60 THE WORLD'S MEAT FUTIRE 



AVest of Baliia Blanca, considerably beyond the termini of the 

 railroads, in tlie foothills of the Aiuk-s, where there is plenty 

 of water and good grazing all the year round — although the 

 winters are quite severe at times — land may be rented from the 

 Government at a very moderate rate indeed. 



Cattle can also be purchased in that territory, in almost any 

 desirable number, at a few pounds per head. It is the custom 

 there to graze the cattle all the winter, and then in the spring 

 to drive them, by easy stages, to the railroad centres, either east 

 or north, although at times ranchers have taken them across 

 the Andes for marketing at Valparaiso, Chile ; but, as a rule, 

 the cattle are pastured on alfalfa lands in the province of Buenos 

 Aires before being marketed. 



Although, practically speaking, cattle raising can be carried 

 on in any part of the Argentine Republic, there are regions 

 which, for climatic and topographical reasons, are more specially 

 favourable to the industry' than others. Chief amongst such 

 regions is the Pampa district, the climate of which is sufficiently 

 mild to allow of breeding all the year round. Under the 

 denomination of "Pampa" may be included the whole of the 

 province of Buenos Aires, the greater part of those of Cordoba 

 and Santa Fe, and parts of the adjacent provinces and territories, 

 which constitute one immense natural plain, without any greater 

 obstacle to the transit of stock than gradual slopes, small ridges, 

 or, in some districts, woods of greater or lesser extent. The 

 central portion of this region has been known for some years as 

 the alfalfa zone. Alfalfa cultivation, however, has expanded 

 to such an extent on every side of this zone, that to-day the 

 designation records more accurately the district of its origin 

 than the limits of its actual cultivation. The north of the 

 province of Buenos Aires, owing to its situation on the banks 

 of the Parana and the river Plate, and due to its having been 

 settled longer than any other, is one of the most fertile regions 

 imaginable. After having been for long devoted to sheep 

 raising, it is to-day the principal centre of maize growing. The 

 north-eastern portion of this province consists, generally 

 speaking, of low-lying lands, subject to frequent inundations. 

 The Provincial Government, however, has undertaken drainage 

 works, the completion of which should have beneficial effect upon 

 the value of these lands. The western district of the province 

 of Buenos Aires, the south of Cordoba, and the province of Santa 

 Fe, the eastern portion of San Luis and the Pampa Central, 



