1904.] Wheat Growing in Argentina, 



343 



other country, outstripping, probably for the first time, the com- 

 bined receipts from the North American continent. Fifteen years 

 ago the Republic had hardly become a competitor in this trade, 

 and although the progress since 1894 has not been so rapid as it 

 was a few years earlier, the great possibilities of development 

 which the country undoubtedly presents makes the question of 

 Argentine agriculture one of considerable interest to the British 

 wheat grower. The actual area devoted to the crop, according 

 to the official figures for 1903-4, was 10,485,000 acres, which 

 may be compared with the area of 5,063,000 acres returned by 

 the Census in 1895. The preliminary estimate of this year's pro- 

 duction from the above area was 3,700,000 tons. An interesting 

 feature in connection with the development of the wheat area, 

 and one which has in the past, to a certain extent, restrained 

 the increase in the acreage, is the change which is taking 

 place in the centre of production. Much of the land which has 

 been, and still is, cultivated for wheat, lies in the northern part 

 of Santa Fe, in a region liable to drought and excessive heat. 

 Experience, however, has shown that the best wheat land lies 

 rather to the south and south-west, in the province of Buenos 

 Ayres, and in the more southern portions of Santa Fe and Cor- 

 doba ; the extension in this direction has recently been very 

 marked. 



The areas devoted to wheat in the four principal provinces of 

 Argentina during the past six years are shown in the following 

 table (in thousands) : — 



Year. 



Santa Fe. 



Buenos Ayres. 



Cordoba. 



Entre Rios. 





Acres. 



Acres. 



Acres. 



Acres. 



1 898-1 899 



3,58i 



1,929 



1,410 



583 



1 899- 1 900 



3,690 



2,045 



1,381 



707 



1 900- 1 90 1 



3,663 



2,265 



1,548 



695 



1901-1902 



3-417 



2,403 



1,440 



695 



1 902- 1 903 



3,106 



3>249 



I 893 



650 



1 903- 1 904 



3,3H 



4,061 



2,329 



521 



It will be seen from this that while the area devoted to wheat 

 in Buenos Ayres increased from 1,929,000 acres in 1898-99 

 to 4,061,000 acres in 1903-4, the area in Santa Fe declined 

 over a quarter of a million acres in the same period. 



The yield of wheat is much better in Buenos Ayres than in 



