Hunting a home in Brazil

by James McFadden Gaston

The lands along the banks of this river are covered for the most part with a most luxuriant growth of the copine grass, which is relished greatly by cattle, horses, and mules; but it is so succulent that it does not seem well for drying so as to make hay, and the land is too valuable to be left open for pasturage, so that very little of it is made available.

The soil of the river bottoms is a dark ash color, of a fine loamy consistence, and of great depth, so that it does not become exhausted by cultivation; and corresponds (so far as my limited knowledge of the lands of the Mississippi enable me to speak) very much in all respects to the Mississippi bottoms.

Upon visiting a field where cotton and corn are planted, the former was found to be growing too luxuriantly, and will be likely to make a large stalk without affording a good yield. The stand was irregular, and had been but partially supplied by replanting and transplanting. This last process is entirely new to me, and though not resorted to in the Southern States, it has a fair prospect for success here in the rainy season. The importance of having the stand of cotton all as nearly of the same age as practicable, and getting it forward during the wet months, will warrant the trouble, if it is found to succeed well. It is demonstrated that the plant takes root and grows, but how it may thrive or yield subsequently is yet to be tested. It has not been tried by any other person who I have met in Brazil, and has been resorted to in compliance with a suggestion of Dom Frederico Leopoldo Cesar Burlamaqui, a writer upon the culture of cotton, whose paper was published in 1863, with a view to induce the planters of Brazil to plant cotton while its culture was suspended in the United States.

The corn is planted in rows, with five rows of cotton intervening, and consequently too far apart for the pollen from the tassels to have its full effect upon the silks. The ears are therefore not well filled with grains, and the general size of the ears do not seem in proportion to the large stalks. The white flint corn is planted here exclusively, and the same seed has been used from time immemorial, so that a change of the grain is perhaps now indicated for the improvement of the crop. Of course the corn ought to be planted separate from the cotton, and the rows being in closer proximity would secure a better result.

There has been a change made in the rice planted here, within the last three years, and the superior quality of the yield over that of other specimens is very evident. A part of the new supply was from Santos, which is regarded an excellent place for rice; and another portion was procured from South Carolina, the rice from that State being considered the best of the world. Senor Miguel tells me the seed of the Carolina rice yields more grains to the head, but not larger or better quality than the other. The rice culture here is not confined to low lands, but is mixed with corn and cotton by some persons in uplands. My friend has at this place a rice-mill in operation, with a dozen mortars and pestles, and cleans ten sacks of rice daily. This is a task assigned to those working in the establishment, and they have to complete it before stopping the mill. It requires it to go quite early, and continues until after night, to accomplish the whole process.

Wednesday, January 10, 1866.

We set out this morning before breakfast and visited a field of corn which was approaching the period of tasseling, and presented a vigorous growth, though too much crowded in the drill.

A coffee field was next examined, containing twenty-five thousand (25,000) trees of two years and younger which had been transferred from a nursery. They were evidently retarded in their development by a luxuriant crop of mandioca that surrounded the plants and shut out the sun to a great extent; yet the most of them look in a healthy, thriving condition, and some have blooms or a few berries of coffee. This coffee is planted upon elevated land, and the soil is dark gray with a mulatto base. These conical-shaped elevations are frequently observed here, and stand out in bold relief to the general flat character of the land near the river.

The mandioca presents an appearance very similar to the castor oil plant when fully developed; and the root is the great source of farina which is eaten by whites and blacks throughout Brazil. There are two distinct varieties, one of which is very similar to the sweet potato, being eaten in the same mode; while the other contains a poisonous juice which must be expressed from the root before the solid portion is used for food. This juice is said to be fatal to man or animal if taken in any considerable quantity; and the presence of it to a greater or less extent in some specimens of the farina is doubtless prejudicial to health, and may perhaps be a source of leprosy in some instances elsewhere.

The farina, however, when properly prepared from this poisonous root, is found to be nutritious and healthy; and this variety of the mandioca supplies most of the people with a substitute for bread. The roots are scraped and grated by a machine, when the coarse powder is subjected to compression under a screw to express the juice, after which the solid portion is pounded in a mortar until reduced to a fine powder. This is then dried in shallow pans over a furnace, and undergoes a cooking or parching process that fits it for keeping in sacks or barrels for any length of time. It is generally put on the table in this dry state, and is mixed with almost every thing else that may be eaten, in the same manner that we use bread.