5 18 Notes on Agriculture Abroad. [sept., 



The area under cultivation, although said to be only a tenth part 

 of what it will be in the future, is so large that the drought has not 

 affected the whole of it. The district that has suffered most is that 

 of Bahia Blanca, but much of the land in this district has only been 

 forced under cultivation in consequence of the phenomenal results 

 achieved by agriculture in recent years. Not much science is used in 

 cultivation, and even the most rudimentary principles of farming are 

 neglected by the Russian and Syrian immigrants, who till the lands 

 in question. The effect of the drought has, however, been sorely felt 

 in many parts of the country where agriculture is not carried on in 

 such a haphazard fashion. 



The grazing interests of the country have also suffered severely, 

 more especially in parts where farms were overstocked with cattle and 

 little forethought shown in making ready for less favourable seasons 

 than have blessed Argentina of late. One of the results of the con- 

 tinued low rainfall has been the disappearance of surface water, which 

 has necessitated the erection of water-wheels on the Australian prin- 

 ciple throughout the country devoted to pasture. Water can generally 

 be found at a reasonable depth, from whence it is pumped by means 

 of a wheel turned by the wind and discharged into a reservoir con- 

 nected by pipes with troughs from which the cattle can drink. To put 

 up a pump costs about £200, which gives some idea of the expense 

 to which cattle-raisers have been put by the disappearance of surface 

 water, such as lakes and streams, throughout the country, a pheno- 

 menon which must be due to more than the actual shortage of the 

 rainfall. The increase in the area devoted to the cultivation of cereals 

 and alfalfa is held responsible for this disappearance of surface water, 

 but the phenomenon is just as apparent in the grass districts, where 

 little grain or alfalfa is grown, as in the cultivated parts of the country. 

 Moreover, in many places it has already been found necessary to 

 deepen the wells. 



A dispatch of May 1st, 191 1, states that the rains of April, which 

 ended the drought, came too late to benefit pasture land. The loss of 

 live stock will continue through the winter, and the effects of this 

 mortality will be felt for some years to come. The effects of the 

 drought were apparent in a restriction of credit by the banks. 



Future of the Manchurian Bean Trade. — The question of the probable 

 future output of soy beans from Manchuria is of importance in view 

 of the demand for these beans in Europe and in North America. 



A report of the Imperial Maritime Customs of China (II., Special 

 Series, No. 31) in this connection states that it is doubtful whether 

 the cultivation will extend much in the districts where the bean is 

 already grown on a large scale (i.e., Southern Manchuria), as it is too 

 much to hope that the beans will supplant the other crops, such as 

 millet and kaoliang, as far as the conservative Chinese peasant is 

 concerned. 



It is in the northern and western districts of Manchuria that the 

 possibility of extension lies, i.e., the districts beyond Petuna, up the 

 Hulan valley, and towards Mergen. The construction of a railway to 

 this vast region is contemplated, and the land is mainly virgin soil, 

 extremely fertile, which offers excellent inducements to immigrants 

 who are now entering Manchuria in greater numbers than formerly, 

 owing to the removal of the Government restrictions. 



