2 PRODUCTION 



all this requires resources which none but the great cattle-kings of 

 the country possess, and they have no need to move out from their 

 large estates to the more distant parts. Argentina, in fact, has 

 nearly reached the limits of the possibilities under the older large- 

 scale ranching system, 1 and is scarcely ready for the newer more 

 intensive system, for which the newcomers at least lack the neces- 

 sary capital, skill, patience and technical knowledge. This is 

 especially marked in dairying, which, however, is also hindered 

 by opposition from the breeders of beef-cattle. 



In the end, the question of meat-production versus cereal cropping 

 is more likely to be decided by the comparative price-levels than 

 by other factors. The present outlook indicates that prices will 

 favour animal industries, though higher prices for animal produce 

 mean also higher prices for animal feedstuffs, the chief item in the 

 competitive cereal crops in Argentina. However, if freights 

 remain high after the European War, exports of the more bulky 

 feedstuffs will be discouraged. 



It remains to be said that Argentina is better provided with 

 transport and port facilities for handling meat than grain, but the 

 operations of the powerful meat-packing Trusts in control of a 

 number of the freezing works, require to be considered with a view 

 to their probable future effects. Their profits are known to be large, 

 and there are already indications that they are acting so as to 

 discourage the free and natural increase of production. 



SURPLUS-PRODUCING REGIONS. 

 (d) URUGUAY, PARAGUAY, CHILE, SOUTHERN BRAZIL. 



The above-named regions, together with Argentina make up 

 the whole of temperate South America, and it is convenient to dis- 

 cuss them at this stage before proceeding to more important regions. 

 With the exception of Chile, also, they form geographical extensions 

 of Argentina to a large extent, and are inhabited mainly by a similar 

 class of population. 



Uruguay is much the most important of these in exports of 

 animal produce. The greater part of this country resembles in 

 climatic conditions and physical features the neighbouring pro- 

 vinces of Argentina across the Uruguay River and the La Plata 

 Estuary. Cereal cultivation, however, is followed to a much smaller 

 extent owing to a less advanced stage of general development. 

 There are great stock-raising industries on both sides of the river 

 boundary, and, while the climate of Uruguay is both milder and 

 moister than is common in Argentina, its soil is suitable in a few 

 places only, for the cultivation of alfalfa, 2 which is the great cattle 

 fodder crop in the former. In spite of the fact that the native 



1 See U.S. Dept. Agric. Bureau of Crop Estimates, Report 109, pp. 168-171. 



2 W. H. Koebel, " Uruguay," 1911, p. 247 : " Very few districts in the 

 country are adapted to the favourable cultivation of alfalfa." 





