CHAPTER I
AGRICULTURE
Natural Conditions—The Constitution of Property—The three principal agricultural districts—The northern, central, and southern districts—The division of crops and their varieties.
The constitution of rural property—The division of property—The great estates, called “estancias,” and their dimensions.
The drawbacks of large properties—The necessity of a better subdivision of the public lands—The division into lots of large tracts of land, in order to encourage colonisation—The system of exploiting property.
Agricultural Production—Progress realised in the last seventeen years—Comparative yield of the chief products, wheat, flax, and maize—Lucerne; the importance of the crop and the excellent results obtained.
Increase of the area under seed—The total area cultivated in the agricultural years 1908-1909—The great agricultural belts.
The Province of Buenos Ayres, its agricultural development and its crops—The Province of Santa Fé—The Province of Córdoba—The Territory of the Pampa Central.
Agricultural machinery, its importation from abroad, and especially from the United States.
The Agricultural Yield—The yield of the soil in the different Provinces—Exceptional results in certain districts—Detailed calculation of the yield of a wheat farm—Two instances of great wealth realised by immigrants into the Argentine.
Natural Conditions—The Constitution of Property
The Argentine Republic, which we are now about to consider from the geological and hydrographical point of view, offers, by the mere fact of its physical constitution, an immense future for agriculture on the largest possible scale, and at the same time for stock-raising and the rural industries.
We find that the country contains three principal agricultural regions: (1) the region to the north of the provinces of Santa Fé and Entre Rios; (2) the central region which runs southward from the limits of the northern, as far as the south of the Province of Buenos Ayres and the Territory of La Pampa, including a portion of the Territories of Rio Negro and Neuquen; (3) the southern region, which runs
southward from the limits of the central region, down to Tierra del Fuego.
The first region is characterised by a hot climate, with regular rains in the eastern parts; in the west the rainfall is less frequent. The central region enjoys a temperate climate; there, as in the northern region, the rains are regularly distributed in the eastern parts, but are very rare in the west, which is subject to long periods of drought. In the southern region the rains are less frequent and the climate is more severe, with the exception of the west and the extreme south, which are also in a rainy belt.
After long experience a kind of natural selection has come into operation with regard to agriculture; the various crops are to-day distributed nearly as follows: Cereals, such as wheat, barley, oats, maize, and millet,[35] are cultivated more especially in the region formed by the Provinces of Buenos Ayres, Santa Fé, Entre Rios, Córdoba, and the Territory of the Pampa, which latter is par excellence the cereal-growing district. Maize, however, is grown over a still wider region; it is cultivated with success in the whole of the central and northern regions of the Republic. Rice can also be grown in these regions; its culture is being developed in the Provinces of Tucuman, San Juan, Mendoza, Salta, La Rioja, and Jujuy, and also in Corrientès, Formosa, Chaco and Misionès. The Provinces of Santa Fé, Entre Rios, and Buenos Ayres are also capable of producing rice.[36]
[35] Millet is an article of diet among the Latins of Southern Europe. The ordinary “minestra” or soup of the Italian wayside albergo consists, to English eyes, of a pint of hot water poured over a cup of bird-seed. Pounded, it makes a kind of cake or bread; when boiled it swells slightly and is partly digested.—[Trans.]
[36] Investigación agricola, by Carlos D. Girola, 1904.
Oleaginous plants, such as the castor-oil plant, sesame, and the poppy, find favourable conditions of growth in the north, while linseed,[37] colza, and rape prosper in the cereal districts.
[37] It should perhaps be stated that the flax or linen plant (Fr. lin) so often mentioned in this book, produces not only the flax or linen fibre of commerce, but also linseed, with its valuable products, oil-cake and linseed-oil; the first used for fattening cattle, the second for paints, varnishes, oilskins, and “inlaid linoleums,” as well as the basis or “skrim” of ordinary oilcloth.—[Trans.]
The sugar-cane is cultivated in the northern region, but
especially in Tucuman, in part of Santiago de l’Estero, Salta, Jujuy, and Corrientès, and in the north of Santa Fé, Formosa, Chaco and Misionès.
The vine is cultivated chiefly in Mendoza and San Juan, where the conditions of soil and climate are favourable, and where it is methodically irrigated by the canals which water the whole of the vine-growing districts; but the wine and the dessert grape can be grown in the whole of the central region. It also prospers in La Rioja, Catamarca, Salta, and Entre Rios.
Stock-raising is followed especially in the Provinces of Buenos Ayres, Santa Fé, and Entre Rios, and in the south of the Province of Córdoba; and in a great part of the Pampa Central.
The principal characteristics of Argentine agriculture having been considered, we must now inquire how rural property is constituted; that is, among how many proprietors or tenants the 35,000,000 acres under cultivation at the end of 1908 are shared.
In the United States, for example, we know by the census of 1900 that the 840,000,000 acres given over to agriculture are divided into 5,739,657 distinct holdings, giving an average of about 142 acres per holding. In France, according to the statistics for 1892, 11,250,000 acres were divided into 5,702,000 holdings, the average extent being about 21 acres.
Is it possible to obtain similar figures for the Argentine? The national census of 1895 gives us certain data respecting the division of rural property in this country. The 172,000 holdings, agricultural or pastoral, which were included in this census, had an area of 20,295,000 acres, according to the declarations of the owners; and comparing this figure with the area actually under cultivation, amounting to 12,800,000 acres, we find that only about the half of these holdings is tilled and sown, the rest being left as pasture.
This census also took note of the area of each agricultural holding, and although the result of this inquiry has not been published, a simple division of the number of acres by that of the holdings gives us an average of 118 to 123 acres per holding; a figure that would be satisfactory enough, if it came anywhere near the reality.[38]
[38] Cf. Censo Nacional, vol. ii. p. xli.
The national inventory gives only these data in respect of this subject. As we see, they are far from complete; but even if they were, the progress of agriculture during the last few years has been so great that to-day they would only possess a purely historical interest.
Happily the agricultural census (including a census of stock), which was taken during the first half of May 1908 throughout the whole Republic, gives us some valuable information on this head.
This inquiry affected 222,174 holdings, agricultural or pastoral, which had a total area of 450,000 square miles, the area of the Republic being 1,134,700 square miles. This is how these 222,174 holdings are divided:—
There are 53,954 holdings measuring from 27·2 to 123·4 acres; 48,323 of less than 25 acres; 46,553 of from 250 to 740 acres; 29,624 of from 125 to 247 acres; 12,992 of from 743.5 to 1234 acres; 11,104 of from 1236 to 2470 acres; 2968 of from 2970 to 9260 acres; 2052 of from 9260 to 12,350 acres; 1157 of from 12,350 to 24,680 acres. Holdings of more than 24,680 acres are relatively rare, in comparison with the rest; 423 have an area of from 24,680 to 30,870 acres; 781 of from 30,870 to 61,750 acres; 168 of from 61,750 to 114,250 acres; 65 of from 114,250 to 123,440 acres, and finally there are 104 holdings of more than 123,440 acres.
