1886 9,859,703
1887 18,683,365
1888 35,108,468
1889 63,546,624
1890 29,273,198
1891 22,267,381
Mortgages.
From the year 1888 to the year 1891 the yearly capital put out at
interest with securities on land has been:
In 1888 $12,788,660
" 1889 27,821,672
" 1890 22,569,360
" 1891 13,545,853
How Easily One Becomes a Land Owner.
There exist in Montevideo great agencies, like the one called the
"Industrial" created in the year 1874, by Mr. Francis Piria, the sole
object of which is to make easy the division of the property in the
capital and the neighborhood, by purchasing large zones of land and
by dividing them into square _cuadras_, or fractions of over four
English acres, when they belong to the town district, and into the
best possible form outside.
This agency has created many villages out of the Department of
Montevideo, as "Recreo de las Piedras," "Joaquin Suarez," "Buenos
Ayres," "Bella Italia" and many others.
The centres of population created by the "Industrial" are over a
hundred; some of them have been aggregated to the town district,
everyone of them becoming important centres, on account of the number
of the inhabitants, and of the increasing value of the land, sold
formerly very cheap, and payable at the rate of $2.00 per month.
All the fractions of land have generally been bought by work-people
who have built their own houses.
According to the general balance and informations collected down to
the year 1891, the "Industrial" agency had made 52,317 proprietors,
and the fractions of land sold up to that time were 183,000, the
result of the sale being $79,411. The number of houses was 8000.
Those who bought some of those fractions of land a few years ago,
payable in the above mentioned conditions, at the rate of 20 or 25
cents per metre, are now-a-days owners of properties which are worth
two, three, four and five times more.
The very same thing happens in the colonies or agricultural centres
established in many departments of the Republic, the founders
of which have given to the settlers all kinds of easy means for
establishing themselves.
Families of work-people that had arrived here with nothing but the
means of facing the very first necessities have become, after a few
years, owners of the land they had bought, payable monthly, and
having increased their possessions by buying new land, they have
enlarged the sphere of their operations and are now able to work over
their own properties in a fully independent and easy situation.
The advantages of such a system will be easily understood.
With what a workman or settler pays monthly for the rent of the land,
he makes himself, after a short time, the owner of the land and of
the house he lives in, as the monthly rent redeems with a small
interest the value of the property.
In such conditions great many people are known who enjoy all these
advantages, and many more, who being the proprietors of the land
purchased in such a way have made small fortunes.
There cannot be a better way imagined of fixing the immigrants or
giving to the peasant all the means of becoming a proprietor and of
consecrating himself to highly profitable agricultural industries.
Value of the Land.
The population has not yet reached a great density. The best part
of the territory is destined to cattle, sheep, and horse breeding,
in establishments called _estancias_. _A suerte or estancia_ is
equivalent to 1992 hectares 2787 metres, or one league and a half
in length by a half league in width, or three quarters of a square
league or 4,923 square acres 333 square yards.
The price of a _suerte_ varies according to the department and also
to its situation. The lowest price of a _suerte_ is generally no less
than $7,000 and rises above $50,000 in the departments quite close to
the capital, that are still devoted to pastoral land.
In the north, next to the frontier, land may be purchased at the rate
of $3 to $10 an hectare.
In the centre, from $6 to $15.
In the south, the land rises to higher prices, which vary from $10 to
$100 per hectare.
The agricultural land in the environs of towns and villages, and in
the departments of Canelones, Colonia, Soriano, San Jose, Paysandu,
Salto costs $10, $20, $40, $50 and $100 an hectare. In the department
of Montevideo it rises to $100, $200 and $300, according to the
situation.
There are no restrictions or difficulties in purchasing or transfer.
Great companies established abroad, above all in England, and others
in the Republic have purchased great tracts of land in order to
improve cattle breeding, agriculture, sand and stone extraction along
the banks of the River Plate and Uruguay, and other important rural
industries.
During these last two years the agricultural industry has notably
spread itself, above all that of cereals, forage, firewood trees,
vine, olive trees, tobacco and oleoginous and textile plants.
