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.]