This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXXVI THE ISLAND OF CHILOE, CHILE IN THE history of the potato there are occasional references to Chiloe. The senior author and Luther Burbank are planning to go there soon to study conditions. The following information has been secured through the kindness of Secretary James Wilson of the United States Department of Agriculture, and Alfred A. Winslow, American Consul, Valparaiso, Chile. "It is generally understood here that the Island of Chiloe, Chile, is the home of the potato and that it was found there by Pedro Valdivia's expedition in the first half of the fifteenth century, where they were known by the natives as Poni. At that time potatoes served as the principal food of the Indians, who cultivated them to some extent, and where they are still cultivated in a very crude way. "The Chiloe Archipelago is situated off the west coast of Chile between 42 and 46 degrees south latitude, and is composed of many islands of which the largest, Chiloe, is about 100 miles long by 38 miles wide and covers about 2,450 square miles, with a population of about 40,500 persons, mostly Indians or half-breeds. "The farms vary from 50 to 500 or 600 acres, but the island is covered with a dense forest, save where small patches have been cleared for cultivation, scarcely ever exceeding fifty acres in area, and the potato patches rarely exceed six to eight acres. According to the best information I have been able to get, no machinery is used in the cultivation of potatoes further than a very crude plow and a spade or hoe. They are planted in rows at irregular distances varying from eighteen inches to three feet apart. On the larger farms the seed is generally planted by dropping whole potatoes into the furrow at distances of from eighteen...