when the facts of the whole case are known, to be
perfectly warranted so far as Brazil is concerned. Certainly, from a
climatic point of view, this country is exceptionally well favoured, an
equable and suitable temperature together with an adequate supply of
earth and air, moisture and rich alluvial soils, a long dry season for
picking extending over many weeks--all point to an ideal cotton-growing
area. In fact, there is no reason why a crop of at least 40,000,000
bales should not be obtained annually in Brazil, if needed. At present,
only about one three-hundredth part of this is grown. The cotton-growing
centres are Minas Geraes, Bahia, Fernando de Noronha, Rio Janeiro, Sao
Paulo.

=Cotton Cultivation in Mexico.=--The cultivation of cotton has for many
centuries been carried on in Mexico. Much the same drawbacks exist here
as in Brazil, viz., lack of labour, poor railway system, high rates for
transmission, and indifferent methods employed in cultivating.

Mexico enjoys a splendid geographical position and would prove, if the
business-like habits and methods obtained as in case of the States, one
of the most serious competitors of its adjacent Northern neighbour.

The best cotton is produced in the State of Guerrero on the Eastern
side, though the greater part--about one half--of the Mexican crop is
grown in Laguna district, which lies in the Coahuila country. There are
three distinct areas of production in Mexico, viz., along the Eastern
coast, along the Western coast, and on the Central tableland. In the
Western area irrigation is resorted to.

In the year 1898, 100,000,000 pounds of cotton were grown, though all or
nearly all of it was used at home. Within the last twenty years many
mills have been erected in this country, and this will account for the
large quantity of cotton consumed at home. The poorest Mexican cotton is
produced in Chiapas. Acapulco, near the mouth of the Grande del Norte
River, is the chief Mexican cotton port on the Eastern coast.

=Cotton-growing in Peru.=--It would be a difficult matter to fix a time
when cotton was first grown in Peru. Pizarro, who conquered this country
early in the sixteenth century, found that the natives were fully
engaged in the growing and spinning of cotton. Dr. Dabney, Assistant
Secretary of the U.S.A. Agricultural Department, states that he has seen
a cloth made of cotton recently taken from one of the Peruvian mummies
which must be many, many centuries