The lowest rate at which a _suerte_ of land for cattle feeding can
be hired is $400 a year. There are fields, however, that can produce
two, three and four times more. The hectare of agricultural land may
be hired at a yearly price of $1.20. In some departments, like that
of Canelones, where the agricultural industry has improved a great
deal, the yearly renting is $4.00 and more.
The land pays the property tax or _Contribucion Inmobiliaria_, at the
uniform rate of 6-1/2 per thousand in relation with the value that
the law has fixed to the land according to the departments.
Agriculture.
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is an essentially pastoral country.
Its fields, covered with good and nutritive grass, are nearly all
of them divided into _estancias_ for cattle breeding, that, to the
present time, is the principal source of riches of the country.
Agriculture, however, has already reached a high degree of importance
in the departments of Montevideo, Canelones, Colonia, San Jose,
Soriano, Paysandu, Salto, Florida, Durazno, Maldonado. It is not
quite so important in the other departments as in the three first
ones. However, in the environs of the villages and centres of
population, there are great many farms and agricultural centres that
produce cereals and vegetables for local consumption. The exceeding
crop, in the prosperous years, is immediately sent to the principal
commercia centres of the Republic, which allows the export of corn,
flour, wheat, canary-seed, flax, trefoil, barley, etc.
Although the Republic counts with a fertile soil, and finds itself
in the very best conditions for any kind of agricultural industry,
agriculture, however, remains still in a secondary degree, in spite
of its late improvements, and in spite of the large extension of
land which began last year to be cultivated.
However, after all the necessities of the country have been satisfied
there generally remains an important surplus of agricultural and
rural products, when the crop is good, that may be calculated over
$1,200,000.00.
The wheat grown in Uruguay is reputed to be the best in all South
America, and effectively got the gold medal in the Universal Paris
Exhibition in the year 1878.
In this country one _fanega_ of wheat (the fanega is equivalent to
105 or 113 kilogs more or less) produces sometimes from 20 to 30
fanegas; one of maize produces from 150 to 200, one of barley from 18
to 30.
Besides wheat and maize, the sowing of which is most important, the
grape vine, the olive, tobacco, flax, canary-seed, hemp, chick-pea,
beans of all kinds, potatoes, (two crops a year,) peas, lentils,
Spanish potatoes, beet-roots, etc., etc., are also cultivated with
very good results.
As we have said, the vegetables are produced in a great variety and
abundance.
The tobacco culture is also a new source of wealth opened to the
economical movement of the country. Although this industry still goes
rather slowly, there are already many establishments in the interior
where it has been undertaken with very good results.
Agricultural Centres.
Many are the agricultural centres, generally known by the name of
_colonies_, established all over the Republic, that, owing to the
special conditions of the land which is fit for all cultures, have
notably improved.
Among the principal colonies, or agricultural settlements, there are:
1st. The _Valdense Colony_, founded in 1858. It has an area of 19,432
square cuadras (14,338 hectares 5,035 metres).
Its population in 1884 was 306 families, forming a total of 1,681
inhabitants. To-day, there are more than 2,200 inhabitants. It
possesses the best agricultural machinery, steam-mills, and steam
and water mills, good carpenters, blacksmiths, and in a word all
the establishments necessary to the unceasing progress of such
agricultural centres. It has two Evangelical churches, a public
library with over a thousand books, eight schools, a postoffice, a
municipal commission and a police office.
2d. _Swiss_, _Quevedo_ and _Spanish Colonies_. The _Swiss Colony_ was
founded in 1863. It has an area of 8,782 square cuadras, or 6,480
hectares, 709 metres. The _Quevedo Colony_ has an area of 5,091
square cuadras, or 3,756 hectares and 5,521 metres, and the _Spanish
Colony_ 9,600 square cuadras, or 7,083 hectares, 6,576 metres.
These three agricultural centres form a total of 17,320 hectares,
over which live more than 420 families. They possess steam-mills,
schools, many commercial establishments. In the Swiss Colony
there are two churches--a Catholic and Protestant. The public
administration of these settlements consist of a municipal
commission, a justice of peace and an attorney. They also have a
postoffice.
3d. _Sauce Colony._ The first settlers who cultivated the soil in
this agricultural centre were some Swiss people who, in the year
1879, hired the land where it now exists, In the years 1880 and 1881
other families came and settled themselves close to the first ones.
