610 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



out from this city, the inner " camps," which furnish soft grasses being 

 in demand for the grazing of sheep. It is still easy to obtain most ex- 

 cellent estancia lands in the outside partidos (counties), while the Gov- 

 ernment sells its lands on the frontiers at prices which are considered 

 reasonable, but the demand for places in those localities is increasing 

 every year, and it now requires no little capital to buy and stock a cat- 

 tle farm anywhere near to a market. 



Ustancios for horned cattle usually vary from 1 to 10 square leagues 

 in extent, while those on the frontiers are even much larger. The es- 

 tanciero takes care to select a piece of land, if possible, bordered by a 

 river or having water courses {arroyas) running through it or perma- 

 nent lakes {lagunas) of fresh water, and as free as possible from hem- 

 lock and burr. The grass of a stock farm is what is called pastofuerte 

 or coarse grass, which stands the dry seasons better than the meadow 

 grass or trefoil on which sheep are pastured, and which does not begin 

 to appear until the coarse grass has been entirely eaten down.* In 

 building his house the owner is guided by his taste or his means. In 

 former times, and it is still the case in some parts of -the country, the 

 estanciero lived in a mud hut without a window, nowadays very lux- 

 urious residences can be found, even on the frontiers, furnished with 

 every modern convenience. 



The corrals, generally near the house, are large folds for inclosing the 

 cattle when necessary, and aremost important appendages to dia estancia. 

 They are made of upright posts of hard wood, 7 feet high, fastened to- 

 ■ gether by means of cross-bars andhide thongs. They are generally oval 

 or circular in form and strongly made, so as to securely hold a large num- 

 ber of cattle, the gate consisting of two or three transverse bars. The 

 grounds {monte) immediately surrounding the house generally comprise 

 from 10 to 50 acres, wired in, with a ditch on the outer side, and con- 

 sist for the most part of timber and fruit trees — generally peach, for the 

 reason that they are such rapid growers, arriving at maturity in three 

 years and serving the double purpose of fruit and fuel, besides making 

 fences.! These patches of timber are landmarks on these unending 

 plains, visible for many miles, and at a distance look like green hills, 

 whence the name which is given to them. In peach monies one-thirdof 

 the plantation is cut down at intervals, and is allowed to grow up 

 afresh from the stump ; and in this manner the supply of iruit and tim- 

 ber is constant and abundant. Such a thing, however, as a viegetable 

 garden is almost unknown. The staff of an estancia usually consists of 

 a superintendent called major-domo, who represents the owner; a capi- 

 taz to oversee the peons or laborers, and from five to twenty of these 

 peons, according to the size of the estancia, who earn from $10 to $25 

 per month. 



Where an estancia is very large in extent and the cattle are numer- 

 ous, there are established, at corresponding distances from each other 



* lu reference to this change from coarse to soft grasses produced by the pasturage of 

 horned cattle, Mr. Darwin (Naturalist's Vpyage Around the World, p. 118) says of 

 the Argentine pampas : " I was very much struck with the marked change in the as- 

 pect of the country after having crossed the Solado River.. From, a coarse herbage atc 

 passed on to a carpet of green vendure. I at first attributed this to some change in 

 the nature of the soil, but the inhabitants assured me that the whole was to bo at- 

 tributed to the manuring and grazing of the cattle. Exactly the same fact has been 

 observed m the piairies of North America, where coarse grass, between 5 and 6 feet 

 high, when grazed by cattle, changes into common pasture land. I am not botanist 

 enmigh to say whether the change here is owing to the introduction of new species, 

 to the aJtered growth of the same, or to a difference in their proportional numbers." 



mon. 



See Mr. Atwatei-'s account of the prairie^, in Silliman's Journal, vol. i, p 117. 



t On ma«y eatandos poplar, eucalyptus, an{l willow plantations are now very com- 



