Years.Births.Deaths.Marriages.————————————188725,13212,5733,428188825,83212,0773,976188926,98112,8824,175189027,89915,1744,082189128,69613,1463,524—————————134,54065,85219,185Middle yearlyterm:26,90813,1703,837Proportion outof 1000inhabitants:37.918.55.4
So as to appreciate better the rank occupied by the Republic among the other countries as regards the movement of thepopulation, the following figures may be considered as points of comparison:
Births perDeaths perMarriagesCountries.10001000per 1000Inh'bit'nts.Inh'bit'nts.Inhabitants.France25.823.87.7Italy3729.17.8Scotland3521.47.1Ireland26.917.84.8Austria38.6318.5Swiss30.123.27.4Belgian3222.47.2Sweden27.118.96.5Norway31.317.26.9Denmark31.119.77.8Oriental Repub.of Uruguay37.918.55.4
Therefore the births in the Republic prove to be in a greater proportion than in any of the mentioned countries, Austria being excepted, while the deaths, with the exception of Sweden and Norway, is in a smaller proportion, as also the marriages, Ireland being excepted.
This great number of births and the corresponding diminution in the figures of death prove how easy is the purchase of the elements necessary to life; and how very excellent are the climate and the salubrity in the Republic.
Though the Republic has many ports Montevideo is, nevertheless, where takes place the greatest concourse of passengers.
The movement from abroad and from the Argentine and Uruguay coasts has given the following results:
Years.Passengers.Per Month.Per Day.188360,3885,033167188491,8727,656255188599,0598,255275188689,5677,4642481887102,3968,5332841888133,03311,0863661889153,81112,8174271890150,44712,5374171891104,9458,745291
The diminution which begins in the year 1890 is due to the economical crisis that began in that year, and the consequences of which are still to be felt.
The territory of the Republic being abundant in all natural resources and elements necessary to make easy any kind of work or industry one chooses to undertake, and the immigrant getting very soon accustomed to a climate and customs very little different from those of his own country, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay offers therefore all kinds of advantages to the honest and laborious immigrant who comes here in search of a remuneration greater than that he can earn in his own country.
Thus is explained the large number of foreigners of all nationalities who have chosen this country as their second countryland, settling themselves here definitely and partaking with their families a wealth which allows them a good living, and is the base of their future modest or great fortune.
In spite of the political disorders, the time of which, it may be said, has passed, and in spite of the economical crisis that, with more or less intensity, are common to all the countries that rapidly advance and progress, the Oriental Republic has always seen a great and constant affluence of arms and capital, that have contributed in a few years to display powerfully its productive energy, to create establishments and manufactures which, with their products, have increased the relations of exchange with all the markets of the world.
Although the present times be not very favorable to the immigratory movement, the country is bound to recover soon, very soon, from the disorders suffered during the last crisis.
Our own history, and also that of the other American nations, teach us that in aperiod of restrictions in business and settling accounts, the immigration always diminishes, but increases again as soon as it begins to feel the first symptoms of reaction towards a period of prosperity.
The following figures demonstrate the oscillations in the immigratory movement, coinciding with critical or prosperous periods:
Present'dthemselvesHave livedEmployedto theat thein theEmigrantEmigrantCapital orPlaced byYears.Entries.Board.Board.Departments.the Board.186717.3561.9131872.5861.802186816.8922.4792614.1792.335186920.4351.861872.2611.661187021.1481.3051102.1361.210187117.912743222.555714187211.516916416.133877187324.3391.480516.6511.444187413.7592.7081494.7682.64918755.2981.4931135.6991.40118765.5701.469914.2461.43218776.1601.9131202.8101.88418789.4641.5941032.6051.518187910.8291.587132.2061.51518809.2031.9331.2552.4931.84518818.3361.4161.2511.7001.322188210.1161.1241.5622.8461.493188311.0861.0671.2741.4021.022188411.9541.2721.0191.5311.163188515.6791.8571.3201.2361.266188612.2911.3838331.0681.072188712.8671.4061.1441.6191.047188816.5811.6221.3041.6501.243188927.34910.44610.44610.9308.867189024.1178.8168.81611.1958.738189111.916.......................