In 1883, thirty families more came from the Valdense Colony; so that
in 1884 the Sauce Colony counted 59 families.
4th. _Riachuelo Colony._ It is 10 kilometres distant, eastward, from
Colonia del Sacramento. The first settlers have paid for all the land
they had bought, being now the sole owners of it.
The formation and improvements of this colony are owed to the mere
intelligence and work of the settlers. The land is of a very good
quality and especially fit for wheat. The other plants like maize,
barley, beans, potatoes, etc., give also a very good result. The
settlers are mostly foreigners; and most of them are Italians. The
colony possesses a large public building, which is destined to be the
school and the church; besides this, it has also a national school
of the first degree. The steam-mill that exists works only for the
colony.
The above-mentioned colonies are situated in the Department of
Colonia, and besides those, there are also the _Arrue_ and _Belgrano
Colonies_.
5th. _Nuevo Berlin Colony._ In the Department of Rio Negro there
exists, since a few years, the Nuevo Berlin Colony. It has over 1,033
hectares in full culture, and possesses steam ploughs and all kind of
agricultural machinery.
6th. _Porvenir Colony._ The colonies in the Department of Paysandu
are the _Villa Rosalia_ and _Esperanza_ colonies, of recent
foundation, and the so-called _Porvenir_ colony. This last one is
the most important one, counting already over 1,690 inhabitants.
The languages spoken in the colony are Spanish and Italian. The
soil cannot be better, and is fit for all kinds of culture. It
possesses steam and water mills, a threshing Rausanes machine and a
Hornsby. It has three schools--a public one and two private ones--and
many societies, every one of them working for the improvement of
the colony, and also other societies, the object of which is the
purchase of all the necessary agricultural machinery. The public
administration consists of a justice of peace, two attorneys, a
police officer and a postoffice.
7th. _General Rivera Colony._ It is situated in the Department of
Artigas, and has an extension of 4,987 hectares, over which they
cultivate tobacco, maize, _mani_ and _mandioca_; it counts now over a
hundred families.
8th. _Francisco Aguilar_ and _Francisco Dastre Colonies_. They are
situated in the Department of Maldonado. The executive power, in
the year 1883, ordered the necessary studies to be made for the
demarcation of the land where the Francisco Aguilar Colony was to be
established. Out of the 2,114 hectares which formed it, 1,359 were
destined to general cattle feeding ground, and 755 to ploughing. The
administration of the colony is intrusted to a directive commission.
In the year 1884 was established the Francisco Dastre Colony, in
which 368 hectares are destined to ploughing and 59 to cattle feeding.
9th. _Santa Teresa Colony._ Situated in the Department of Rocha and
founded on June 24th, 1885; it has 5,534 hectares, more or less.
10th. _Igualdad Colony._ It was founded in 1875, in the Department of
Minas. It has a church and a school.
11th. _Harriague_, _San Antonia_ and _Lavalleja Colonies_. In the
Department of Salto exist the colonies called, "Harriague," "San
Antonio," "Lavalleja," "Cosmopolita" and "Estrella" that have all
been founded a short time ago.
The Harriague colony has an area of 1860 square cuadras, or 1372
hectares. The principal culture is wheat and maize.
The San Antonio colony was founded by the government. The land was
divided into small _estancias_ or _chacras_, or farms of 20 cuadras,
more or less, each, that were given to some old servants of the state
and settlers and are now consecrated to the sowing of cereals.
The Lavalleja colony was founded in a field of government land, and
occupied by many native families. The government ordered the land to
be divided into _chacras_, every one of them being given to the first
settlers and some old servants as a reward for their services.
12th. _Paullier Colony._ In the department of San Jose is situated
the colony of Paullier Brothers, founded in the year 1883. Its
extension is 6,298 square cuadras or 4,647 hectares. In 1884 its
population was 400 inhabitants; now it may be calculated to be more
than 500. The quality of the soil cannot be better. The cheeses of
this colony are the best made in the country, and constitute an
important industry. The cows are all of good breed, and besides them
the colony possesses a large number of valuable animals imported
directly from Europe and bred and fed under shed.
