ARGENTINE PROSPECTS 39 



linseed producer, a paying crop, though an 

 uncertain one. 



In gauging future expansion of cereal culti- 

 vation, it should be remembered that the absence 

 of roads renders the cost of carting at a greater 

 distance than twenty miles from a railway station 

 prohibitive. The province of Buenos Aires is 

 well served with railway communications ; and 

 while there is still room for branch lines the main 

 arteries of traffic may be said to be complete. 

 The extensions planned in Santa Fe and Cordoba 

 are about 800 miles, and here, too, the limit of 

 railway extension is in sight. The acreage 

 under wheat for the current crop, as given in the 

 Bulletin of the International Institute of Agri- 

 culture, only shows a small increase, the better 

 yield accounting for an estimated increase in the 

 crop of 19 per cent, over 1911-12. Maize shows 

 an increase of 11 per cent, in acreage, and 22 per 

 cent, in yield. The extension of cereal acreage 

 in the Republic appears to be bound up with the 

 future of the Pampa Central Territory. During 

 recent years, there has been a marked increase 

 in the Westward development within the bound- 

 aries of this Territory. The rainfall has generally 

 been considered insufficient for wheat growing. 

 With the exception of the present crop, returns 

 have been surprisingly satisfactory. In 1911-12, 

 350,000 tons of cereals were exported from the 



