SUGAR-CANE FARMS 73 



was actually constructed underneath the bed of the 

 Sail to convey the unused water of the Rio Lules to 

 the right bank. Lastly, to the north of Tucuman 

 the Sierra de Burruyacu provides a few intermittent 

 streams of water, which the estancias (ranches) formerly 

 conducted, with great labour, to their represas. These 

 do not suffice for irrigation on a large scale. 



The sugar-cane was first grown at the gates of the 

 town and, to the east, at Cruz Alta, on the left bank 

 of the Sali. These were some distance from the 

 mountain because, as there was less rain and the soil 

 was fairly dry, the natural vegetation was less luxuriant, 

 and it cost less to prepare the ground. 1 The Central 

 Cordoba Railway, which passes along the right bank 

 of the Sali south of Tucuman, is the axis of another 

 zone of cultivation and of old factories. Colonization 

 afterwards went further west. A new provincial rail- 

 way, describing a section of a circle, was grafted at 

 Tucuman (1888-90) and Madria upon the Central 

 Cordoba line. It keeps close to the foot of the range, 

 the falda, and enables farmers to settle on it. The 

 new estates have not confined themselves to the alluvial 

 plain ; they have crept up the foot hills, and are con- 

 stantly going higher. In the latitude of Tucuman 

 the mountain approaches within eight or twelve miles 

 of the Sali, and the possibilities of extension westward 

 are strictly limited ; indeed, they are already exhausted. 

 Further south, on the contrary, the plain extends 

 more than fifteen miles to the east of the provincial 

 railway. West of Monteros, Conception, and the 

 existing line of works, there is a reserve of available 

 land ; there is room for a fresh advance westward. 

 There is also room for expansion to the north-east, 

 at the foot of the sub-Andean chain of Burruyacu, 



1 In 1894 ^ was calculated that ground that was not yet cleared 

 was worth 100 to 150 piastres a hectare at Cruz Alta, and the cost 

 of clearing 150 to 200 piastres, whereas in the moist forest at the 

 foot of the Sierra the land was worth only 75 to 100 piastres, 

 the cost of clearing it was double (300 to 350 piastres). 