13th. _Rio Negro Colony._ This colony is situated in the tenth
district of the department of Tacuarembo, between the Rio Negro and
the rivulets Cardozo and Cacique grande. It has a superficies of
38,216 square cuadras, (28,198 hectares, 8,602 metres), out of which
1,249 square cuadras, (921 hectares, 6,133 metres) form the district
of the village called "Teniente General M. Tajes"; the remaining part
is divided into 361 _chacras_ or farms.
The area of each _chacra_ varies from 29-1/2 to 88-1/2 hectares.
A third part of the _chacras_ are already occupied, and although
the colony is of a quite recent foundation the results obtained by
the settlers cannot be hoped to be better. The colony possesses
already six dairies. It is sure to become, very soon, one of the most
important agricultural settlements, on account of its good situation,
which permits the easy exporting of its products by the railway, not
only to the interior of the Republic but also to the very frontier of
Brazil.
The land is very good for plowing, on account, also, of its situation
and of the many rivers that run through it, and is quite fit for the
sowing of wheat and maize, and also for the culture of tobacco and
the grape vine.
The village "Maximo Tajes" that belongs to the same colony has a
railway station, a fruit market, a public square, a postoffice, a
police-office, and very soon they are going to build a church and a
school.
14th. _Antonio Crespo Colony._ It was founded in 1891 in the sixth
district of the department of Tacuarembo, in the place called
"Aldea," a league and a half distant from San Fructuoso.
15th. _Stajano Colony._ In the department of Durazno and at a short
distance of the so-called town, the capital of the department, was
recently founded a new colony, called "Stajano Colony." It has an
area of 7,378 hectares and between 300 and 400 inhabitants; all along
the river Yi it possesses many thick woods. The railway station is
only one kilometre distant from the town.
During these last two years, in all the rural districts devoted to
cattle feeding, they have everywhere begun preserving part of the
land for the culture of cereals, potatoes, etc. ... forages and trees
fit for cutting and burning. Thus the production of the land has
been increased still, and also the rural activity, preparing a total
transformation in the cattle feeding and general rural industry of
the country.
16th. _Piriapolis._ So as to give an idea of what the collective
capital can do and what results all undertakings may obtain, the
object of which is to foment agricultural industry and colonization,
something is to be said here of what has already been done by that
intelligent and indefatigable business man, Mr. Francisco Piria.
At a distance of some 140 kilometres from Montevideo, by land, and
50 miles by river, over a superficies of 1,992 hectares, among very
picturesque hills, watered by the River Plate and bounded northward
by the ridge of hills of Pan de Azucar, lies the new establishment
called _Piriapolis_, divided into two large fractions, one of which
is devoted to general culture and various industries, and the other
intended to be a bathing town, with its own port, a beautiful bay,
and a large, neat and secure harbor.
_Piriapolis_ was founded, at the most, two years ago, still it
already possesses a large building for the direction of the colony,
houses for two hundred workmen, 400 kilometres of land all surrounded
by iron wire fencing, many natural wells, and brick ovens. They have
also begun the drilling of many artesian wells.
The plantations are 80 hectares, planted with vines (the plants are 2
and 3 years old); three millions of vine-shoot of the best varieties;
a nursery with 200,000 olive trees; another nursery with a million
of plants, ash trees, maple trees, acacias, etc., ... 300,000 trees
to be planted next autumn in the streets and avenues of the bathing
town. Groves of eucalyptuses, acacias and other quick-growing trees
have already been planted all around the town, covering an extension
of 400 hectares.
Two hundred and sixty hectares have been sowed with wheat, beans,
French beans, Spanish beans, potatoes and other vegetables.
Great plantations of fruit trees have also been made, and the culture
of tobacco has been tried over 80 hectares.
Next year 50 houses more are going to be built, and also a church, a
school, a municipal house and a police office.
When all these works are concluded then will take place the solemn
inauguration of _Piriapolis_.
The soil in _Piriapolis_ is very good. The bed of _humus_ or arable
ground is 30 centim., and sometimes 1 met., 20 centim. deep. In
some parts there are beneath that bed of humus other large beds of
carbonate of lime, from one to two metres thick.
There are various springs of mineral waters, the properties of which
have been officially recognized.