These figures, compared with those of the census of 1895, reveal the fact that in thirteen years the number of rural holdings has increased by 50,174, and that the area given over to the two forms of usage, which lie at the base of the wealth of the Republic, has increased by 276,760,000 acres.
But in spite of this extraordinary development during the last few years, from the point of view of the distribution of the soil, the Argentine is still in a primitive, indeed, almost in a feudal state, by reason of the enormous tracts of lands which are monopolised by a small number of owners. These owners utilise their enormous properties in raising cattle on the great ranches known as “estancias,” or employ them for agricultural purposes, when they do not prefer to leave them in a waste and unproductive condition, waiting until time and economic progress shall give them a value which their own efforts are incapable of giving them.
These “estancias”—that is to say, the most usual system of utilising the soil—vary in area from 12,000 to 180,000 or 200,000 acres; some are even over 330,000 acres in extent. Many of them are only a few hours distant from the city of Buenos Ayres, or border on the outskirts of important urban centres.
Such tracts of land given over to stock-raising and owned by private individuals would be inconceivable in most European countries, where private holdings are small; nor are they much more usual in a new country of vast area, like the United States, where more than half the cultivated lands are divided into farms of less than 100 acres each, and where holdings of more than 1000 acres, whether under seed or in pasture, are the exception, the average of all properties and holdings being 143 acres.
It is easy to understand, without a lengthy demonstration, how far this state of affairs goes to retard the general development of the country. It is equally easy to understand that in order to stimulate this development it is necessary before all else to secure an increased foreign population, by attracting it through the powerful bait of landed property.
The great obstacle in the way of the agricultural development of the Argentine arises essentially from the faulty property system; from the fact that enormous tracts of land are held by a few men; from the establishment, in short, of the most odious system of latifundia ever known. This trouble arises from the lack of foresight with which the State has parted with enormous tracts of land, which have passed into the hands of speculators or large land-owners, who have left them untouched, while waiting for the value of their holdings to rise.
In the national territories, according to the deputy Joachim Castellanos, who is busily lighting the system of latifundia, there are belts of land, now private property, which are divided in the following proportions: 2,470,000 acres into holdings of from 25 to 99,000 acres each; 7,400,000 acres into holdings of from 99,000 to 198,000 acres each; and 7,934,000 acres into properties of 190,000 or 200,000, and over. This means that there are 17,280,000 acres of useful
and cultivable land, in the hands of unenterprising capitalists remaining, unproductive, used to increase neither the population nor the production of the country.[39]
[39] Speech delivered on 21st September 1903.
The principal author of this deep-rooted evil is incontestably the Argentine State, which has squandered its rich inheritance, by allowing it to pass into the hands of speculators, instead of dividing it equitably among the new colonists. The subdivision of these great tracts of land, now concentrated in the hands of a few large proprietors, is, to-day, one of the necessary conditions of the development of the country, and it is with reason that influential voices are raising themselves, in Parliament and in the Press, to proclaim this economic truth.
The great “estancias” of 180 square miles in area, covered by immense herds of cattle, must finally, says M. F. Segni, author of an Investigacion agricola, be divided into small concerns of from 4000 to 12,000 acres, which would, with fewer animals but a better system, yield a greater profit both to the owner and to the country. The old system of large ranching must gradually give way to an intensive system, when stock-raising, combined with agriculture, will employ a larger population, attract more capital, and realise better results.
There is happily no need to be greatly pessimistic on this point, as we can already perceive a tendency to the subdivision of property, which comes from the powers of the State as well as from land-owners or commercial companies. Thus the land law of 1907 was passed solely with the object of preventing large monopolies; it prohibits the acquisition for the benefit of a single person of any portion of the national domains of greater area than 6170 acres. The importance of this step will be understood, when we remember that the State has still to dispose of 212 millions of acres of desert land, suitable for agriculture, and situated in territories which are rapidly becoming peopled.
On the other hand, there are certain business concerns which, as owners of enormous tracts of land, are dividing them into small lots, which they are offering freehold to prospective farmers at fairly moderate prices, and facilities
of payment are offered at the same time. Among these firms we may mention the “Sociedad Anonima la Curumalan,” owning some 600,000 acres of land in the southern portion of the Province of Buenos Ayres, suitable both for cattle-raising and for agriculture, which is selling land at from £2, 2s. to £3 per acre, according to the quality and the situation, payable in three or four years; the payment by instalments being increased by an interest varying from 7 to 9 percent. yearly. The “Stroeder Colonisation Society,” which has exploited a large belt of agricultural country; the “Compañia de Colonisation del Rio de la Plata;” the “Estancia y Colonia Trenel,” founded by the great Argentine land-owner, Antonio Devoto, and a large number of other companies and syndicates are working on the basis of enabling the colonist to acquire his own land, and are doing successful business.
A striking example of progress in this matter of the subdivision of property is furnished by the statistics of the Province of Córdoba for the years between 1898-1899 and 1905-1906. During this period 3,193,600 acres of land, out of a total of 9,823,300 acres, which represent the colonies and settled land of the province, have been sold to farmers; that is, nearly a third. Thanks to this subdivision, the number of colonists in this province who have become the actual proprietors of larger or smaller holdings has risen to 4568. What is happening in Córdoba is also happening more or less rapidly in the other agricultural provinces; and it is by this method that the Argentine will one day succeed in abolishing the latifundia, whose progressive disappearance is a condition of further development.
We might multiply the instances of land-owners or commercial enterprises which are helping the labourer to buy land, for the system of dividing the land into small allotments, selling it at a cheap price, and allowing payment by instalments, is every day becoming more widespread. The journals are full of announcements of the sale by auction of lands which, until to-day, have never felt the ploughshare, and are now given over to colonisation. One also hears men speak, as of an accomplished fact, of the method initiated by several railway-companies which propose,
by means of their own capital, to bring into the market and increase the value of the vast tracts of uncultivated land which they own on the outskirts of their systems.
Unhappily, in spite of this tendency to the subdivision of the soil, the most usual system of working the land is still that of letting it at a fixed rent, or for a certain proportion of the yield in place of rent, or by a profit-sharing system, under which the tenant receives 50, 40, or 30 per cent, of the harvest. The large land-owners, who are the most numerous, prefer the former method, and often impose on the farmer the obligation of leaving a crop of lucerne on the land in the last year of the tenancy.