The different nations to which belonged the immigrants that presented themselves to the General Emigration and Immigration Office in search of work, during the above-mentioned years are as follows:
Span-Ital-Eng-Ger-Argen-Portu-OtherYears.ish.ians.French.lish.man.Swiss.tine.guese.nations.Total.18673607432561611043331541711.91318685081.093358241100382449682.4791869620592244146119302244441.86118705143762056137171518621.30518713082141061632912133374318724232021814426101121791618736063463592627352022391.48018741.0869614371654742122372.7081875609402279855535112241.49318764535002711137474341031.469187757156935835541218534861.913187852949220810724846191701.59418793877212303143526314461.5871880405939258427474739591.93318814356461281238256211591.4161882370518762541142214441.1241883428380....7751831151131.0671884428537103126213418681.27218856079169819411140141111.85718866535536182972416321.383188761842310426461418341231.40618887385131762745141243541.62218891.3996.932670781262214411.16410.44618901.0737.3411701416133191678.816
Immigration has come here of its own accord, during times of prosperity; but the government has also tried to call it here by making easier the coming of immigrants from Europe, and their being led into the interior of the country, and also by giving land to colonists or by exhonerating others from all duties and taxes, either direct or indirect.
During the years hereafter mentioned the government has given the following number of passages to immigrants who required them:
Intheyear 1887255passages.""" 1888124"""" 18892727"""" 18901133"
The immigrant enjoys here a complete and perfect liberty. Being a foreigner he owes no service whatever to the state. Dedicated to work, he is always respected, and wherever he may go in the Republic, he is always sure to find some of his countrymen who, knowing well the country and talking his own language, will give him all the information and references he may require. Besides this, on landing, he always finds interpreters who give him all the explanations he may need.
The wages which are generally earned are according to the professions, more or less, as follows:
Apprentices—Boarding and clothes, generally, per month.
Nurses—From $6 to $12 per month, with lodging and board.
Bakers—From $18 to $36 per month, without board.
Brewers—From $40 to $50 per month, without board.
Wheelrights—From $1.50 to $2.50; workmen 80c. to $1.00 per day, without board.
Chairmakers—From $1.60 to $2 per day, without board.
Brickmakers—From $1.00 to $1.20 per day, with board.
Hatmakers—From $18 to $22 per month, without board.
Carpenters—From $1.40 to $2.30 per day, without board.
Carters—From $16 to $24 per month, without board.
Braziers—From $50 to $80 to $100 per month, without board.
Colliers and Firemen—From $20 to $27 per month, without board.
Cigarettemakers—$1.20 per day, without board.
Cigarmakers—From $1.50 to $1.80 per day, without board.
Coachmen—From $20 to $25 per month, without board.
Hairdressers—From $14 to $20 per month, with board.
Stagecoachmen—From $35 to $40 per month, without board.
Confectioners—From $20 to $40 to $60 per month, without board.
Foremen—From $30 to $35 per month, without board.
Boltmakers—From $1.20 to $1.50 per day, without board.
Shoemakers—From $15 to $20 per month, with board.
Seamstresses—From 60c. to 80c. per day, with board.
Cooks(women)—From $12 to $16 per month, with lodging and board.
Cooks(men)—From $15 to $35 per month, with lodging and board.
Servants, in general—From $10 to $18 per month, with board and lodging.
Cabinetmakers—From $1.50 to $2.00 per day, without board.
Gilders—$2.00 per day, without board.
Brush and Broommakers—From $1.00 to $1.20 per day, without board.
Reapers—From $10 to $15 per month, with board.
Tinmen—From $1.20 to $1.50 per day, without board.
Blacksmiths—From $1.50 to $1.60; help, $1.10 per day, without board.
Waiters(coffee houses, hotels.)—From $15 to $20 per month, with lodging and board.
Lackeys, Footmen—From $15 to $20 per month, with lodging and board.
Watchmakers—From $40 to $60 per month, without board.
Gardeners—From $18 to $30 per month, without board.
Day Laborers, in general—From 80c. to $1.00 per day, without board.
Machinists—In printing houses, $80; on board steamers, 1st machinist, $180; 2nd machinist, $115; 3rd machinist, $90 per month.
Masons—From $1.80 to $2.20; workmen, from $1.00 to $1.20 per day, without board.
Marblecutters and Polishers—From $1.20 to $1,50 per day, without board.
Mattressmakers—From $12 to $15 per month, with board.
Sailors, Mariners—From $15 to $20 per month, with board.
Mechanics—From $60 to $100 to $150 per month, without board.
Milliners—From $20 to $30 per month, without board.
Wet-nurses—From $20 to $30 per month, without board.
Pastry Cooks—From $35 to $40 per month, without board.
Fishermen—From $20 to $25 per month, without board.
Painters—From $1.20 to $2.50 per day, without board.
Photographers—From $35 to $55 per month, without board.
Potters—From $1.50 to $2.00 per day, with board.
Schoolmasters—From $30 to $60 per month, with board.
Firework-makers—From $16 to $17 per month, without board.
Bookbinders—From $30 to $35 per month, without board.
Sawyers—From $1.80 to $2.00 per day, without board.
Saddlers—From $1.20 to $1.50 per day, without board.
