GEOLOGY AND "MINERAL RESOURCES. The in terior highlands have usually a granitic core. overlaid by Paleozoic formations, while the Andean system is largely composed of Mesozoic strata, broken through by igneous rocks and covered by extensive volcanic sheets. The pam pas are made up of Tertiary sandstone and lime stone, with sandy or clayey material on the surface. In Patagonia the northwest and south east ridges are denuded remnants of former mountain ranges, and rise out of layers of coarse gravel that cover the region to a depth of 50 feet or more. The gravel consists of granite, gneiss, and schist, and has been de rived by disintegration and glacial action from the underlying formations. Large areas are also occupied by sand dunes, that shift their position with the winds. The region of the Andes was once the scene of enormous volcanic development, when streams of lava flowed clown the slopes and spread out over the, adjacent plains in the form of thick and extensive sheets. The lower stretches of the rivers in Argentina are bordered by recent deposits of alluvium. The mineral resources of the country have re ceived but little attention as yet, although they are extensive, and include a large variety of ores and minerals. Gold is found in the Andes and in the mountains of San Luis, coal in Tierra del Fuego, marble in the Sierra de COrdoba, while copper, lead, silver, and iron ores and sodium salts occur at numerous localities. The output of silver annually exceeds $200,000 in value. The gold product in 1000 was valued at $75,000. Mica is mined in the mountainous parts of Cordoba, and the product is shipped to European countries. Some petroleum is ob tained, and a number of companies are organiz ing for the further exploration of the petroleum, borax, and other mineral resources.
Acalcutmtn. This is naturally the most im portant industry in a country so rich in land and so sparsely settled as Argentina. Although the land under actual cultivation eonstitutes less than 5 per cent. of the total available area, Argentina already figures as an important fac tor in the world's grain markets. In 1895, at
the time of the last census, the total land under cultivation was 4,892,005 hectares (nearly 12, 000,000 acres) ; in 1888, at the time of the first agricultural census, the area under cultivation was 2,459,120 hectares (nearly 6.000,000 acres) ; while in 1872 it was but 580.008 heetares (or about 1,450,000 acres). The area tinder culti vation. therefore, doubled in seven years, and increased more than eightfold since 1872. The total available agricultural area is estimated at 250,000,000 acres, or more than was taken up in 1900 by the combined grain, cotton, to bacco, and vegetable crops in the United States. The census estimates the number of people en gaged in agriculture at one-fourth the entire population.
There were more than 180,000 farms in Ar gentina in 1895, of which GO per cent, were cultivated by their owners, 30 per cent, by tenants paying rent, and 8 per cent. by persons working for a share of the crop. Although there are no statistics to show the growth of each of these groups, it is a matter of common observation that the number of farmers owning their land is growing apace, as free land is abundant and its acquisition extremcl,' easy. Renting for a share of the crop is the first step on the part of the agricultural laborer toward becoming a landowner. Land being productive and population scarce, labor is naturally dear and well rewarded; so that it is a matter of common occurrence for the laborer to get from one-fourth to one-half of the share of the crop, the proprietor furnishing land, implements, and seeds, as well as a house and food for the laborer and his family. Under these conditions, it takes the laborer only a few years to acquire land of, his own. In fifteen out of the twenty three Argentine Provinces for which there are figures for the two censuses of the country, the number of farms increased from 43,746 in 1888 to 107,274 in 1895. The average size of farms is about 125 ecres, the number of larger planta tions and of farms of smaller area being in considerable.