The sheep industry has not maintained its old relative importance. In 1830 Argentina had 2,500,000 sheep and exported 6,000,000 lbs. of wool; in 1883 the figures were 69,000,000 sheep (somewhat more than now) and 261,000,000 lbs. of wool. In 1908 the shipments were 175,538 tons, and Argentina is of great importance in the world's markets, but the conditions of the industry have changed considerably within recent years. In the old days Spain prohibited the export of her valuable merino sheep to foreign countries, but the colonies were fortunate enough not to be included in the prohibition, and in 1550 the first merinos appeared in Tucuman from Peru.[99] Professor Clapham, in his valuable work, "The Woollen and Worsted Industries," says: "There, together with an inferior, long-wooled breed, also of Spanish extraction, they ran wild and deteriorated for over two hundred years; so that eventually the Argentine flocks were as sorely in need of new blood as were those of France, Germany, or Russia, which, until the middle of the eighteenth century, had never had the benefit of a cross with the old Spanish strain. Between 1760 and 1840, thanks to a change in the commercial policy of Spain, such crossing took place in almost every country of Europe and in many European colonies." About the beginning of the nineteenth century pure-bred Spanish rams were brought to Argentina, and others from France and Saxony. By 1846 the wool had so greatly improved that it was exported to England. Forty years ago the exports consisted almost entirely of merino wool, but now seven-eighths is cross-bred. For this change there are two reasons—firstly, the rich, loamy soil does not suit merinos, which are apt to deteriorate in rank pastures, and, secondly, the trade in frozen meat has made such enormous strides that estancieros are anxious to obtain mutton breeds, especially Lincolns. The Lincolnshire breeders drive a flourishing trade with Buenos Aires, and as much as 1,000 guineas is often given for a ram. There used to be a prejudice in Bradford against Argentine wool,[100] but it is disappearing, although the Australian product still fetches a somewhat higher price.

LINCOLN CHAMPION. EXHIBITED BY MR. M. J. COBO.

The improvements which of late years have been introduced into sheep-breeding and sheep-farming are very remarkable, and they are partly due to the efforts of immigrants from New Zealand who have introduced effective cures for foot-rot and other diseases. During the last ten years of the nineteenth century breeders pinned their faith almost entirely to Lincolns, and the importations were very large. Up to 1890 the majority of Argentine sheep were weak cross-breds, and such good blood as remained had been weakened by over-crossing. The hardy Lincoln brought health and energy to the enfeebled mass, and breeders made it their business to rear hardy sheep and obtain a good average without going to extremes in their preference for any particular stock. The breeding of sheep has been greatly benefited by the fact that the estancias have been largely in English hands[101] and the proprietors have thus introduced hardy English breeds and good methods.

All over Argentina the intelligent selection of breeds is receiving great attention. It is now recognised that in an alfafa district a stock-master should keep cattle rather than flocks, and that such sheep as he has should be producers of mutton rather than wool. Again, in the southern districts where the grass is rich and tender, the Lincoln breed is unsuitable and crossings are favoured with the Romney Marsh, which counteracts the tendency towards coarseness, and gives silkiness, closeness, and, to some extent, fineness to the wool. Thus in Tierra del Fuego the hardy Romney Marsh, imported from the Falkland Islands, is being bred, and in this inhospitable climate the sheep keep fat all the year round, even when the snow lies a foot deep on the ground, for the sheep have learned to scrape the snow away with their hoofs and find the grass.

AN ESTANCIERO'S HOUSE.

M. Bernandez, to whose valuable work this chapter is indebted, concludes this subject with the following words: "Thus the moral to be learned from all this would be, that there is no reason why either the coarse or fine wools now produced should be abandoned to any great extent. The coarse can afford to give over a large proportion of its flock to the evolution, because they are in an immense majority; but it would not be prudent to go to the other extreme in this reaction, as the coarse long wool will always have its use, not only in rough goods but also in the warp of fine cloths, which in the great mechanical looms has to be extremely strong—a reason that has prevented the decadence of French wools. The merino, on its side, has its strongest defence in the singular fact that our woollen factories import their fine wools in the form of yarn. As soon as spinning-mills are established in the country, and the customs tariff combines the interests of the wool-grower with that of the manufacturer, there will be, in this country alone, more than half a million sterling at hand for the purchase of the wool produced by our Rambouillet flocks. It can thus be seen that there is a field for stock-breeding and industrial art that will cause the development on a colossal scale of all the breeds comprised in our flocks, and that the times are singularly propitious for it, as we have at hand in enormous quantity all the elements tending to good results that can be offered to capital and to the vigorous enterprise of mankind, with greater certainty and more favourable auspices than can be obtained in any other class of business, or in any other part of the world."[102]