Argentina's Chief Agricultural Products. this point it is desirable to form correct and very distinct impressions in respect to each of the items that stand at the head of the list of agricultural products. We begin with the wheat. It will be seen that wheat, represent ing 57 per cent of all cereals produced in the republic, covers approximately 17,000,000 acres of land; but if labor were available no less than 80,000,000 acres could at once be brought under the plow for its cultivation. There is a decided tendency to increase the area of wheat sown lands toward the south, where the cli matic conditions are even more favorable — a tendency attributable to the new shipping facilities at Bahia Blanca.
With the steady encroachments of tillage upon the pasture the need for opening up fresh areas is making itself felt. The vast available tracts of unoccupied lands could, of course, be utilized for stock-raising, but the indigenous grasses are too coarse and unpalatable for for age purposes. These coarse grasses will have to be replaced by the fine short grasses grow ing in the lowlands, and gradually superseded by alfalfa, rye, barley and oats. These changes cannot be effected without a considerable out lay of capital, which may in turn enhance the already high prices of cattle.
The fertile region lying north of the prov ince of Buenos Aires, close to the banks of the Parana — at one time the realm pf herds and flocks — is to-day the principal centre of maize cultivation. Levee work is in progress on one of the islands in the Parana River near Rosario with a view to preventing inundation at the period of floods. Should the venture prove successful considerable land will be re claimed on this and on other islands where the soil is very fertile. It is estimated that these reclaimed lands are worth $100 per acre.
A recent issue of The Argentine Year contains the statement that improvement in the grade of cattle has been brought about by the importation of pedigree animals valued at $8,000,000 in about 13 years. The essentially cattle-breeding zones are now to be found in the provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes. Here the climate, the pastures and the water courses are ideal features that have insured the lasting prosperity of this pastoral zone, in which the old meat-packing industry still sur vives the advent of the large modern factories. The pastoral industry is, as we have said, ex tending into Patagonia, which is already being covered from the Cordillera to the Atlantic, with flocks that promise to be the best in the republic. The Argentine Republic annually produces in the neighborhood of 300,000,000 pounds of wool, 75 per cent of which comes from white-faced, long-wool sheep, Lincolns and Leicesters, and is known in the world mar kets as Argentine crossbred. When sorted,
this wool grades largely into coarse and me dium crossbred, corresponding to domestic commons and domestic one-fourth bloods in the United States. The fine crossbred of Ar gentina is known in the United States as do mestic three-eighths blood. Merino fleeces form 20 per cent of the yearly total, produc ing wool that is graded as domestic fine in the United States. The remaining 5 per cent is wool of black-faced and domestic sheep. The average weight of the fleece is 5.3 pounds. Previous to the war France and Germany were the principal buyers of the wool crop, but the United States has now become the principal purchaser, taking 152,330 bales (925 pounds) of the 298,939 bales exported in the year end ing 30 Sept. 1916. This industry in Santa Cruz is represented by 5,000,000 sheep, which yield 12,000 metric tons (2,204.6 pounds) of wool, all of which is exported. Within the last 30 years the area devoted to linseed has increased 20 fold. Argentina is to-day the largest lin seed producer in the world. Although the plant can be grown in nearly any part of the republic, its cultivation is confined mainly to the territory of Pampa Central and to the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Cordoba.
The richest alfalfa fields are to be found on the immense pampa plains. The cultivation of alfalfa has assumed vast proportions, as will be seen from the following figures: 1872, 264, 500 acres; 1888, 585,000 acres; 1895, 1,780,000 acres; 1912, 13,501,500 acres; 1914, 16,725,250 acres. This forage plant, which is displacing the native grasses, grows so rapidly when favored by the weather that three or four crops are easily obtained. Its yield is six to eight tons per acre. Formerly all the alfalfa grown was consumed in the country, but it is now being exported to Brazil.
Large tracts of land in the northwestern section of the country are well adapted to cot ton, but the crop has made little progress. Most- of the cotton grown comes from the territory of Chaco. It is also grown in Cor doba, Santa Fe and Corrientes. The annual production is about 1,230,000 pounds, of which about 60 per cent is exported. About 71,536 acres were planted under beans in 1914, but although aprimarily agricultural country, Ar gentina is dependent to a large extent on im ports for its supply of beans, peas and chick peas. Rice is produced to the extent of 15,000, 000 pounds annually, which is only 14 per cent of the rice consumed in the republic.