system was subscribed, and scrupulously adhered to, which precluded people from raising tobacco, except when they should obtain a licence to do so from the authorities; and the growers, under[237] one of the many irritating conditions attached to the official permission, were bound to deliver the entire crop, after it had been dried and prepared, into the Government factories at a stipulated rate per pound; it was then retailed to the community at a fixed price, and yielded the substantial revenue referred to. Later on each province passed its own laws for regulating this branch of the public income, and,............