PARAGUAY: RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES
The chief resources of Paraguay at present and for an indefinite future
are pastoral pursuits, forestry, and agriculture.
FORESTRY
=Quebracho.= The exploitation of quebracho is an important source of
wealth. On the estimated 27,000,000 acres of forest land in the country
are valuable woods of many varieties, among which the quebracho is
preëminent. The first factory in South America for the extraction of
tannin from this wood was established in 1889 at Puerto Galileo in
the Chaco. The Forestal Company, British owned, was a leader in the
development of the industry in which one or more American companies
have lately become interested. Large sums have been invested,
$15,000,000 it is said by a single company. Most of the properties are
located in the Chaco, which has great tracts of land distributed to
individuals or companies, some of whom have never seen their holdings.
One American company has 1,500,000 acres.
Unlike most other trees from which tannin is derived, the tannin is not
in the bark, but it permeates the entire wood. Formerly the logs were
exported, but this is now forbidden. The International Products Company
has a mill at Puerto Pinasco on the west bank of the Paraguay above San
Salvador, and 300 miles north of San Antonio. The wood is remarkably
rich in tannin which runs 20 per cent. The wood must be cut and then
ground to extract the substance, the refuse wood running the engines.
One tree weighing a ton will produce 600 pounds of extract. By means
of three rotary evaporators, the extract may be solidified so as to
be packed in bags, 75-100 tons of the solid in 24 hours. The Company,
owning enough wood to produce 450,000 tons, is equipped to supply
30,000 tons of the extract annually. The trees are hauled by oxen to a
light railway which brings them to the port, the railway being extended
as the felling of the trees goes farther inland. Twenty million pounds
of extract were exported from Paraguay in 1919.
=Other Wood.= Several other trees have bark which is used for tannin,
among them the _curupay_, said to have 28 per cent in the bark, which
is used in Paraguay. This is one of the strongest woods in the world,
like quebracho much wanted for railway ties. The _urunday_ is a wood so
durable that posts of it in damp ground have lasted 200 years. Other
woods resemble the hickory, the English walnut, the soft pine, etc.
The _ivara-pitak_ is a fine all around timber, light, tough, and hard,
an unusual combination. Lignum vitae (_palo santo_), almost as hard as
quebracho, cedar, and bitter orange abound, the leaves of the latter
used for essential oil, chiefly exported to France. The hard woods are
useful for railways, for cabinet making, and fine furniture; also for
firewood on account of the enormous price of coal. From the proximity
of the forests to the coalless region of Argentina and its plains,
mostly treeless or supporting light woods only, like eucalyptus and
poplar, forestry is certain to have in Paraguay a speedy and extensive
development, in spite of the fact that there is a great variety of
trees growing in a small space, as 47 different kinds among 163 trees
in a tract 100 yards square. However, in places in the Chaco the
quebracho chiefly abounds.
Other woods found in the eastern forest are _ibiraro_, close grained
and flexible, the best for wheels, which made of this wood last for
years without tires, excellent also for boat and ship building; the
_caranday_ or black palm 30 feet high, used for telegraph poles and
scaffolding; _palo de rosa_ (rosewood), a mahogany used for cigar
boxes; the _tatum_, good for clothes boxes, being obnoxious to insects;
and many more, valuable but little known. Also there are fibre plants,
ramie, jute, etc.
=Yerba mate=, although now to some extent cultivated, is chiefly a
forestal product. Once known as Paraguay tea, it is a famous product of
the country, and in some sections the most important.
The trees or shrubs grow wild in the forest to a height of 10-25 feet;
from these the bright green leaves are gathered from which the tea is
made. How to propagate the trees was for years a mystery, but it is
now known that soaking the seed in hot water will promote germination.
If planted in tiny wooden boxes with no bottom, 9 inches deep, the
roots may be transplanted without injury. A tree comes into bearing
in five years, but reaches full production only after 12 years. Some
plantations have been established on the Alto Paraná, but the greater
part of the _mate_ comes from the virgin forest. The natural trees in
the forest grow better if that is cleared of underbrush and of the
larger trees. When full grown they can endure 5-6 cuttings a year
without permanent harm.
The Industrial Paraguay, with a capital of $5,000,000, is said to
export about 75 per cent of the total. This Company holding a property
of 8400 square miles, was the first to undertake on a considerable
scale the cultivation of _yerba mate_ in plantations. Their largest is
in the north at Nueva Germania on the River Acaray. Barthe and Company,
with a property of 3000 square miles, has a plantation near Nacunday
on the Paraná River with 1,400,000 trees producing, and 1,000,000 more
immature. The plantations of 28,000 acres will soon supply 5,700,000
pounds a year. _Mate_ sold in 1918 at 8-10 cents a pound. In that year
cultivated trees produced 6,700,000 pounds, and the natural 17,200,000
pounds. _Chatas_, flat boats, carry the dried leaves down stream to
river ports where they are taken by steamers to Asunción, Posadas,
Corrientes, or Buenos Aires to be ground. The Industrial has two
ports on the Paraná and one on the Acaray, with mills in Asunción,
Corrientes, and Buenos Aires. La Matte Larangeira, a Brazilian Company,
has some _yerbales_ in North Paraguay, but more in Matto Grosso.
