| Wheat | 5,500,000 | tons |
| Linseed | 1,300,000 | ” |
| Oats | 1,360,000 | ” |
The Maize crop is as yet unascertained at the time of writing.
The corresponding Uruguayan figures are as yet unobtainable. The Statistical Department of this Republic was reorganized in 1912, but, no doubt, has had to cope with enormous arrears. Still it is regrettable that authoritative statistics regarding this country are difficult, when not impossible, to obtain.
In 1913 Uruguay exported agricultural products of the value of $(Uruguayan) 1,857,000. 400,000 hectares in Uruguay were under wheat, a slightly less area under maize; the cultivation of oats was increasing rapidly, and that of barley slowly.
As has already been mentioned, the present (1915-16) harvests are reported as generally splendid in both countries though labour presents a serious problem, as do freights and scarcity of ships for export. Such complications have been prevalent and are likely to prevail throughout the war.
THE SOIL
Naturally, the soil of such a vast area as that covered by the two Republics of Argentina and Uruguay is varied to an extent with which a book like the present cannot attempt to deal adequately. The greatest feature is, however, the celebrated Pampean formation which obtains over the whole of the Province of Buenos Aires, the greater parts of the Provinces of Santa Fé, Córdoba, San Luis and Mendoza, the National Territory of the Pampa Central, the Republic of Uruguay, and extends southwards beyond the Argentine Rio Negro. In many places on this formation there are also later alluvial deposits.
The lightest soils, those with the smallest proportion of clay and consequently the loosest, are found in the West, near the Andes.
Starting from the most sandy western region, the soil grows more and more compact towards the east, along the River Paraná, the South of the Province of Santa Fé and most of the Republic of Uruguay, the Northern part of the Province of Buenos Aires (where rather heavy soils predominate); while in the South and South-West, that is to say the southern portion of the Province of Córdoba, the National Territory of the Pampa Central and the central and southern part of the Province of Buenos Aires, the soil is of lighter, though firmer consistency, than that of the western part.
The generally salient qualities of the Pampean soil are richness in humus, deficiency in lime and good proportions of nitrogen and phosphoric acid. A characteristic feature of the subsoil is stratified layers of more or less calcareous concretions known as TOSCA (tufa or tophos stone). This layer is sometimes deep down; but in the southern region of the Province of Buenos Aires, beginning at Tandíl and Azul, it reaches nearly to the surface, so as to appear immediately under the soil, thus forming a waterproof subsoil impenetrable by roots.