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better known, rising to an altitude of more than 20000 feet.
On the eastern side of the Cordillera the terrain slopes to the Amazon valley. The eastern part of Ecuador lying in the margin of this great valley is called the Oriente. It is covered with dense rain forest and is only partly explored. The wooded slopes of the eastern Andes are known as montana.
Agriculture of Ecuador.
The chief products of the coastal plain are cacao, sugar, coffee, rice, and bananas; in the elevated valleys, corn, beans, alfalfa, cotton, wheat and barley. In the uplands there are many ranches. The paramos or elevated plains and hills above tree line are well supplied with nutritious grasses and will support a large number of cattle. At present the number is far below the ultimate limit. Cattle and sheep can range over these paramos throughout the year up to the snow line which is usually from 15000 to 16000 feet. The water supply is sufficiently abundant.
A large ranch was visited in northern Ecuador. This ranch, owned by Sr. Don Virgilio Tamayo, is called Hacienda La Rinconada. It lies at the altitude of 9000 to 10000 feet and comprises several square miles of land extending to the Colombian border.
It supports 2500 head of cattle but would support much more stock. The stock graze on the native grasses. For the use of horses and milk cows the owner raises tame grass and alfalfa. The latter is cut every four months. The chief crops are potatoes and barley.
Three large plantations were visited by me on the coastal plain. The first was a sugar plantation at Milagro; the second a plantation managed