The chief drawback of this system is that the labourer never becomes the owner of the soil he cultivates, so that he is not actuated by the powerful ties of property, which should attach him to the country and its destinies. On the other hand, too, the tenant tries to obtain from the soil the largest profit he can, without troubling to consider whether he is exhausting it or not; he leaves not even a tree behind him as a monument of his tenancy. But in spite of all these drawbacks this system does furnish the colonist with means to buy land cheaply later on, and in another district. Such is the history of many farmers, who began by humbly labouring under the conditions above described, and are to-day rich land-owners, possessing enormous tracts of land, which they work in the way that they find most profitable.
It is hardly necessary to say that the agricultural methods employed vary according to the situation of the farms, their fertility, and the means of communication. Agriculture, properly so called, establishes itself and spreads along the waterways or railways which facilitate the transport of the harvests. The crops principally grown cannot afford the cost of transport at a greater distance than 180 or 190 miles by railway from the nearest point of embarkation or consumption, and the nearest railway-station must not be further than 18 or 20 miles. There are only a few crops of greater value that can be profitably grown at greater distances, their higher prices covering the increased cost of transport.
The region consisting of the Provinces of Buenos Ayres,
Santa Fé, Córdoba, and Entre Rios, which is the richest in cereals, is also that in which the greatest number of small farms are to be found. The statistics for 1901-1902 show that out of 37,434 farms 13,150, or about 36 per cent., were worked by their owners; 18,819, or 50 per cent., by tenants; and 5465, or 14 per cent., by métayers—that is, tenants who give up from half to two-thirds of the crops to the owner of the land. Other more recent statistics, relating to the Province of Santa Fé, give the number of farmers owning their land at the time of the harvest as 6747, or 32 per cent., and the number of tenants as 14,227, or 68 per cent.
The majority of the farms, especially those cultivated by the owners, says the Investigación agricola, have an area varying from 60 to 250 acres. Farms held on lease or by payment of part of the harvest are usually larger, especially in the former case, and the work is done with greater expedition, but as a rule less perfectly and without the same stimulus. Farms varying from 750 to 1500 acres and more which employ day-labourers are still less numerous, since as a general thing nothing is gained by employing them. On the other hand, however, there are large farms whose owners in reality only supervise matters of administration, and which are divided among tenant-farmers or métayers, paying so much per cent, of the harvest, or a rent in kind, according to the crops and the conditions agreed upon. In such a case the proprietor or colonist is not actually an agriculturalist, but a business man, who more often than not has not sufficient knowledge to assume the scientific or even the rational direction of the operations on his estate.
Agricultural Products
Having considered the physical conditions of the Argentine soil, the regions given over to particular forms of agriculture, and the disposition of rural property, the moment has now come to consider what areas are at present respectively producing crops of various kinds from seed, comparing them not only with the area of each province, but also with the statistics of previous years. In making this inquiry, we have a valuable starting-point in the Censo agropecuario,
taken in the month of October 1888; the first serious undertaking of the kind ever attempted in the Republic under competent direction.[40]
[40] Cf. L’agriculture et l’élevage dans la République Argentine, d’après le recensement de la première quinzaine d’octobre 1888, by F. Latzina, printed by P. Mouillot, Paris, 1889.
In an introductory chapter the Director of this census says: “It is only eleven years since the products of Argentine agriculture have been greater than the country’s needs. For example, the quantities of wheat exported before 1878 were so small as to be negligible. Now we see that in eleven years we have reached a point at which we export 8,800,000 bushels of wheat (1887), 255,000 bushels of flour (1888), 14,470,000 bushels of maize (1887), and 3,248,000 bushels of linseed (1887). Those who will look into these figures will perhaps agree that they represent a great progress for so short a time.”
The area of agricultural land in cultivation, according to the census of 1888, amounted for the whole Republic to 5,984,790 acres, of which 2,014,000 acres, or about 33 per cent. were under wheat; 1,979,830 acres, or 33 per cent., under maize; 963,320 acres, or 16 per cent., under lucerne; 299,050 acres, or 5 per cent., under linseed; 71,420 acres, or 1·2 per cent., under barley; 97,660 acres, or .9 per cent., under vines; 52,020 acres, or ·8 per cent., under sugar-cane, and the rest under crops of no great importance.
This point of departure being established, let us pass over the follies of and the damage caused by the frantic speculations of 1888 and 1889, as well as the financial failures of 1890, and let us call a halt at the year 1895, in which the country, still under the effect of a terrible catastrophe only lately undergone, had recovered itself and resumed work with a fresh ardour: the only proper remedy to heal its wounds, and to set it once more on the paths of progress. This inventory of the progress realised by the Argentine during seven years of misfortune is all the more interesting in that the second national census was taken at this time, thus precisely marking the economic, democratic, and political progress of the country. We find that in 1895—limiting our inquiry to the four principal cultures—the
progress realised during these seven years was as follows:—
| Products. | 1888 | 1895 | Increase in Seven Years. | |
| Acres Cultivated. | Acres Cultivated. | Absolute. | Per cent. | |
| Wheat | 2,014,130 | 5,062,717 | 3,048,587 | 151 |
| Linseed | 299,050 | 946,690 | 647,640 | 219 |
| Maize | 1,979,910 | 3,073,130 | 1,093,220 | 55 |
| Lucerne | 963,300 | 1,729,000 | 766,700 | 79 |
| ———— | ————— | ———— | —— | |
| Totals | 5,256,390 | 10,811,537 | 5,555,147 | 105 |
If we now compare the figures for 1895 with those for 1902, we find that the national agricultural expansion has never ceased during this second period of seven years. During this period, moreover, an important change occurred; one which encouraged production by placing exchange upon a solid basis: we refer to the law of monetary conversion, which gave paper a fixed value and abolished the discount which had hitherto affected all private commercial transactions.
