178 EDITORIAL 



a salt-water spore. It must fall in a spot where it can grow, where 

 its family, as it comes to have one, may live and multiply and grow 

 into a kingdom, for if it fails in this last, the kingdom will not 

 be won. 



The stunt may be perilous; but it is easy to see how easy it 

 is to do if done just right. Light is the great foster-farmer of the 

 earth, the truly great farmer; and we now see how clearly and 

 truly " light pressure" is the long-distance seed-planter of the 

 worlds. T. C. C. 



ARTESIAN WATERS OF ARGENTINA 



The climate of a part of Argentina is semi-arid, and the geo- 

 logical formations which are regarded as Quaternary and Later 

 Tertiary are, in the western and central districts of the country, 

 saline to a degree which indicates prolonged duration of aridity. 

 The region of the Pampas which covers the province of Buenos 

 Aires and stretches northward west of the Parana does not exhibit 

 this characteristic, having apparently long enjoyed a more humid 

 climate, as it does now. The foothills of the Andes are also well 

 watered. But with the exception of these last-named regions, a 

 great part of the country suffers from lack of good water. This 

 condition may, however, be in some measure relieved by proper 

 development of artesian supplies. Many wells have been sunk 

 already, but without adequate geological investigation. In the 

 Pampas, water is found at a general depth of 20 meters more or 

 less, and is pumped to the surface by windmills. It may be said 

 that the development of the livestock industry of Argentina would 

 be impossible were it not for this supply which comes from eolian, 

 alluvial deposits of Quaternary and Tertiary age. A different 

 geological condition exists from the Rio Colorado southward in 

 what may be best described as northern Patagonia. In that 

 region there are local elevations occupying a middle position 

 between the Atlantic and Pacific, composed of granites and older 

 rocks possibly of Paleozoic age, and rising to altitudes of 300 to 

 1,000 meters. These mountains are not represented upon any 

 map and their distribution is not known, but they have been de- 

 scribed by Moreno and other explorers. Upon their flanks there 



