96 THE WORLD'S MEAT EVTURE 



for modern settlers as it was for the Indians who formerly lived 

 on the fringe of the great grass desert, crossing it only in times 

 of stress, and then in forced marches. 



"The first impnlse to colonisation was given in the year 1856, 

 Avhen General ]\Iitre — Argentina's grand old man — granted to 

 the Centi'al Railway the most liberal concession ever accorded in 

 this country. It included the free gift of a league of the 

 nation's land on each side of the line along the total length of its 

 construction. The railway, which was the first to coiuiect the 

 towns of Buenos Aires and Rosario, foi-med a separate depart- 

 ment to deal with its real estate, which it sold, and is still selling 

 in small lots and on easy payment terms to bona fide settlers. 

 Thus, the districts through which the line passed were soon 

 colonised. As an unlooked-for consequence, agriculture foi- 

 over twenty years was practically confined to the north. 



"It seems nowadays almost incredible that landowners should 

 for so long have remained ignorant of the possibilities of the 

 great alfalfa zone in the centre, or that the finest wheat faiyus 

 in the Republic (those Avithin the radius of Bahia Blanca) 

 should have remained untouched till a few years ago. Perhaps 

 the real reason lay in the absence of any experimental farjns. 

 Landowners in the Argentine are a conservative class, and 

 incline to a* tried and well-worn routine rather than to 

 experiment. 



"Intensive farming is practically unknown in the Plate. The 

 reason is that the safest investment for a farmer's spare cash 

 has hitherto been the lands around him, which within twenty 

 years have doubled, trebled, and even quadrupled in value. 

 While fine stock may die and Imildings deteriorate, land has 

 none of these drawbacks, and "is bound to go up." So many 

 new districts have been opened up, and their purchase and re- 

 purchase has absorbed so much of the estanciero's money, that 

 the margin left for improvements has been comparatively small. 

 The land tax, or "contribution directa," favours such specu- 

 lation. Its percentage on the value of property is comparatively 

 low, and is based on actual rather than potential production. 



"Although the province of Buenos Aires now leads in the area 

 laid down to agriculture as well as in the average yield per acre, 

 there is no doubt that for many years her main interests will 

 still continue to be pastoral. One reason has already been given 

 for this — in the absence of agricultural stations. Another is. 

 that although commercially the importance of a new breed of 