In comparing the figures of the years 1895 and 1902, we find that the progress was as follows:—
| Products. | 1895 | 1902 | Increase in Seven Years. | |
| Acres Cultivated. | Acres Cultivated. | Absolute. | Per cent. | |
| Wheat | 5,062,717 | 9,124,449 | 4,061,732 | 80 |
| Linseed | 946,690 | 3,228,774 | 2,282,084 | 238 |
| Maize | 3,073,130 | 4,450,060 | 1,376,930 | 44 |
| Lucerne | 1,729,000 | 4,273,502 | 2,544,502 | 147 |
| ————— | ————— | ————— | —— | |
| Totals | 10,811,537 | 21,076,785 | 10,265,248 | 94 |
It now remains to examine the third period, from 1902 to 1904-1905, the statistics of which are as follows:—
| Products. | 1902 | 1904-1905 | Increase in Two Years. | |
| Acres Cultivated. | Acres Cultivated. | Absolute. | Per cent. | |
| Wheat | 9,124,449 | 12,110,706 | 2,986,257 | 33 |
| Linseed | 3,228,774 | 2,674,738 | 554,036 | 18 |
| Maize | 4,450,060 | 5,648,988 | 1,198,928 | 27 |
| Lucerne | 4,273,502 | 4,940,000 | 666,498 | 15 |
| ————— | ————— | ———— | —— | |
| Totals | 21,076,785 | 25,374,432 | 4,297,647 | 21[41] |
[41] This increase would amount to 73·5 per cent. in seven years, as compared with 94 and 105 per cent. for the two previous periods: but an average reckoned from two years is of course not reliable.—[Trans.]
We see that, with the exception of linseed, the progress of agriculture has received no check; on the contrary, the
figures speak of still greater expansion, attesting to the great economic future of the country.
The culture of wheat, as we see, has increased by 2,986,257 acres; maize, by 1,198,928 acres; lucerne, by 666,498 acres. Unfortunately, the culture of linseed has suffered a decrease of 554,036 acres; a result to be attributed partly to low prices, and to the loss of a certain proportion of the previous crops.
As for maize, we see that in 1904-1905 5,648,988 acres were sown, a figure which represents an increase of 27 per cent. over the 4,450,060 acres of 1902. Yet the yield was only 131,155,000 bushels in 1904-1905, whereas in 1903-1904 it was 163,300,000 bushels. This sensible decrease was felt chiefly in the Province of Buenos Ayres, where the loss was one of 31,490,000 bushels, out of the total loss of 32,145,000 bushels, while in the Province of Santa Fé the yield was almost unaltered.
The average yield in 1904-1905 for the whole country and the entire area of land under seed may be estimated as 23 bushels per acre, as against 31.4 bushels in 1903-1904. The harvest of 1904-1905 would thus have left a large deficit, had not the increase of sown lands compensated in part the diminished yield of the soil per acre. This fact is a witness to the truth of the important fact to which we have elsewhere drawn attention: that the Argentine need no longer as before fear a bad total harvest, by reason of the enormous increase of sown lands.[42]
[42] Years hence, when the limit of expansion has been reached, or expansion for any cause has diminished, the inevitable exhaustion of the soil may cause some bad years, unless more scientific methods take the place of the policy of obtaining large yields at any cost; but the change will probably be gradual. Trans—[.]
Since 1905 the agricultural expansion of the Republic has assumed considerable proportions, thanks to the splendid harvests, which have not only attracted a greater number of cultivators, but have also enabled these already established to take in and cultivate new land.
Examining only the figures relating to the harvest of 1908-1909, we find that the area sown in wheat, linseed, and oats has increased to 20,342,920 acres, which are divided, according to the figures issued by the Statistical Division
of Rural Economy of the Ministry of Agriculture, in the following proportions:—
| Provinces. | Acres under Wheat. | Acres under Linseed. | Acres under Oats. |
| Buenos Ayres | 6,184,139 | 1,090,750 | 1,431,839 |
| Santa Fé | 3,210,050 | 1,631,188 | 34,539 |
| Córdoba | 3,711,930 | 421,870 | 10,068 |
| Entre Rios | 793,610 | 565,630 | 37,050 |
| Pampa Centrale | 780,400 | 74,100 | 49,400 |
| Other Provinces and Territories | 185,250 | 6,370 | 1,235 |
| —————— | —————— | —————— | |
| Total | 14,865,379 | 4,489,908 | 1,564,151 |
If we add to these figures the 7,042,710 acres sown with maize in 1906-1907, and the 7,410,000 acres of lucerne which were already in cultivation, we obtain a general total of more than 35 millions of acres of land bearing the principal Argentine crops at the end of 1908.
These figures reveal the large increase of 10 millions of acres over these relating to the harvest of 1904-1905.
In speaking of the chief crops of Argentine agriculture, there is one which we must especially mention, which, although not capable of repetition year by year, yet assumes considerable proportions, occupying already many millions of acres. We refer to the fodder known as lucerne, which in 1890 was grown only on 1,480,000 acres, and on 1,729,000 in 1895; while to-day no less than 7,412,000 acres are under lucerne.
This crop is a new source of wealth for the Argentine. Its growth has arisen from the increased value of lands which were until lately considered unfit for the production of cereals. These lands are now greatly in demand, and of late years great fortunes have been made out of them.
Lucerne serves two different purposes; it is exported as dried fodder, or is used at home to feed and fatten cattle. Hence the lucerne farmer may either graze his holding or mow it; so that there are lucerne farms and lucerne “estancias,” or ranches, each having its distinct characteristics.[43]
[43] Lucerne is exported chiefly to Brazil and South Africa.
The farms are mostly near the stations of the chief railway-lines which lead to the ports of embarkation, and consist of holdings of 150 to 250 acres, cultivated by small
proprietors, or more generally by métayers—tenants who pay in kind. The mowing, drying, raking, gathering and stacking of the lucerne are operations which last from October to March; the embalement, or packing into bales, which are pressed and bound with iron, by means of a press worked by horse-power, occupies the rest of the year. There is also a form of exploitation which is more elementary and also more rapid: the cutting and immediate sale of the crop as green fodder; this method is in use on farms near the cities.
But the great lucerne belt, which occupies by far the greatest proportion of the sown lands, is composed of the “estancias”, which are composed of fields or farms of lucerne destined for the feeding and fattening of animals, chiefly cattle. These exist of all sizes; from the “estanzula” to the largest ranches. Latifundia sown with lucerne are common in the south of Córdoba, and there are instances of immense green savannas of from 35,000 to 50,000 acres—roughly, from 50 to 80 square miles in extent—consisting entirely of lucerne farms and belonging to a single lord and master. There are several settlements or colonies of this kind in this region; such as the Colonia Maria Soledad, situated at Carnerillo and at Chucul, including some 42,000 acres of lucerne farms; and the Duggan prairie, which has 32,000 acres of lucerne. Properties of 15,000 acres are numerous.
According to the last statistics published, the culture of lucerne is distributed as follows: Province of Buenos Ayres, 1,235,000 acres; Province of Córdoba, 1,235,000; Province of Santa Fé, 740,000; Pampa Central, 300,000; Province of San Juan, 200,000; other Provinces, 250,000; giving a total of some 4,000,000 acres. At the moment of writing these lines this area should certainly have increased to a total of 71⁄2 millions of acres.