Among the natural extractive riches of the colony, there are some
300 hectares of forests, the trees of which are between five and six
metres high. The cutting of trees has already begun, and a result may
be hoped of 6,000 carts of wood, that will give a liquid product of
$1.20 each cart.
There are also beautiful granite quarries, with pieces of stone some
metres high. The granite of _Piriapolis_ can be extracted and cut
very easily. Its price is hardly 20 per cent. of what it generally
costs in the other quarries. A contract has been recently made for
the purchase of 20,000 posts, 1^m 80 high, by 0^m 25 thick, at the
rate of 15c. each. The Directive Commission intends to work the
quarries on a great scale, and to establish the working of the stone.
Actually, in _Piriapolis port_, they have begun to build a quay, a
100 m. long. The depths of the bay varies between 4 and 7 fathoms, at
a distance of some 250 m. from the coast.
A road is already opened to public service. It is 30 m. broad and on
each side of it a double row of trees has been planted. This road
puts _Piriapolis_ in communication with the rest of the Department
of Maldonado, and will be useful for the trade and commerce of the
Department of Minas.
_Piriapolis_ is actually a reunion of farms and a territorial
speculation, which is called to foment the density of the population
and also the improvement of all kind of production; it divides the
land and gives it every day more value, making it every day more
productive by its agricultural industries, and also by the foundation
of that bathing town, which secures a great consumption of the
products, whilst at the same time the River Plate and the ocean
permit the easy exporting of the same.
The Grape-Vine in the Republic.
The culture of the vine is improving a great deal in the Republic
owing to the good results obtained by those, who some years ago,
tried the establishing of vine plots, which is now one of the most
important industries of the country and will soon be an inexhaustible
source of riches for the Republic.
Since a few years, great many people have consecrated important areas
of their lands to the establishing of vine-plots, and to-day the
extension of land covered with them is more than 2,000 hectares, the
greatest part of which are already producing.
Many societies have been created for fomenting that new industry,
among which we may mention the _Viticola Uruguaya_ with a capital of
$120,000 and the _Viticola Saltena_ with a capital $200,000.
The _Viticola Uruguaya_ counts with:
_Vine-Plots._
17 hectares, with plants 5 years old, $3,500 $59,500.00
51 " " 3 " 1,500 76,500.00
24 " " 1 " 200 4,800.00
_Land._
1,283 hectares, which have cost $28,279.65
Fencing 2,000.00
_Other Plantations._
150,000 forest trees, 2, 3 and 4 years old
at 10 cents each $15,000.00
8,000 olive trees, in nurseries, 10 cents
each 800.00
2,000 fruit trees, 20 cents each 400.00
Various Plants 1,000.00
_Materials for Construction._
Existing materials $800.00
_Buildings and Cellars._
Existing buildings and cellars $8,000.00
___________
$197,079.65
Although the culture of the vine was introduced into the country
a great many years ago by Mr. F. Vidiella in the South, and Mr.
Harriague in the North, it may be said that it is only six years ago
since this culture has been really improved and spread with great
intensity all over the Republic.
The actual products of the best vine-plots may be calculated for each
vintage over 6,000 barrels, that is to say over 1,400,000 litres,
without counting the small vine-plots that, however, gives a fair
contingent for domestic consumption.
Owing to this production and also to the diminution in the
consumption on account of the crisis of 1890, an important diminution
is noted in the year 1891 in the importation of ordinary wines.
Red and White Wines. Litres. Value.
Imported in 1889 33,549,815 $4,173,917
" 1890 29,327,420 3,632,490
" 1891 21,483,614 2,634,547
After a few years more the importation of ordinary wines from France,
Spain and Italy will be reduced to nearly nothing.
A vine-plot, 30 hectares large and 14 years old, has given a liquid
product, free from all duties, of $20,000.
Therefore, owing to the advantages that the country presents for the
culture of the vine, and owing also to the vigorous impulse given
to that culture during the last few years, it may be said that the
day is not far remote in which the Uruguay fields will be covered
with vine-plots, producing all sorts of wines, not only for local
consumption, but also for exportation to Brazil and the Argentine
Republic.
Uruguay Rural Association.