Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/791

 AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY

fruit, and vegetables. The principal crops of the harvest for 3 years are shown as follows : —

Acreage

Produce in Cwts.

—

1916-17

1917-18

1918-19 1916-17

1917-18

1918-19

Wheat Barley

1.2S2.096 126

1,3",

1,2S:.,400 110,500

10,224,306

2,07 •

949.944

34,190

38,705,166*

12,584,606

1,438,624

ttt>176

734,472

1,386,2^8

291,656

57,690

45,448,392'

11,459.500 1,596,775

Oats. Maize.

Beans

49,128

131.S46

51,000 58,635 109,000

•:-_"j.V"

tmjm

652,500 932,601

Peas.

Lentils Potatoes Vines.

37,009 71,002

5,824

234.800 gs^ajM 242,3701 36,573,252 »

i Tona.

> Gallons of wine.

For 1919-20 production (in tons) was given as follows : — Wheat, 552,652; rye, 877 ; barley, 88,825; oats, 35,986; maize, 42,895 ; beans, 60,218 ; peas, 1,038.

On December 31, 1919, the live stock of Chile comprised 391,718 horses, 36,439 asses, 51,411 mules, 2,163,141 cattle, 4,500,196 sheep, 459,606 goats, 42,019 alpacas, and 292,431 pigs.

Dairy farms and the production of butter and cheese are on the increase. In Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego large tracts of country are devoted to sheep- farming. Extensive natural forests are found, the largest being found in the provinces of Valdivia (1,885,406 acres), Llanquihue (1,406,024 acres), and Chiloe (1,188,572 acres). The wealth of the country, however, consists chiefly in its minerals, especially in the northern provinces of Atacama and Tarapaca.

The metals obtained were gold, silver, copper (Chile is the world's second largest producer of copper), cobalt, and manganese ; the non- metallic substances being coal, nitrate, borate, salt, sulphur, and guano. Iron-ore deposits are found in the provinces of Atacama and of Coquimbo, estimated at over 1,000,000,000 tons. All the coal mines of Chile are situated south of Valparaiso. Production in 1918, 1,516,524 tons.

Nitrate of soda, or 'salitre,' is not only Chile's most important article of export but the chief source of governmental revenue derived from export taxes. It is found in the section of the desert of Atacama, known locally as the 'pampa salitrera,' a territory comprising an area of some 500 miles in length, lying between latitude 15° and 26° south, and situated at an eleva- tion above sea level of from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. This zone is divided into districts known as the pampas of Tarapaca, Tocopilla, Antofagasta, Aguas Blancas, and Taltal respectively. Production and exportation of nitrate in recent years are stated as follows : —

Production

1910 1915 1917

Metric t^ns 2,465,415 1. 755,oo,i 3,001.- 32

Exported

Years

Production Exported

Metric tons

2,335,941 1918

2,023,294 1919

2,776,289 1920

Metric tons Metric tons

2.si9.S03 ..',177

1,651,407 924,398

2.60^,571 2,87

In 1918 Chile had 2,320 manufacturing establishments, using raw ma- terials to the valne of 403,707,096 gold pesos, which were manufactured into merchandise to the value of 766,776,872 gold pesos. The number of workmen employed was 70,920.

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