Ten to twelve million persons in South America drink _mate_, though
tea and coffee are more fashionable in the large cities. Its use was
spreading in Europe before the War, but few persons in the United
States are acquainted with its virtues. Containing less tannin, it is
more healthful than tea or coffee, is soothing to the nervous system,
and beneficial to digestion unless taken to excess. When used instead
of food it becomes injurious. It is much drunk on the plains of
Argentina, counteracting the effects of an excessive meat diet. It may
be made like tea, but in its native haunts, the powder is put into a
gourd called a _mate_, boiling water is poured on, and after steeping
the liquid is drunk with a _bombilla_, a tube ending in an oval ball,
with small holes to admit the liquid, but supposed to keep out the
_yerba_.
AGRICULTURE
=Tobacco=, largely cultivated in Paraguay, is the most important
agricultural product with the first place in foreign trade. Almost
every one smokes large cigars, even women and girls. The leaves are
divided into seven classes: the first class called _pito_ containing
2¹⁄₂ per cent of nicotine, the seventh class 7 per cent. The first four
classes are used in Europe as fillers, the last three in Argentina as
wrappers, having larger, stronger leaves. The tobacco is mainly from
Havana seed introduced in 1900. The leaves are dried and fermented, and
made into various types of cigars, or shipped in crude form to Europe,
formerly the most to Germany, later to France and Spain. Of one crop
of 7000 tons 4000 went to Europe, there sold under different names. In
Argentina and Uruguay the cigars and cigarettes are popular under the
name of Paraguay.
=Small Farm Products.= Agriculture is naturally important for home
consumption, but aside from tobacco and oranges the exports are slight.
As almost everything will grow in the rich soil, with increasing
population agriculture will become a great source of wealth. Mandioca
and corn are staple for the small farmer, the latter of two varieties,
a hard white and a soft yellow, the former of especial excellence
both for nutriment, and withstanding the ravages of the grain weevil.
Three crops a year may be raised from one variety of sweet corn. White
potatoes flourish, though not so well as sweet, no great hardship.
Beans, peanuts, millet, and various European vegetables are raised for
home consumption. Wheat is experimental. Coffee does fairly but is
often injured by frost; alfalfa not so well as in Argentina. Rotation
of crops is unknown and few implements are employed. Life is so easy
that the small farmer is rather shiftless, and practically nothing is
done on a large scale.
=Oranges=, grown by every one, are the most noteworthy of the many
varieties of fruit produced in Paraguay, but high freight rates make
them less profitable than they should be. They grow freely and are
exported in large numbers to Argentina and Uruguay, 200,000,000 in
1919; they have been called the best in the world. However, they
do not keep well, and being carelessly packed many are spoiled in
transportation. The introduction of hardier varieties is talked of.
=Sugar= finds excellent soil but is liable to suffer from frost or
drought. It is grown mostly in the north near the rivers, railways, and
factories. There are at least seven mills, two at Villa Hayes in the
Chaco, one at Concepción. Some small mills make brown sugar and _caña_;
387,500 tons were produced in 1918. About 20,000 acres were cultivated
in 1919, but some sugar is imported. The methods have been crude but
are improving.
=Cotton.= Good cotton land exists especially in the southwest, and in
the Chaco. An indigenous tree bears 10-12 years. The staple is of good
length and quality. Not enough is produced to supply the home market,
but its culture is increasing. A Belgian obtained annually 1000 pounds
an acre for six years. At present the seed is not utilized.
=Rice= is grown on low ground between the Paraguay River and the
railway. Two crops a year may be raised giving 2000 pounds to the acre,
a quantity which might be nearly doubled. The coconut palm, peanut, and
castor bean flourish.
THE STOCK INDUSTRY
Cattle raising is beginning to be very profitable in Paraguay as in
the neighboring countries; and here there is a chance for the small
capitalist. Formerly some live cattle were exported, but ten times as
many hides; also dried meat from _saladeros_. During the Great War
operations were carried on by three American companies. A plant at San
Salvador, nearly three hundred miles above Asunción, for slaughtering
cattle and putting up canned meat, was conducted by Morris; another by
Swift 5 miles above the Capital, where over 900,000 six-pound cans of
meat were put up in 1918. But with the conclusion of the War the demand
fell off so rapidly that both plants are closed and dismantled.
