Farming in Brazil by Abel L. Gregory

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Oct 20, 1904

Farming in Brazil

By Abel L. Gregory

ABEL L. GREGORY, M. D.

Much of Brazil is rough and mountainous; hence, farming on a large scale is not possible. Stock-raising is not practicable in many parts, on account of the jungles, which prevent the growth of grass until the trees are cleared away. As much rain falls, the clearing soon becomes a jungle again. In some parts there are tracts of land which offer pasture. These are mostly in the small State of Rio Grande do Sul, which is the most southern of the United States of Brazil. Here are raised the greatest number of animals. Being so far south, there are frosts and cold rains nearly every winter. These do some damage to the stock. Occasionally a little snow falls. Seven years ago there was a revolution in this State. At the close of this the prairies were almost destitute of animals.

Corn and black beans are the principal products, though potatoes, both sweet and Irish, do well in soils adapted to them. Rice is grown in the lowlands, and yields well. Sugar-cane is extensively grown for sugar, and for a kind of alcohol, which is much used. Bananas do well. In many places oranges grow wild in the woods. Plums, prunes, and peaches can be grown. A few apples are found in the mountains. Rye, barley, oats, and wheat are planted on the highlands, but are not paying crops, as machinery can not be used to cultivate and harvest them. Most of the flour comes from Argentina.

The staple product is farina. It is made from a kind of potato called mandioc. This plant resembles the castor-oil plant of the United States. In fact, it is botanically a relative, having seed and foliage like it. The roots in two years grow all the way from the size of the arm at the wrist to the size of the leg at the calf. The roots are washed, peeled, grated, the poison pressed out, and then dried in a furnace. This dried product is farina de mandioca. The favorite way of eating it is to mix it on a plate with cooked beans. It is similar to very coarse white corn-meal on beans. As a consequence of eating this raw starch, many have stomach trouble of chronic character.

Small fruits can be grown when the ants can be kept from destroying the trees. Ants and revenue stamps are two hindrances to progress in Brazil. All official papers, receipts of over six dollars, posted handbills, all manufactured articles, etc., etc., must have the regulation stamp, or one is liable to a fine. Interstate revenue, and even county revenue, is collectable on many things. The city tax in our city on cord-wood brought here from an adjoining district is more than we pay for wood. The tax on butter sent into this State from Santa Catharina, the adjoining State on the north, is double the cost there.

Tobacco is extensively raised, and more extensively used; yet a tobacco chewer is seldom seen. It is smoked mostly as cigarettes made of corn shucks. A very few use pipes, and occasionally a snuffler is seen.

The most ordinary farming implements are an ax without a head, a hoe, and a brush-hook. A forked pole makes a plow for some of the more enterprising natives. American-made hand plows are used by the very best farmers, but these are scarce—less than one in a thousand. Neither are these plows the good ones we have in the States.

The amount of land a man cultivates varies from one to about five acres, according to the health of his wife and the number of children. All the family work in the field. To open a farm, the trees are felled, then, when dry, fired. This consumes the small stuff, but the big logs remain as they fell. Corn is planted among the logs, by making holes with a hoe. The weeds and brush are cut out once or twice before it ripens. It is gathered in sacks, and carried home on the back or on pack-mules. When shelled and sacked, it sells for fifty cents a bushel. Other products are in proportion. Beans cost one dollar and a half a bushel. No one need come to Brazil to farm to make money. Yet a man can do well on a farm, if he knows how to manage. Two crops a year can usually be harvested. The native clears his land once a year by fire, hence in a few years the land is worn out.

Living in the large cities is expensive, and especially so to a foreigner who does not know the language. Yet men and women are needed who know and love the truth, to come here and live it before this people. They need to be taught to farm, to use machinery, to economize, and to live for God.

Who will come here for the love of perishing souls? There are people here who are seeking for truth. They are blind, ignorant, and priest-ridden. So were we. They must hear the glad news of a soon-coming Saviour. Who will help us in giving them the good news? Opportunities are now presented, which, if not improved, will soon be gone forever. Brazil is as large as the United States of America, and has but three preachers, three canvassers, and one doctor. How long will it take to warn sixteen million people?

Taquary, Rio Grande do Sul.