In spite of the great progress already achieved—it was not less than 25 per cent., for instance, in the Province of Córdoba in 1903-04—the culture of this species of forage is still in its infancy in the Argentine; it is bound to increase notably, on account of the superb results to be obtained, both from its use as fodder and on account of the manner in which it will transform a certain kind of uncultivated soil which
grows nothing but tough grasses of slow growth and low nutritive value.
One of the first economic effects produced by the growth of lucerne on a particular estate or in a given neighbourhood is that it increases the value of the land on which it has been sown. On this point several cases have been cited which would seem incredible, were they not easily verified. Fields which three or four years ago were sold for 2 paper piastres per acre are to-day worth 30, and lands which were sold for 25 to 30 piastres are now sold for 80 and 100 piastres.[44]
[44] Probably the reader need not be told that the roots of the lucerne plant accumulate enormous quantities of nitrogen-yielding bacilli, thus producing organic compounds in the soil, ready for use by the next crop sown. The old practice of sowing clover and ploughing the roots into an exhausted field revives the land in this manner.—[Trans.]
Lucerne farms also increase the value of the land in their neighbourhood. It is enough to use the phrase, “good land for lucerne,” and the land referred to will immediately realise a high commercial value.
Of the profits to be derived from lucerne when exploited in a rational and up-to-date manner, we may judge from a single instance reported in the Buenos Ayres Standard: a league[45] of meadows sown with lucerne in La Penca, in the south of the Province of Córdoba, has yielded in a year a profit of £30,000; and in another year it actually produced a profit of £42,800. This journal also adds that a league of similar land in New Zealand would be worth no less than £360,000.[46]
[45] This league is that of 2500 hectares, or 6175 acres; making the linear league 3·14 miles.—[Trans.]
[46] Cf. Anales de la Sociedad rural Argentina; Art., El Pais de la Alfalten.
The constant increase of sown lands is certainly the most notable feature of the agricultural situation. It is the more interesting to note that of late years this development has been due to the nation’s own resources, as after the politico-financial crisis of 1890 the current of immigration and colonisation which had assisted agriculture in previous years was almost completely checked. As soon as the flow of immigration is re-established—and it seems to us that
it is already recovering, thanks to the attractive power of the abundant harvests rather than to any political or administrative measure—we shall certainly see that the agricultural yield of the Republic will receive a fresh impulse from this cause.
The 35 millions of acres sown in 1908-9 represent a little over 4·07 per cent. of the entire surface of the country, as compared to a percentage of ·008 in 1888. Besides this, we must not forget that according to the figures of the agricultural and pastoral census of 1908, 646,620 square miles, or rather more than 39 per cent., are employed in the feeding of 67,211,754 sheep, 29,118,625 horned cattle, 7,531,376 horses, 465,037 mules, and 285,088 asses.
Finally, if we admit the possibility of considerably increasing, by means of the intensive system, the yield of cultivated soil, we see that it will also be possible, on the same stretch of land, to increase the number of head of cattle; so that it is permissible to conclude that the Argentine Republic can still conveniently give up a third of her surface to colonisation, without in the least affecting or damaging the industry of stock-raising.
Knowing the extraordinary progress attained by Argentine agriculture during the last twenty years, as well as the development of each of the particular crops preferred by the Argentine farmer, we must now inquire in what regions of the country this expansion has made itself particularly felt. For this purpose we will divide the Republic into geographical belts, confining ourselves here to an examination of these Provinces in which agricultural progress has been particularly notable, and limiting ourselves to the three principal forms of culture:
Total Surface cultivated during the Agricultural Year 1908-1909.
It will be seen from this table that the great agricultural belt of the Argentine is formed by the Province of Buenos Ayres, Santa Fé, Córdoba, Entre Rios, and the Territory of Pampa Central. This latter has taken an important place in the national production, and so rapidly, that we may still prophesy a notable expansion of its resources. The other productive belts have in proportion made less progress, excepting the Province of Mendoza, where vine-growing has been developed, and that of Tucuman, where the culture of the sugar-cane has made great strides.
There, for the moment, the progress of agriculture has halted, as the other districts will only be developed later on, when the populations of the former regions overflow, unless some hitherto unexploited source of wealth—such as the quebracho in Chaco—attracts capital and labour.
At the time of the last harvest the Province of Buenos Ayres was in the front rank in the matter of wheat, no less than 6,184,180 acres being devoted to that cereal. This enormous area represented an increase of 2,933,920 acres since the year 1901-1902, and of 5,254,310 acres since 1895. If we compare this figure with that of 1888, when only 609,560 acres were under wheat, we find an increase of 5,574,570 acres.
Of the 6,184,130 acres of wheat sown in the Province of Buenos Ayres in 1908-1909, 3,620,300 acres, or 53 per cent., were in the region known as the “Centre and South” (the first and second groups united), formed by an assemblage of fifty-six
cantons, of which some, although they were only lately affected by the movement which has turned untouched and desert prairies into green fertile fields, are to-day important centres of production, having a considerable influence upon the commercial balance of the country.
The real development of agriculture in the Province of Buenos Ayres dates only from 1895. Until then it was considered merely as a country especially adapted for stock-raising, and this false conception was so rooted in many minds that it was believed that agriculture was out of the question, except in the Province of Santa Fé. Comparing statistics, we find that the latter Province had 992,080 acres of wheat in 1888 and 2,470,000 in 1895, while Buenos Ayres boasted only of 510,090 and 906,490 acres in the same years.
It was much the same with linseed; the figures being 180,300 and 657,020 acres in Santa Fé, and 108,650 and 160,550 in Buenos Ayres. Maize formed an exception; while Santa Fé, in the two years given, had only 150,670 and 429,540 acres under maize, Buenos Ayres had 1,259,700 and 1,652,430 acres.
Only in the agricultural year 1901-1902 did Buenos Ayres step in front of Santa Fé, and attain such crops of wheat as until then were unknown, leaving all competitors far behind. In the matter of linseed, for which Santa Fé has always had a special predilection, that Province has always, since 1885, maintained its superiority over Buenos Ayres. As for maize, Buenos Ayres retains its superior position, although it is just to admit that in 1901-1902 the other Province made considerable progress.
Before leaving Buenos Ayres, we must mention that the second place in the culture of wheat, is taken by the region known as the West, which, with its 1,471,360 acres, or 29 per cent. of the total, forms, like the analogous region in North America, one of the great grain districts of the Argentine. In this region there are cantons, such as those of Nueve de Julio, Lincoln, Pehuajo, General Villegas, Trenque Lauquen, and others, which, reputed from all time unfit for agriculture, have surprised every one by revealing themselves as absolute mines of wealth. This region has been touched, it is true, by the magic ring of the railroad, which has unrolled in
these new territories, so full of unexploited wealth, an immense network of tracks, whose marvellous effects make us think of the tales of the Thousand and One Nights.
