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been notified by the tenant of the mention of under- 

 taking them; as a matter of fact he never does, because 

 it is so rare that- a tenant attempts an improvement, 

 unless obliged to. 



In other countries the value 'of the improvements 

 and their extent of compensation has been fixed: on 

 the buildings, barns, irrigation, ditches, wells, trees, me- 

 tal roads, stone, paths, fences, wire, on a basis of the 

 improvements being exhausted in 20 years, or at the 

 rate of the total cost less one twentieth of the original 

 vost per annum of use. 



Manurings, field ditches and drainage, etc., cal- 

 culated to last 7 years, on a similar basis, less one 

 seventh of the cost per year from time of their termina- 

 tion. 



Without money to put theories into practice and 

 without interest to persist in carrying them through, 

 much of the good work of well intentioned parties is 

 irrevocably lost and many of the excellent measures ad- 

 vocated by the experts of the Ministry of Agriculture 

 are condemned to remain excellent advice and nothing 

 more . 



This is evident in the failure to attain anything 

 practical through the experimental "chacras", the poor 

 results of the efforts to introduce seed up-grading, the 

 stamping out of plagues, the custom of utilizing waste 

 product on the farm, the minimum number of pigs 

 found around our "chacras despite the insignificant 

 price of maize, its abundance and the relatively high 

 price of pork, both on the rural and urban markets, and 

 above all the persistence in routine, the most curious 

 phenomenon of all in a country populated by immi- 

 grants, which evidently points to the fact that enter- 

 price is not remunerative. 



All this must lead one to the conclusion that our 

 present system in the administration of the Ministry 

 of Agriculture is defective . On the other hand we 

 know by experience of other countries, notably the 

 United States, what can really be done through the ac- 

 tion of the State. 



In a serious effort to put our house in ordor, an 

 attempt to establish a sound plan of Agricultural de- 

 ve^pment must be seconded by an active and well or- 

 ganised Ministry of Agriculture. 



What do our farmers want done to help them and 

 what measures are demanded by the Grain buying 

 houses ? 



