Tractor at Work Near Lima, Peru
- Categories
- Special Collections > Keystone Slides
- Type
- tiff scanned file from original glass slide
- Description
- In the southern portions of Peru in the rich valleys farming is carried on extensively. The most common crop, because it is the most profitable, is sugar cane. This cane is grown on large plantations, called haciendas (hä´ s-n´ dä). These are owned chiefly by rich landholders, but sometimes by companies of men. The natives do the labor at so much a day. You will note that modern machinery is used to make the soil ready for planting. Here is a tractor hitched to a narrow and a pulverizer. You will observe that the harrow is fastened between the two sets of wheels. The revolving pulverizer or steel roller is attached behind the second pair of wheels. This tractor is made somewhat differently from the ones commonly used in our fields. This does not have its own power. The power is furnished by an engine at the end of the field, which draws the machinery back and forth by means of a cable. You can see the large disk upon which the cable winds. The engine is located directly ahead of the tractor at the other side of the field. Cane was brought into Peru by the Spaniards. It was formerly tended in an old-fashioned manner by hand. Now most of the sugar estates are fitted up with modern machines similar to the one you see here. More then that, most of the haciendas have little railroads upon which the harvested cane is loaded and hauled to the crusher. There the sap is crushed from the stalks and is boiled down into the form of raw sugar. The annual production of sugar in Peru amounts to more than 175,000 tons. This large amount is grown on a small percentage of the soil that is fitted for sugar production. The soil is so rich that the cane is cut several times every year. Keystone ID: 21869 Note: All titles, descriptions, and location coordinates are from the original Keystone Slide documentation as supplied by the Keystone View Company. No text has been edited or changed.
- Rights
- Copyright by the Keystone View Company. The original slides are housed in McConnell Library's Special Collections.