It is in this region that we have seen, as the logical result of the agricultural awakening, the most surprising increase in the value of the soil. These prices mounted by leaps and bounds; from £1, 15s. to £3, 10s., from £3, 10s. to £7, from £7 to £8, 16s. per acre, and even more; yet one is forced to admit that this increase, though apparently capricious, has a real enough foundation, since it is based upon the remunerative qualities of the soil.
In the Province of Santa Fé, the cradle of the agricultural settlement in the Argentine, there are at present 820 colonies and cultivated lands, of which the surface under seed embraces an area of 7,223,980 acres, divided as follows: Wheat, 3,259,920 acres; linseed, 2,037,990 acres; pea-nuts, 29,390 acres; lucerne, 1,787,280 acres; other crops, 111,400 acres.
The Province of Córdoba has furnished another of the Argentine’s agricultural surprises. Neglected, not so long ago, by the stream of immigration which set in for preference towards Santa Fé or Buenos Ayres, Córdoba began to attract the attention of labourers when the latter (discouraged by some calamitous years in Santa Fé) were drawn thither by the fertility of its soil, the scarcity of swamps, the regular rains, the cheap land, and the proximity of centres of consumption and ports of embarkation, and by the facilities of transport offered by an extensive network of railways. There the labourers set up their tents, and their numbers increased day by day; there they devoted themselves to the strenuous task of reclaiming the virgin soil, and there, in return, they obtained magnificent harvests, a veritable benediction of grateful nature.
The results surpassed all expectation; to such a degree, that to-day the Province of Córdoba is one of the first colonial centres of the Republic, and the Province which offers the most brilliant future to the cattle-breeder and the agriculturalist. To-day the transformation of the soil progresses so rapidly as to astonish both natives and foreigners.
To give some idea of the enormous development of this Province, it is enough to say that in 1898-1899 it counted 176 colonies and 71 settled estates. In 1905-1906 these figures were respectively 348 and 190. The size of these colonies has increased in the same proportions; in 1898-1899 their area was roughly 3,800,000 acres; it increased to 8,910,000. Of this enormous area, reclaimed and cultivated at the time of harvest in 1898-1899, some 3,150,000 acres represented wheat, 434,500 linseed, and 355,000 maize. We must also mention another important crop, which covers a large area of the Province of Córdoba; lucerne, which is represented by some 2,240,000 acres.
But the most surprising fact concerning the Province of Córdoba is not the vast area under the plough, but the prodigious increase of crops of every kind. Thus the area sown with wheat, which in 1898-1899 was 1,588,800 acres, was 2,417,920, in 1903-1904 and 2,695,620 in 1904-1905. It is the same with linseed; in 1898-1899 184,490 acres were sown; in 1903-1904, 439,830 acres. These figures give some indication of the vast agricultural future which lies open before this Province.
Another agricultural revelation has been afforded by the Territory of Pampa Central, which in 1888 had only 14,900 acres under the plough; some 11,000 being in maize, 2100 in lucerne, and 300 in wheat. In 1895 it contained 25,520 acres under culture, and in 1903 308,750 acres were bearing crops of various kinds; wheat, 71,630 acres, and maize, 419,900; and in 1908-1909, the Pampa contained 913,900 acres of cultivated soil; 790,040 under wheat, 74,000 under linseed, and 49,400 under oats.
In the space of twenty years the Pampa, once regarded as a sterile waste, almost impossible of cultivation or of settlement, has seen a great development. It contains to-day more than 80,000 inhabitants; twenty centres of population: about 914,000 acres under cultivation; 464,645 cattle; 4,809,077 sheep, and 281,537 horses; with an annual export of products estimated at 15 millions of paper piastres, or £1,280,000.
Its soil has greatly risen in value; the square league of 2500 hectares (or 6175 acres, or a square nearly 3·14 miles on
the side, or just under 10 square miles) sells for anything up to 100,000 paper piastres, or £8800; and even in the remoter cantons it will sell for £3500 or £4400. This extraordinary progress has been accomplished quite recently; it dates back hardly three years, and the prices tend to increase each day.
Before completing this sketch of the agricultural products of the Argentine, according to the official statistics, we must remind the reader that the total of these products increases by leaps and bounds, so that the figures given must be regarded as strictly provisional, on account of the great development to be foreseen as new centres of colonisation are formed. The Pampa Central, of which we have just spoken as a very mine of wealth, is capable of producing in the future enough meat and grain to nourish a great part of the population of the world.
In the Argentine men employ, for the more important crops, such as wheat, maize, linseed, lucerne, etc., the latest and most perfect agricultural implements and machines; cultivators, ploughs, drills, harvesters, etc., etc. We have not space to mention all; but it is enough to say that in the regions where farming on a large scale is the rule, a progressive spirit is in the air, which impels the owners of great establishments, and even simple settlers, to furnish themselves with the very best machinery, for which they sometimes pay considerable sums. That agriculture has achieved the rapid expansion of which we have just given details, notwithstanding the little help which immigration has lately rendered, is due principally to the employment of the perfected machinery in common use.
The best types of ploughs, harrows, drills, and reapers of all kinds—binder-reapers, traction-engines, winnowing and thrashing machines, all of the best construction and the most recent model—are familiar to the Argentine farmer, who makes constant use of them.
The owners of the great “estancias” make all necessary sacrifices in order to work their estates in the latest and most perfect manner. The machinery comes from the United States, and facilitates all the operations of la grande culture. Two or three years ago, for example, saw the
advent of a new machine, simple and of moderate price, which replaced the reaper and thrasher, by performing both operations at once as it moved. It reaps the ears of corn, winnows them, grades the grain, and pours it into sacks; leaving the straw, it is true, but the value of straw in the Argentine is negligible. All these operations are performed as the machine progresses; four horses are enough to draw it. With this new machine corn that is standing in the morning is reaped during the day, and by the evening is ready for despatch to the port of embarkation.
To give some idea of the extent to which agricultural machinery is used in the Argentine, we may mention that in the period 1890-1904 there were imported from abroad, mostly from the United States, 459,006 ploughs, officially valued for customs purposes at £1,331,409; 22,783 winnowers, valued at £277,976; 98,470 reapers, valued at £2,041,982; 37,824 drills, or sowers, valued at £176,268; and 4770 thrashing-machines, valued at £1,250,184. From 1898 to 1904 13,725 maize huskers were imported, valued at £340,479.
