282 a?HE BOOK Otf WHEAT 



reaches the world's markets. After they become accustomed to 

 it, most persons prefer it to any other. 



Argentine wheat growing began to develop in 1880, and be- 

 fore 1895 over 300 mills had been built, an increase of nearly 

 100 per cent. The milling industry was so overdone that many 

 mills went to ruin. In 1901, the annual producing capacity 

 of the Argentine mills was stated at over 13,000,000 barrels, 

 but the exportation and internal consumption did not equal 

 half of this amount. It is especially the large mills of the in- 

 terior that have had little to do. High taxes were a great dis- 

 advantage. New mills were, however, erected in the ports in 

 1903. These mills were equipped with the most modern ma- 

 chinery, and turn out an excellent product. The flour yield 

 averages about 66 per cent. There is little home demand for 

 by-products, and they are disposed of chiefly by exportation. 

 It requires great economy to make milling profitable, and the 

 industry will very probably be confined to the chief river and 

 ocean ports, and to the small and comparatively unimportant 

 local gristmills. On the whole, milling in Argentina is pro- 

 gressing slowly, and in other South American countries it is 

 only local. 



American competition crippled the Dutch mills in Holland, 

 but they are regaining their trade on account of freight dis- 

 criminations. In 1902, The Netherlands ranked second in im- 

 portance as a market for American flour, Great Britain being 

 first. Tariffs drove American flour out of Belgium, but Bel- 

 gium millers suffer from ruinous competition among them- 

 selves. In Canada, mill-building is active, and both foreign 

 and domestic trade is carried on. During 1903 flour-milling in 

 New Zealand and Australia was temporarily at a standstill on 

 account of crop failures, but it is usually an important in- 

 dustry. Progress in New Zealand seems to have been slow in 

 this industry during the last few years, apparently on account 

 of over-capitalization and over-production. The Chinese and 

 Japanese have erected some flour mills, and they are ambitious 

 to do their own milling, but success in this is no 4 - yet assured. 



