38 Argentina's Agricultural Progress. 



of these two countries, and their local consumption, will satisfy 

 the British consumer that the latter is making as yet a small call 

 upon her resources in the amount of mutton she exports for sale. 



Frozen lamb is a new item in the Argentine meat trade. It is 

 going to become one of large proportions. It is strange that 

 this article of export has delayed so long in becoming a feature 

 of the trade. Freezers say that breeders could not produce a 

 lamb suitable for export ; breeders say that the freezers offered 

 them no encouragement to do so. There is some truth in both 

 statements, but the supply has proved to be ready at the first 

 beck of demand. 



The cattle stock of Argentina has been estimated recently at 

 28,000,000. Until the census confirms this estimate the odd 

 8,000,000 might be discounted. Even upon this more modest 

 estimate the export figures for 1902 of 830,000 chilled quarters 

 and 27,000 head live steers (exclusive of jerked beef) is a paltry 

 dividend. Yet 1902 is a record year for Argentina in the export 

 of fresh beef, and far exceeds the best output when the British 

 ports were open. 



Two years ago, when the freezing factories enlarged their 

 premises to provide for the new trade of chilled beef, the ques- 

 tion asked in Argentina was not whether they could handle the 

 quantity of good quality steers offered to them, but whether the 

 breeders could supply them with sufficient good quality steers to 

 keep them busy. 



The question was one of quality not numbers. Until the 

 United Kingdom became a consumer of Argentine beef, first 

 , lairage-killed, and, at a later date, chilled, there was no incentive 

 to the ordinary breeder to improve the quality of his cattle. 

 The man of foresight understood the economy of his craft, and 

 introduced good blood to his herd ; but it was only when the new 

 buyer, the British consumer, appeared on the scene, and explained 

 that unless he got the right quality he would have none, that the 

 estanciero bestirred himself. When he found that he had the 

 choice of two markets, his old Brazilian friend, the eater of 

 jerked beef, offering him £1 10s. for his flat-ribbed, thick-hided 

 five-year-old bullock, and the British beefeater willing to pay £7 

 for a shiney-coated, well-covered steer a year younger, he under^ 

 stood " where the sunshine was warmest," and set forth to im- 



