206 THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS 



The average of production and export for the years 

 1912, 1913, and 1914, in thousands of tons, is : 



As the chief centres of consumption are the ports 

 themselves, it follows that the commercial currents 

 that have to supply them are confused with the currents 

 which maintain the exports. The exchanges between 

 the various regions of the Pampa are more interesting 

 to the geographer. In their tendency to specialize, 

 these regions have ceased to be self-contained, and 

 they have to look to adjoining regions. The feeding 

 of the mills necessitates the transport of wheat in 

 different directions. The chief mills are at Buenos 

 Aires, where they are suitably located to work both 

 for the home market and for export ; and the mills in the 

 interior have some difficulty in competing with them. 

 Some of these, however, are still active. They mix hard 

 wheat, bought in the district of the Santa Fe colonies, 

 with the soft wheat that is grown in the middle and 

 south of Buenos Aires province. 



But this inter-regional transport of cereals is a small 

 thing in comparison with the transport of cattle. The 

 extension of the lucerne farms has developed the 

 fattening industry in many districts, while others 

 still confine themselves to breeding in the ordinary 

 sense, and they feed the other centres. The most 

 specialized fattening district is that of Villa Mercedes 

 and the western part of the lucerne belt, while the 

 eastern part of the province of Buenos Aires and Entre 

 Rios are still areas of production. The differentiation 

 of the pastoral zones can be gathered from a study 

 of the statistics. According to the 1908 Census, milch 



