Another State department deserving of the highest praise is that of agriculture, presided over by Dr. Padua Salles, a man of exceptional ability and delightful personality, who has done much to enlarge the influence and usefulness of the department under his charge.
OFFICERS OF THE SÃO PAULO ARMY.
Under his direction the principal interest of the country, its agricultural development, is well fostered and cared for. Much has been accomplished in the exploration and development of the vast hinterland, which it will take time and patience to cover fully. Maps and statistics of the rivers Tieté, Ribeira de Iguape, Juqueryquerê, Feio, and Aguapehy, have been drawn, compiled, and published by the Commissao-Geographica E Geologica, and a splendid reference library and publication department are at the free disposal of all desiring the fullest information regarding the State and the opportunities it offers to the investor. Its climate is inviting to Europeans, and is especially popular with Italians, who flock thither in large numbers, and have every provision made for their reception and encouragement. Hotels are provided for the accommodation of immigrants until they have chosen their location and settled therein. Schools and colleges for technical and agricultural instruction abound. The Agricultural College at Piracicaba, about 150 miles north-west of São Paulo, is one of the best equipped of its kind; whilst the Fazenda Modelo, or model farm, covers an area of 800 acres, upon which almost every useful and profitable crop is grown with splendid results.
A WATERFALL NEAR SÃO PAULO.
Besides the staple product, coffee, São Paulo produces plentiful crops of corn, rice, beans, sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco, whilst manioc, or cassava, Irish and sweet potatoes, arrowroot, oats, and field peas are largely cultivated. Coffee however, is almost the only agricultural product exported from the State, for the others barely supply the home demand. Of the industries dependent upon the produce of the country mention must be made of the distillation of “aguardiente,” or cane whisky, and the manufacture of sugar, a number of factories existing for the production of these commodities, as well as for cotton-weaving, the supplying of rectified spirits from corn, and the utilising of textile fibres in the making of bags, carpeting, and twine. Grape-growing has been started and experiments made to ascertain the variety of grape likely to yield the best result, and a vine has been produced specially adapted for the prevailing climatic conditions and which resists all vine diseases.
THE WHARVES OF SANTOS.
São Paulo is especially fortunate in possessing in the waterfalls on its rivers an abundant supply of power for the generating of electricity wherewith to drive machinery, propel tramcars, and illuminate houses, shops, factories, and streets, and this should prove a most potent factor in the growing development of the State.