I9Q4-] 



Wheat Growing in Argentina. 



347 



bushel. The Russian is next in popularity, and gives from 6o\ 

 to 65^ lb. per bushel. The Hungarian is of more recent culti- 

 vation. 



After the wheat leaves the farm it meets with many difficul- 

 ties, such as bad roads, absence of warehouses or elevators, 

 shortage of railway cars, and inadequate facilities at the shipping 

 ports, which tend to reduce the price paid to the farmer for his 

 wheat. The storage of the grain at the stations pending loading 

 into the cars has recently been dealt with by a law passed on 

 September 17th, 1903, which requires that all railway stations 

 in agricultural districts shall be provided with free storage for 

 all cereals offered for shipment. Up to the present the wheat 

 has been stacked in great piles of bags, and it is generally sold 

 to some regular buyer for cash at the station. The shelters 

 which are now to be provided have to be of sufficient capacity 

 to protect all cereals delivered for transport from the incle- 

 mency of the weather and the damp from the ground. The 

 Government will fix the minimum capacity of each shelter, and 

 the railways are not to make any charge for this service. The 

 date for the fulfilment of this regulation expired in May last' 

 and, if it has been complied with, the cereals will have safe 

 shelter where they can wait till such time as trucks are avail- 

 able. 



The question of the alleged shortage of railway trucks has 

 recently been the subject of a Report by M. Lahitte, the 

 Director of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture, and 

 he observes with regard to the provision of shelters that " if 

 consignors do not find their demands acceded to in the matter 

 of quick despatch they will, at least, have assured to them the 

 preservation of their produce." With regard to the provision 

 of railway trucks, the lack of facilities at the ports leads to the 

 slow discharge and consequent delay in the return of the cars. 

 Large elevators, however, are now being built at Buenos Ayres 

 which enable the loading to be done much more rapidly ; at 

 Bahia Blanca also, the only ocean seaport, the railway company 

 which controls the port is now building elevators and making 

 extensive improvements. The cost of transport on the 

 Argentine railways was, according to the official statistics, 

 6s. 8d. per ton per 100 miles, but in this connection reference 



