SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART JI \)d 



or on poles out in the sun, and dry it that way and then ship it to the 

 sugar plantations where they used that product; but the packing houses 

 have gone into their country and given great impetus to the cattle in- 

 dustry. They take most of the cattle coming from the good grass lands 

 and after dressing them put them into refrigerators and ship them to the 

 seaports, where they are loaded into refrigerated vessels going abroad 

 and are sold on the foreign markets as Brazilian beef. The prices re- 

 ceived are not such as paid for the beef in the United States or from 

 Argentine, but compare very favorably, and with that incentive the buyers 

 are introducing improved" blood. Already they have improved the stock, 

 and it is to be expected that in a short time they will have a great deal 

 of well-bred stock there. 



The worst enemies they have to contend with are insect pests, the 

 same as we have in the southern states. One of the surprising features 

 is that the cattle that have pastured thru the tick-infested areas in this 

 country are not immune to the tick when taken down there, and the 

 cattle taken from their tick-infested country are not immune when they 

 are brought to this country. The tick is an insect that deposits its 6gg 

 under the skin of the animal, then developing into a grub, and it is the 

 source of a great deal of annoyance to the cattle as well as bad for the 

 hide. These cattle are being improved on a large scale. The greatest im- 

 provement is being made by Mr. McKenzie, who has what is probably the 

 largest cattle ranch in the world. His company has over 6,000,000 acres 

 of land under lease in that country and 225,000 cattle, which are de- 

 veloped economically because the land is cheap and because there is 

 such a mild climate, consequently no losses are suffered from exposure. 

 The losses that come heaviest is the calf crop, but when the calf crop is 

 in they can market from 90 to 95 per cent of the cattle, they raise. 



Sao Paulo is the headquarters of the Brazilian Packing House Com- 

 pany. It is just on the dividing line between the tropics and the tem- 

 perate zone. When you get south of that you get into the temperate re- 

 gion and the conditions gradually change until you get more nearly those 

 of this climate here, but with a milder winter at Buenos Aires. How- 

 ever, the country covers such a wide longitude that when you get down 

 into Patagonia you find it rather bleak, with v/inters almost, if not more 

 severe than the country here, and more exposed to the raw winds of 

 the sea. 



Argentine is a great cattle- and corn-producing country. The Argen- 

 tine and Brazil constitute about two-thirds of the area of South America. 

 The Argentine republic is about two-thirds the size of the United States 

 and extends from the tropics 3000 miles south almost to Cape Horn. The 

 central portion of the Argentine, or that portion known as the La Plata 

 valley, is a rich, level plain extending north and south 1000 miles and 

 with -an average width of from 200 to 400 miles. A large portion of that 

 is level and is a rich, deep black soil which is exceedingly productive. 

 It is soil tluit in ricliness and producti,vene3S compares more nearly to 

 the soil of our western sl()i)e or the Missouri valley, than any soil in 

 this state. It has natui'ally a rather better drainage than the Missouri 