To complete these data we append a table, giving the number of agricultural machines imported in the course of the years 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908:
| 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | |
| Ploughs | 66,404 | 84,948 | 59,196 | 29,775 |
| Winnowers or huskers | 790 | 785 | 134 | 98 |
| Reapers | 14,492 | 20,739 | 17,334 | 18,722 |
| Drills or sowers | 7,911 | 25,447 | 13,975 | 9,528 |
| Harvesters | 706 | 2,011 | 226 | 1,866 |
| Thrashers | 909 | 1,136 | 490 | 969 |
We must also mention that there has been a great development of factories in the Argentine, which turn out agricultural machinery and implements; some of these have been established with large amounts of capital, and possess an equipment fully equal to that of the best equipped establishments of Europe.
The Agricultural Yield
Having now considered the agricultural progress achieved in the Argentine, the areas under seed at different periods, the prevailing crops, and the regions in which agriculture is more especially established, we must now study the results of
agriculture; that is to say, its yield, and shall attempt to forecast the future reserved for the country.
As we have already stated, there are no complete statistics available, such as there are in the United States and in other countries, which give in detail the cost of working farms of various sizes, and the prices at which the latter sell their produce; and it is only from such details that we can calculate the net profit of each acre. But, despite this lack, we can probably find the data we require by resorting to the opinion of those competent in such matters, either because they are themselves practising farmers, or because they have set themselves the same problem as that we are facing.
In the good lands of the Provinces of Córdoba and Buenos Ayres, and in the Pampa Centrale, the hectare may yield the settler 50 piastres (in notes), or £4, 8s.; in other words, £1, 15s. 71⁄2d. per acre; provided there is no hail, and if he escapes the other agricultural plagues. Some estates this year have produced as much as 2000 kilos of wheat per hectare, or 29 bushels per acre; yielding, at $6 per ton (the Argentine ton of 2205 lb.) a yield of 120 piastres[47] (paper) per hectare, or £4, 5s. 61⁄4d. per acre. Estimating the expenses at 25 to 33 per cent., there remains a profit, let us say, of £3, from which we must still deduct some 10s. for rent, so that the labourer draws a final profit of 70 piastre notes per hectare, or £2, 10s.
[47] The piastre note is approximately worth 2·2 francs, or 19·2 pence—1s, 71⁄5d.
In one particular establishment, not far from the station of Labenlaye, on the Buenos Ayres Pacific line, the yield of a family of métayers, who cultivate 125 to 150 acres, and pay a quarter of the crop to the proprietor, and also work on the cattle-ranch on days when there is no work in the fields, make an annual profit of £88 a year. This is equivalent of a profit of from 10s. 4d. to 14s. 4d. per acre, earned by cultivating the soil as métayers or tenants in kind, retaining 75 per cent. of the crop; but it must be remembered that this is absolutely a net profit: all the labourers’ expenses, the cost of nourishment, clothing, and other current expenses, are all debited first; so that the £88 may be saved or spent or invested.
But an argument more eloquent than all the arithmetical demonstrations which we might draw from particular cases is the well-known fact that every year a large number of labourers become the proprietors of the holdings they cultivate, or acquire other holdings in the neighbourhood. It is by no means an exceptional thing for those who cultivate a tract of land to draw from it in a single year a sufficient sum of money to acquire it for themselves, while reserving the expenses of sowing and other work to be done before the next harvest.
To support this statement, here are a few exacter details as to the capital required to reclaim a holding and its approximate yield.
According to calculations furnished by a man of great experience in matters of colonisation, the capital required by a family of four or five persons cultivating 250 acres of wheat, including the expense of installation in the first year, may be estimated as follows:—
| £ | S. | D. | |
| Two Ploughs, sulky type | 21 | 2 | 0 |
| Two Harrows, threefold | 7 | 18 | 0 |
| One Roller | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| One Husker or winnowing machine | 39 | 12 | 0 |
| Twenty Oxen | 88 | 0 | 0 |
| Two Horses | 8 | 16 | 0 |
| Two Carts | 35 | 4 | 0 |
| Harness, chains, implements, etc. | 8 | 16 | 0 |
| House, corral, well, fencing | 105 | 12 | 0 |
| —————— | |||
| £319 | 8 | 0 | |
| —————— | |||
The family or the colonist who does not possess such capital will find rich proprietors or colonists who will furnish him with implements, draught animals, and seed corn, as well as the necessaries of life. The harvest over, the seed corn is reserved for the next sowing; the expenses of the harvest are deducted, and the net profit is halved, one half going to the proprietor, and one to the colonist. It is thus that the majority of immigrants begin to earn the capital which enables them to become proprietors.
For bachelor immigrants there is another method, which gives excellent results: they place themselves with colonists who possess some capital as “interested servants,” or profit-sharing labourers, lending their services from the ploughing
to the harvest of wheat and linseed. They receive for their services food, board, and 6 or 7 per cent. of the gross profit of 100 hectares. They put the sums received during three or four years out at interest, and have then sufficient money to buy the necessary implements and to become tenant farmers. Three or four years later they buy land on the instalment system, and finally become large land-owners; one may count by the hundred those who have followed this course, have become the proprietors of wide tracts of land, and have to-day made large fortunes.
As soon as he is a land-owner the colonist or farmer has already an almost certain future before him, as the net profits he obtains each year accumulate in geometrical progression, unless some fatality pursues him: a thing that is of sufficiently rare occurrence. To gain some idea of his net profits, we turn to the following details, which are drawn from a competent source:
Approximate Estimate of the Expenses and the Yield of 247 acres of land sown with Wheat.
| Expenses. | |||
| £ | S. | D. | |
| Preparing the soil.—Two ploughings and a raking, at 2s. 31⁄3d. per acre | 28 | 3 | 2 |
| Sowing, drilling and harrowing, at 3·38d. per acre | 3 | 10 | 5 |
| Seed.—238 bushels of seed corn, at £8,16s. per ton | 57 | 4 | 0 |
| Harvest.— Reaping and stacking, at 4s. 2·68d. per acre | 52 | 16 | 0 |
| Thrashing.—4400 bushels (120 tons) of grain, at 17s. 6d. per ton | 105 | 12 | 0 |
| Sacks.—1500, at 5·024d. each | 26 | 8 | 0 |
| Transport.—To granary, port or station, 120 tons at 8s. 8d. per ton | 52 | 16 | 0 |
| Rent.—247 acres, at 8s. 6·6d. per acre (approx.) | 105 | 12 | 0 |
| General expenses.—Repairs, tools, dilapidations, wages, hire of machinery, etc. | 52 | 16 | 0 |
| ———————— | |||
| Total | £484 | 17 | 7 |
| ================ | |||
| Receipts. | |||
| £ | S. | D. | |
| Sale of 120 tons (4400 bushels) of wheat, at £6, 3s. 21⁄2d. per ton (3s. 4·28d. perbushel)[48] | 739 | 4 | 0 |
| Expenses of growth and preparation | 484 | 17 | 7 |
| ———————— | |||
| Settler’s net profit | £254 | 7 | 5 |
| ================ | |||
[48] At the present price (22 francs per 100 kilos, or about £8, 16s. per ton) the sale would produce £1056, a net profit of £571. This is unusual.