A third establishment, however, at San Antonio, 15 miles below the
Capital, is actively engaged and about to increase its output. The
International Products Company has a thoroughly modern equipment, a
real _frigorifico_, for the export of frozen meat, with a capacity
of 175,000 head of cattle a year, to be shipped to Buenos Aires and
Europe. The cattle are in part purchased from individual farmers,
but the Company has a large property where its own production is
increasing. Nearly 300 leagues of land are owned back of Puerto Pinasco
in the Chaco: one half for cattle grazing and half quebracho lands.
They have 600 miles of barbed wire and a herd of 70,000 with some
blooded stock. The western section is used for young cattle which are
moved east the third year for fattening. The Company besides tugs and
lighters for the transport of the cattle has two refrigerating steamers
to carry the frozen meat to Buenos Aires. The hides increase the value
of the production.
The native cattle are far better than the Texas Longhorn, but not
equal to the blooded stock of Argentina. They weigh 850-1000 pounds
and afford excellent beef. The Argentine is heavier but called coarser
than that of the United States. The Paraguay stock is now being
improved especially with Herefords. A 50 per cent increase of the herd
is general. It is estimated that the number of cattle in Paraguay is
now 5,000,000, and that 40,000,000 may be easily supported. The native
grasses are good, and the _jaraguá_ from Brazil is used. Stock may be
bought at $15 a head, perhaps less in large numbers, affording the best
possible opportunity for the small capitalist. The dairy industry is
slight, the native cows being poor milkers.
The Chaco land near the River is liable to floods but few cattle are
lost as there is usually time to drive them back 20-30 miles to the
second and higher zone beyond the danger. It has been said that cattle
covered with ticks east of the Paraguay on crossing into the Chaco
soon become free of them. A French company in 1919 had 150,000 head
of cattle with over 500 Hereford bulls, a breeding stock of more than
100,000. One thousand miles of pasture were enclosed. The Company makes
use of 130 telephones, has shops, a tannery, etc. Besides Herefords
there are Durhams and Polled Angus. Two hundred men are in charge of
the stock. The natives make good cowboys, better I was told than some
Americans who went down from here a few years ago.
=Other Stock.= As to other stock, horses are comparatively few, not
one tenth of the number of cattle, hardly enough for home use. They
are liable to disease and do not thrive in the Chaco, better east of
the River. Mules serve well though smaller than in the United States.
Horses are outnumbered by sheep, which are valuable for meat, though
mutton is not favored by the natives. The climate is obviously warm for
sheep and their fleece is light. New stock must be introduced. Hogs and
goats thrive better.
MINING
=Iron=, 34 per cent pure, was produced at Ibicuy, 1863-69. Indications
of it are widespread near the Alto Paraná, and near Caapacá, Quiquió,
and Paraguarí.
=Manganese= runs 63 per cent in beds of 60,000,000 tons. Copper exists
near Encarnación and Caapacá. There are large beds of good stone, talc,
graphite, kaolin. Probably petroleum will be found in the Chaco.
MANUFACTURING
Manufacturing is non-existent, aside from the quebracho and sugar
mills, save for a few necessities of life, as by many regarded. Beer
comes first with the largest investment of capital, flour mills next,
then boots and shoes, furniture, brick, tiles, matches, hard and soft
drinks, soap, vegetable oils, etc. The opportunities are vast for the
development of electric power. Labor in general is fair and loyal,
undeveloped, but with good intelligence. The men lack steadiness and a
feeling of responsibility. There has been less labor trouble than in
Argentina and Chile, but men from Argentina have been attempting to
unionize them. Strikes are common. Wages are from 50 cents to $3.00 a
day, the lower with quarters. At the _frigorificos_ $1.00 is paid with
free rent, for ten hours’ daily work.
INVESTMENTS
Perhaps no other country of South America presents to the small
farmer and willing worker, with or without small capital, openings
more favorable than Paraguay, if equal to these. Some stock raising
for local use or for the packing houses might gradually be added to
agriculture. The dairy industry ought to be profitable. Fruit raising
for export or for canning is undoubtedly of excellent promise; a large
proposition of this nature is now being considered by an American
corporation. Saw mills and lumbering would give good returns. Small
industries, well managed, might afford fair earnings. For quebracho,
_yerba mate_, or large scale stock raising, much capital is required,
yet a modest sum here might go farther for stock than in any other
country. Thousands of acres of land suited to agriculture are available
for colonists in accordance with their liberal colonization and
homestead laws. The price goes from $1 to $13 an acre. Grazing land
costs $2-$5, agricultural $5-$20, Chaco land $1-$2.50 an acre. Special
arrangements are made for and with a party of colonists as in all of
the countries.