THE COTTON ZONE OF THE WORLD. 
23 
13th. Buenos Ayres and Argentine Confederation. — 
This entire region lies between 22° and 40° south latitude. 
The soil, in many places, is well adapted to the culture of 
cotton, but the chmate is not altogether suitable. There 
is not a suflBcient intensity either of heat or cold, continu- 
ing the requisite length of season, to urge the rapid growth 
and maturity of the stalk, and to check vegetation in the , 
winter. 
A large proportion of the produce of the Confederation 
has hitherto passed through the city of Buenos Ayres, and 
the full amount has never exceeded 50,000 lbs. per annum. 
One-half of the quantity produced is exported, and the 
other half consumed in the manufacture of rude domestic 
goods for family use. 
The cultivation is very rude. The wooden plough, which 
merely scratches the earth, is extensively used, and the hoe 
is applied so sparingly as to produce but little beneficial 
result. 
The cotton is prepared on a rude roller-gin by foot or 
hand. It is packed by the same means m bags, without 
being pressed. Twenty-five lbs. of lint cotton are obtained 
from 100 lbs. of seed cotton. 
Neither the physical nor the political condition of the 
country is adapted to agricultural pursuits. The peasantry 
of the country are indolent, except in such of their voca- 
tions as may be followed on horseback ; and the peons are 
no better. 
The "langosta," or locust, appears in the State of 
La Plata about once in five years, but not in all regions 
at the same time. These insects destroy every vestige of 
verdure wherever they alight, and their number is greater 
than language can express. They are more injurious in 
the main than the cotton caterpillar in our Southern States. 