In short, a profit of about one pound per acre.
The above figures relate to the property known as “La Vizcaina,” in the Department of Bolivar; it consists of 123,800 acres of agricultural land, or 183 square miles, and is the largest agricultural farm in the Republic belonging to a single owner or held by a single tenant. It must be mentioned that, on the whole, the land is high; it has never been invaded by locusts; the depth of the mould or upper soil is considerable, and the property has two railway stations built upon it and a third about 21⁄2 miles distant, which facilitate the despatch of the harvests.
The above figures do not give a precise idea of the farmer’s situation, since agricultural land is let for four years, and in four years, six harvests may be obtained (three of wheat and three of maize), which sensibly diminishes the cost of working and increases the profits in proportion.
We may use the same table as relating to linseed, substituting £7, 18s. 6d. per ton, or thereabouts, for the sowing, and £1, 1s. per ton for thrashing. In this district linseed-farming is accompanied by certain risks, on account of the scanty rain and the late frosts; sometimes the harvest is 7, 8, or 10 quintals (metric) per hectare; but it is usually only 3 or 4.[49]
[49] In normal years, if the fields have been well worked, one may count on an average of 36 bushels of wheat per 21⁄2 acres, or 14 per acre; 36 bushels of maize per acre, and 12·5 bushels of linseed per acre. On virgin land the results are often of great interest; for it is not uncommon to obtain over 20 bushels of wheat per acre, (1 bushel = 60 lbs.).
In order that these figures representing the farmer’s profit shall give a true idea of the reality, it must be remembered that besides the wheat crop he can also obtain another and equally profitable crop of maize in the same year, and he may also increase his profits by fattening pigs and raising game and other products which command a ready sale in the neighbouring towns.
These examples must not of course be taken as representing a general law; the net income of course depends upon the cost of production and the yield of each harvest, and these two factors may vary infinitely, where the crops under consideration are as large as those raised in the Argentine. But what we may affirm is that, besides a certain number of farms lying fallow, there are hundreds of thousands of acres
of virgin soil, purchasable at a low price, on which it is enough to cast the seed, after a superficial cultivation, in order to obtain a splendid harvest. In conditions as favourable as these, and using machinery which enables the farmer to cultivate enormous surfaces with little labour, there are always serious probabilities of success for the agriculturalist. This it is that explains the great increase of cultivated lands during the last few years, whether virgin lands divided and sold by the owner, or lands leased to tenants who pay in kind or give up a percentage of the crops.
In a country whose soil gives such wonderfully abundant yields, great fortunes, and fortunes rapidly made, are common. The Argentine, like the United States, has her legendary type of immigrant, who has progressed in a very short time from extreme poverty to great riches, by applying his energy and initiative to agriculture or stock-raising.
Here are two of the most notable and best-known, examples.
A few years ago there died in the Argentine one of the greatest landed proprietors; a man named Santamarina, whose life-history is worth relating.
Son of a small farmer of Galicia, Santamarina decided, when about twenty years of age, to seek his fortune in America. His means not permitting him to meet the expenses of the voyage, he resorted to the classical procedure; he shipped as a stowaway on a vessel about to leave Vigo on a voyage, to Buenos Ayres.
Discovered on the voyage, the captain had compassion on him, kept him on the vessel and landed him, fifty years ago, in the capital of the Argentine; without any resources, and sustained only by the hope of gaining a livelihood more easily than in Spain.
Santamarina immediately made his way towards the great plaza, where the produce of the country was at that time sold; and there, hoping to secure a job, he spoke to a man who was conducting a wagon, and whose business it was to bring wool from the country into the Buenos Ayres market.
This man, seeing him strong and willing, offered to share with him his work as wagoner; but he first inquired of
Santamarina whether he possessed a knife, as at that time in the Argentine it was the necessary instrument of defence, and at need, of attack, and was also employed in all the usages of the nomad life.
Santamarina had no knife; but he had a piastre, which the captain had given him before he left the ship, and with this piastre he bought a knife, which served in this partnership as his only capital.
Having led the common wagon for some time, Santamarina had saved enough to buy a better one for his own; then, chance aiding him, he purchased a few sheep whose wool he sold; and finally, by dint of work, he succeeded in saving sufficient capital to buy a little land and start sheep-raising on his own account. This was the beginning of his success; little by little Santamarina bought more sheep and more land, and became in the end one of the greater landed proprietors of the Argentine. He died in 1904, leaving a large fortune and a name justly honoured throughout the country.
To-day a visitor to his magnificent “estancia” of Tandil may still see, under a glass shade, the knife and a model of the wagon which were the first instruments of his fortune.
The second story is more commonplace, but no less true. Twelve years ago two Neapolitan immigrants came to settle at Rosario. To gain a living, and no doubt in memory of their former trade, they founded in partnership a boliche; that is, a bar for the sale of drinks. When a certain time had elapsed, their business being far from prosperous, they decided that one or the other of the two was one too many, and so determined to separate. But which of the two should retain the boliche? They drew lots to decide the point; and he whom chance favoured retained the business alone, while the other went in search of his fortune elsewhere.
The latter, far from allowing himself to be discouraged, made for Rosario harbour, in search of a new trade: he assumed that of a dock-labourer or lighterman. This was at the time when the growing of maize was beginning, in the Province of Santa Fé, to give satisfactory results. Our hero, having spent some time in carrying sacks of grain upon his back from the quays to the vessels about to sail,
conceived the idea of buying, with his savings, a sack of maize, and to sell it retail, in the country, for the purposes of seed. This first venture having succeeded, he continued his operations with a larger number of sacks; then, finally, he abandoned the trade of porter in order to enlarge his new business, which from that time increased by thousands of sacks, and soon became a great export business.
Thanks to the development of the culture of maize in this region, he has become one of the greatest merchants and speculators in this product, and enjoys to-day a fortune of many millions, while his companion, less happy in his affairs, still keeps the little drink-shop in Rosario.