344 



Wheat Growing in Argentina. [sept., 



the other provinces, as will be seen from the following average 

 yields, estimated by the Argentine Department of Agriculture : — 



Bushels 

 per Acre. 



Sante Fe, north and centre ... ... ... ... 10*63 



Sante Fe, south ... ... ... ... 13*24 



Cordoba, south ... ... ... ... ... ... 13*01 



Entre Rios 12 "03 



Buenos Ayres, north ... ... ... ... ... 14*98 



,, centre ... ... ... ... ... 17*68 



,, south ... ... ... ... ... 20*26 



In 1 901-1902 an average yield of 15 bushels was obtained 

 in Buenos Ayres, whereas the other three provinces were so 

 affected by the drought that a yield of only 5 bushels was 

 obtained in Santa Fe, 3§ bushels in Cordoba, and less than 

 7 bushels in Entre Rios. 



A question of considerable economic importance is the cost 

 at which wheat can be grown under the conditions prevalent in 

 the Argentine and placed on the markets of this country. In 

 an early number of this Joimial (December, 1894), various 

 estimates made at that time by competent authorities were 

 quoted, and several similar calculations are contained in a 

 Report* recently issued by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. 



The writer of this Report observes that the difficult feature of 

 the study of wheat production in Argentina is to tell what it 

 costs. Some idea of the average value of farm land and rent 

 may be obtained, but wages fluctuate so much, and different 

 farmers, with different ideas and under different conditions, give 

 such widely varying estimates of the amount of labour required, 

 that a satisfactory estimate cannot be made. The cost of the 

 labour necessary to produce wheat in Argentina is still more 

 difficult to estimate, because three-fourths of it is performed by 

 members of the farmers' families, young and old, of both sexes. 

 Three estimates, however, are given in the following table of the 

 cost of producing one acre of wheat. The first (A) is the esti- 

 mate of M. Tidblom, Director of Agriculture and Animal 

 Industry ; the second (B) is an estimate prepared by M. Lahitte, 

 Director of Statistics in the Ministry of Agriculture ; and the 

 third (C) is a statement by Mr. Glynne Williams, an English 

 estanciero in the province of Buenos Ayres, of the actual cost of 



* "Wheat Production and Farm Life in Argentina," by Frank W. Bicknell, 

 United States Department of Agriculture. Division of Statistics, Bulletin No. 27. 



