176 THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS 



stretches westward beyond the frontier of the Cordoba 

 province, and it reaches the fringe of the monte between 

 San Francisco and Mar Chiquita. For the north, 

 Miatello gives 30 S. lat. as the normal limit of the wheat- 

 growing area ; beyond this it suffers both from the 

 low rainfall of winter and the excessive rainfall in summer. 

 As a matter of fact, the large estates only reach this 

 latitude on the line from San Francisco to Ceres. On 

 the Resistencia line, north of Santa Fe*, they stop at 

 30 30' S. lat. In the intervening district the limit 

 of the region of the colonies almost coincides with that 

 of the department of Castellanos, about 30 45' S. lat. 

 The area lying between this line and the northern 

 edge of the Pampa is given up to breeding. In the 

 south the region of the colonies stretches as far as 

 Las Bandurias and Irigoyen. 



2. South of the region of the colonies, the table- 

 land on the right bank of the Parana, west of Rosario 

 and San Nicolas, is the maize region, the corn belt of 

 Argentina. Flax is generally cultivated as well as 

 maize. It is the agricultural country par excellence 

 of Argentina. The soil, of fine clay, dark red in colour 

 and retentive of moisture, and the abundant summer 

 rains, are very suitable for maize. The limits of the 

 maize region describe an arc of a circle round Rosario 

 with a radius of 60 to 100 miles. They do not quite 

 reach the frontier of Cordoba in the west, and they 

 leave out the entire south-western corner of the Santa 

 Fe" province. The maize belt touches the Parana 

 between 32 S. lat. and the Baradero. In the north 

 it passes suddenly into the region of the colonies. In 

 the south, on the other hand, there is at the edge of 

 the corn belt an extensive transition-area, where maize 

 and wheat occupy pretty much the same surface ; 

 it stretches as far as the Rio Salado de Buenos Aires. 



3. The region of the lucerne farms is much larger. 

 It comprises the whole north-west corner of the Buenos 

 Aires province, from the Salado, in the district of Junin, 



