THE LUCERNE FARMS 



53 



route. The cattle-driver could not dispense with the 

 hospitality of the vallista or dispute the price he cared 

 to charge. 



The length of the journey and the difficulty of keeping 

 the animals in good condition in the poor pastures 

 of the breeding districts made it advisable to stay longer 

 in the oases. There thus arose lucerne-farms the 

 invernadas to receive and fatten the cattle which 

 passed through. Lucerne is the characteristic and 

 most profitable produce of the valles. It is grown 



1 Imperfect statistics given by Poncel for the province of Cata- 

 marca give us some idea of the respective shares of the various Andean 

 districts in the export of Argentine cattle about the middle of the 

 nineteenth century. In 1855 the province of Catamarca sold 2,700 

 head of cattle (1,300 to Chile, 200 to Bolivia, 600 to San Juan 

 and Mendoza), 3,200 mules (2,500 to Bolivia 600 to Salta which 

 also were for Bolivia), and 1,200 asses (700 to Bolivia and 400 to Salta). 



wherever there is an assured supply of water, and is 

 invariably found in the upper section of the system 

 of irrigation-channels ; the cereals are sown lower down, 

 and are the first to suffer from drought. In the 

 quebradas, where space is more limited, the lucerne- 

 fields cover the entire oasis. Every cattle track has 

 a corresponding line of invernadas, which is often 

 completed on the opposite slope by a last group of 

 lucerne-farms where the beasts recover from the journey 

 before they are sold and dispersed. 