Locksmiths—From $1.50 to $1.80 per day, without board.
Tailors—From $20 to $30 per month, without board.
Stonecutters—From $1.20 to $1.60 per day, without board.
Turners—From $1.80 to $2.50 per day, without board.
Dyers—From $15 to $35 per month, without board.
Bookkeepers—From $50 to $200 per month, without board.
Coopers—From $1.20 to $1.50 per day, without board.
Typographers—From $40 to $45 per month, without board.
Basketmakers—From $1.00 to $1.20 per day, without board.
Glaziers—From $1.20 to $1.50 per day, without board.
The working day consists of eleven hours, an hour being discounted for dinner and resting.
The rent of the lodgings for workpeople in the town is five or seven dollars per month.
According to the declarations made in the year 1882 for the payment of the contribution tax, called the Immovable Contribution, the value of the property in the Republic rose to $211,991,679.00.
In the year 1890, eight years later, although the cattle and some other products were declared free from contribution tax the value of property was $265,871,559, an increase of $53,879,880.
The number of proprietors in 1882 were 39,590, and in the year 1890 50,189, an increase of 10,599.
By nationalities, the proprietors in 1890 were in the following proportion:
Natives, 24,946, or 49.70 per cent.
Foreigners 25,243, or 50.30 per cent.
The declared value according to nationalities was as follows:
24,946Nativesrepresenting$129,130,344.00785Argentine,"6,343,074.004,620Brazilians"31,766,571.008,886Italians"34,620,749.006,828Spaniards"30,845,671.002,582French"16,470,055.00451English"10,386,895.00330Germans"1,879,265.00344Swiss"1,073,996.00204Portuguese"1,540,471.007Belgians"31,238.007Swedish"12,438.0032Austrians"391,746.004Danes"50,524.0024North Americans"242,941.003Peruvians"2,748 006Chilians"40,143.001Dutch"2,700.008Paraguayans"33,496.00121Other nations"1,006,494.00————————50,189$265,871,559.00
The capital by nationalities gives the following proportion:
Native $129,130,344, or 48.57 per cent.
Foreign $136,741,315, or 51.43 per cent.
Out of the declared values Montevideo represents 13,812 proprietors and $128,280,000.00; to the other departments, 36,377 proprietors and $137,591,559.00.
The operations, which during the following years, have been declared in the Registers for the purchase and saleof immovable properties, give the following totals:
1885$14,276,45418869,859,703188718,683,365188835,108,468188963,546,624189029,273,198189122,267,381
From the year 1888 to the year 1891 the yearly capital put out at interest with securities on land has been:
In1888$12,788,660"188927,821,672"189022,569,360"189113,545,853
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 squarecuadras, 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 proprietorand of consecrating himself to highly profitable agricultural industries.
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 calledestancias.A suerte or estanciais 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 asuertevaries according to the department and also to its situation. The lowest price of asuerteis 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 asuerteof 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 orContribucion Inmobiliaria, at the uniform rate of 6½ per thousand in relation with the value that the law has fixed to the land according to the departments.
The Oriental Republic of Uruguay is an essentially pastoral country.
Its fields, covered with good and nutritive grass, are nearly all of them divided intoestanciasfor 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 itslate 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 onefanegaof 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.
Many are the agricultural centres, generally known by the name ofcolonies, 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. TheValdense 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,QuevedoandSpanish Colonies. TheSwiss Colonywas founded in 1863. It has an area of 8,782 square cuadras, or 6,480 hectares, 709 metres. TheQuevedo Colonyhas an area of 5,091 square cuadras, or 3,756 hectares and 5,521 metres, and theSpanish Colony9,600 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 avery 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 theArrueandBelgrano 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 theVilla RosaliaandEsperanzacolonies, of recent foundation, and the so-calledPorvenircolony. 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,maniandmandioca; it counts now over a hundred families.
8th.Francisco AguilarandFrancisco 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 AntoniaandLavalleja 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 smallestanciasorchacras, 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 intochacras, 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 becalculated 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 361chacrasor farms.
The area of eachchacravaries from 29½ to 88½ hectares.
A third part of thechacrasare 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 calledPiriapolis, 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.
Piriapoliswas 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, andbrick 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 ofPiriapolis.
The soil inPiriapolisis very good. The bed ofhumusor 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 ofPiriapoliscan 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, 1m80 high, by 0m25 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, inPiriapolis 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 putsPiriapolisin communication with the rest of the Department of Maldonado, and will be useful for the trade and commerce of the Department of Minas.
Piriapolisis 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 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 theViticola Uruguayawith a capital of $120,000 and theViticola Saltenawith a capital $200,000.
TheViticola Uruguayacounts with:
Vine-Plots.