Not only do the Benégas Brothers manufacture wine and grape juice, but they have lately installed a cold-storage system at their plant for the preservation of grapes which are sent to Buenos Aires and other parts of the country to be eaten in the élite restaurants and in the homes of the wealthy. One kilogram (2⅕ pounds) of table grapes from their vineyards retails in Buenos Aires from 56 cts. to $2.14 according to their quality.
Dr. Serú, seeing the results obtained from viticulture in this province was one of the first men to conceive the idea of growing fruit for canning as has been done in California. On his estate near San Rafael, he had some canned which he sent to Buenos Aires to compete with some articles from California. His product was found to be superior and to-day he has one of the best fruit fincas in the republic. Gath y Chaves, the great department firm which has branches in every large town in the republic have decided to accept, for their trade, no other brands than his. This is a big feather in his cap because Gath y Chaves is the largest firm of its kind in South America. Dr. Serú is now endeavoring to get North American capital interested in Mendocino lands for he is of the opinion that fruit will eventually supersede viticulture. Fruit lands average about $51.24 an acre; orchards of plums, apricots, peaches, and pears, six years old, will cost the purchaser $683.20 an acre. These figures are nearly exact regarding their present worth (1917), and if anybody who reads this book goes to Mendoza, not knowing conditions there, they should not be bluffed by other figures as these are nearly correct, they having been given to me by viticulturists and fruit growers of repute.
Mendoza has been hit rather hardly in the question of labor for three thousand Italians alone have emigrated from the province to return home on account of the European war. Business is now at its lowest ebb, but of all the provinces of the republic, it has undoubtedly the brightest future. It is going to be a great granary, and wheat is going to play an important part in its exports. Everything is grown by irrigation, and it has been found that grain grown this way there doesn't rot or soften as it does in other districts under similar conditions. Under ordinary conditions, the wheat yield in Mendoza is fifty-two bushels to the acre; that of the whole republic is only twenty-three. A man on an experimental farm grew ten acres that averaged seventy-six bushels to the acre; figures that I had hitherto thought impossible. There is no flour mill in the province; neither is there one in the neighboring province San Juan. Sr. Emilio Vogt, manager of the Molino del Rio de la Plata, the largest flour mill in Argentina, which has a capital of $14,945,000, tells me that a flour mill either in Tucumán or in Mendoza would be a profitable investment. One with a daily capacity of 30 tons would cost 300,000 pesos ($138,100.00). It would need 200,000 pesos ($85,400.00) extra for working capital, bringing the total to 500,000 pesos ($223,500.00). He says he would guarantee a mill like this to make forty per cent. annually on the original investment. It would have all it could do to supply Mendoza city alone. Vogt says that in the flour business in Argentina, everything depends on the freight. The grain belt at the present time is midway between Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Wheat is shipped to Buenos Aires to be ground and the flour then shipped back over the same rails and beyond to Mendoza. This cuts a big hole in the profits. Since Mendoza is destined to be a great wheat country, the grain won't have to be shipped far to the mill if one is established there.
The city of Mendoza according to the census of 1916 had 59,117 human inhabitants. Its neighbor, Godoy Cruz had a population of 16,021. The canine population of both of these cities outnumbers that of the human in a proportion of at least three to one. Only two dogs out of this vast number are of any consequence and they are on exhibit in the zoölogical gardens. The other dogs are not worth the powder to blow them up.
With the exception of Buenos Aires, Mendoza is undoubtedly the finest city in Argentina and is the liveliest of the provincial capitals. It is a beautiful place with many broad avenues bordered by symmetrical rows of sycamore, plane, and linden trees. All the streets of the newer part of the town are well paved with rectangular cobble stones. Between the road and the sidewalk are ditches paved with round polished stones and spanned by bridges under which rivulets of muddy water flow. I have been told that in this respect, Mendoza bears a similarity to Guatemala. The sidewalks are paved with tile of various somber colors and designs. The residences are mostly one story in height built of a brownish brick or of adobe and stuccoed. The town presents an extremely verdant and refreshing appearance largely due to the murmuring of the running water that is everywhere.
The Plaza San Martin, the principal one, though to me not as charming as the Plaza Pringles in San Luis, is the finest in the republic. In its center is a large equestrian statue of the guerrero, San Martin, looking towards the Andes. From its center, eight walks, the tile paving of which cost the city forty thousand dollars, radiate, the four center ones containing little islands of flowers. The corners of this plaza which are sunk about two feet below the level of the street are round. In this neighborhood much of the activity of the city centers for here are the Grand Hotel, Hotel Bauer, the cathedral, the Spanish Bank of the River Plate; the Bank of the Province of Mendoza (a huge building in construction); the Bank of the Argentine Nation and the Municipal Theater. Nearby is the post office.
There is another plaza, that of Independencia, which is still in an embryo state. It contains four city squares and when finished is expected to be a masterpiece. Work of grading is now in progress but it is being done so slowly that I conjecture the year 1920 may not witness its completion. In the meantime horses graze on the tall grass and alfalfa that will be eventually dug up to be planted to trees and lawn. This is supposed to be the exact geographical center of New Mendoza and on it faces the capitol and governor's residence. Both these edifices are but one story in height; the former covering an entire block.
Statue of San Martin, Mendoza