Live Stock Breeders' Association. 103 



equally important factor in the world's market. "There is perhaps 

 no other area in the world possessing so vast an area of rich land 

 on which, owing to the exceptionally favorable climatic conditions, 

 live stock is born, bred and fattened entirely on the prairie without 

 need of artificial shelter, and there is scarcely no other where ani- 

 mals feed exclusively on natural grasses the soil of which can be 

 tilled at any time of the year." 



The beef cattle population of the Argentine at present is vari- 

 ously estimated at from 26,000,000 to 30,000,000. In the United 

 States there are 50,073,000 cattle other than dairy cows. The 

 Argentine Republic is about one-third the area of the United States 

 and by some is believed to possess two-thirds our capacity for pro- 

 ducing food products. Then there is the significant consideration 

 of the relative population of the two countries. While the United 

 States perhaps has 80,000,000 inhabitants Argentina has approxi- 

 mately 5,500,000. This forces Argentine farmers to depend very 

 considerably on foreign markets as an outlet for their products. 

 Whatever may have been the condition of the past, indications at 

 present point strongly to the fact that Argentines are alive both to 

 the necessity and privilege of developing foreign markets for their 

 large and ever increasing surplus. 



In 1880, the only exports were the by-products of live stock. 

 Exclusive of meats only sufficient food stuffs were produced to feed 

 its meagre population. Today their exports to Great Britain of 

 beef, mutton and wheat exceed our own, notwithstanding the fact 

 that less than fifteen per cent of the arable lands are under culti- 

 vation. It is estimated that there are over 250,000,000 acres of 

 arable land in the Republic. According to the latest statistics 

 (1907), the area under cultivation was but a trifle more than 30,- 

 000,000. 



Traveling through the country by train or coach the impression 

 that there is but little agriculture as compared with what is possible 

 grows upon one. Examples of good farming in the light of methods 

 followed by the more progressive cornbelt farmer are seldom seen. 



Cattle men of the United States are vitally interested in the 

 question of the extent and nature of Argentina's export trade in 

 beef and to how great an extent will their production influence the 

 demand for our cattle abroad. First let us examine the exact con- 

 dition of their trade as compared with that from the United States. 

 The following statement will show the exports of beef to Great 

 Britain for the years 1905, 1906 and 1907. 



