RAVAGES OF TEXAS FEVER 189 



Constitution and General Lopez departments, in the 

 province of Santa Fe and on the Rio Cuarto, and in 

 the Cordoba province, by the presence of the garrapate, 

 which inoculates the cattle with a dreaded disease, 

 Texas fever. The Creole cattle are immunized against 

 the garrapate, but pedigree cattle quickly succumb to 

 it. In order to protect the southern zone, where the 

 garrapate does not reproduce, the Argentine Govern- 

 ment imposes severe restrictions on the transport of 

 cattle from north to south ; the cattle have to have 

 disinfectant baths at the frontier-stations. This cuts 

 pastoral Argentina in two. While the Durham cattle 

 of the south are intended for the refrigerators, the 

 Creole cattle of the north still supply the saladeros, 

 which have disappeared from Buenos Aires, but survive 

 on the Uruguay. Yet the advantages of crossing with 

 European breeds are such that the northern breeders, 

 in spite of the risk and the expense, have not given up 

 all hope of accomplishing it. The transformation of 

 the herd, however, is bound to be very slow. Pedigree 

 breeders are brought from the south and kept in the 

 stable. Their progeny, born on the spot, resist Texas 

 fever better and can be put out to pasture. There 

 has been more progress in the contaminated zone on 

 the right bank of the Parana than in Entre Rios and 

 Corrientes. Pedigree animals have been introduced at 

 Santa Fe, not only in the region of the colonies, but 

 further north, in the extreme northern corner of the 

 Pampa (San Cristobal department), colonized by ranchers 

 from the north of Buenos Aires and the south of Santa 

 Fe, who were ousted by the progress of maize. They 

 have brought with them to the new lands the cultiva- 

 tion of lucerne and the methods they followed on their 

 former property. At Corrientes, on the other hand, 

 breeding is an historic industry. The staff of the ranches 

 is indigenous. The pastoral traditions are unchanged. 

 When we study the variations in the numbers of 

 cattle in different parts of the Pampa, by comparing 



