202 THE PLAIN OF THE PAMPAS 



the uniformity of the Pampean plain, on which every 

 piece of land is worth about as much as the adjoining 

 piece. 



Colonization is easy and rapid in proportion as it 

 requires less capital and labour. The expansion of 

 breeding in the west between 1880 and 1890 was facili- 

 tated by the low market price of cattle at that time. 

 Breeding has the advantage over farming of not needing 

 so large a staff, but it requires a larger capital. Of 

 the crops, assuming that the conditions of soil and 

 climate are equally favourable, wheat is better than 

 maize for colonization, because the preparing of the 

 soil and the harvest can be done more speedily, and 

 the same number of hands can plant a larger area with 

 wheat than with maize. 



The action of the Argentine Government and the 

 provincial authorities has been restrained, apart from 

 the earliest period of the establishment of the Santa 

 Fe colonies, both as regards the securing of immigrants, 

 the distribution of lands, and the administration of 

 the colonies. 1 Colonization has been, on the whole, 

 a private affair. The work of organizing colonization 

 has at times been undertaken by the proprietors them- 

 selves ; they leased pieces of land and got a good 

 price for them, at the same time increasing the surplus 

 value of the plots they kept for themselves by promoting 

 the increase of population. Sometimes it was under- 

 taken by Colonization Companies, which bought land 

 to divide and sell. More frequently it was undertaken 

 by merchants who advanced credit to the colonists 

 they settled, on condition that the colonists bought 



1 The Agricultural Centres Law, passed in 1887 by the province 

 of Buenos Aires to encourage colonization, has not had good results. 

 By the terms of this law, owners who professed themselves willing 

 to devote their lands to colonization received an advance on the value 

 of the lands in the form of mortgages, the interest and repayment 

 of the mortgage being charged to the colonists. Many owners took 

 advantage of the law, but, after a pretence of colonization, kept the 

 ownership of their lands, 



