ESTANCIA.
The life of the estancia has been described by many pens, and the free, open conditions have always had an attraction for Englishmen. The management is everywhere upon the same principles. The property is divided by wire fences into paddocks varying from 200 to 3,000 acres. Some paddocks are used for breeding, some for fattening, and the head station is situated as nearly in the middle of the Camp as possible. It consists of the houses of the owners and managers, the labourers' quarters, tool- and store-houses, shearing-sheds, dipping-troughs, and the like. The owner's house is often very large and handsome, and the grounds beautifully laid out. There is generally considerable variety of stock, but where the fattening of steers is the main object few or no sheep are kept. Some estancias have dairies attached. Land was taken up very rapidly by ranchers in the early days of Argentina's prosperity. Now, with the increase of the area of cultivation, the land in the Pampas which is available for grazing is greatly curtailed. It is estimated that nearly a hundred million hectares are still to be disposed of by the State, but this is all far to the north or south, and Chubut and Santa Cruz make up nearly half the total.
ESTANCIA SANTA MARIA.
The dairy industry is now on a gigantic scale. All arrangements were till very lately most primitive and the traveller, did he not know to the contrary, would still believe them to be so; but it is a peculiarity about Argentina that the people hurry to institute a great export trade long before they think of supplying themselves adequately with an article. As late as 1891 the first butter—a few hundred pounds—was exported. Now the exports amount to 8,000 tons. The dairies are provided with the most up-to-date machinery, and the export trade of butter will, no doubt, rapidly increase. The industry is, however, looked upon with some distrust by estancieros, for it is important not to allow the winning of milk to diminish the young animals, either in quantity or quality, upon which the prosperity of Argentina depends.
