4 BULLETIN 1409, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
NEED FOR UNDERSTANDING CONDITIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA 
Few Americans realize that Brazil is larger than continental 
United States and has climates, soils, and natural resources almost 
as varied; that Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay have large areas 
of rich, virgin prairie soils in a temperate climate not yet brought 
under cultivation; that in Argentina a vigorous white race is develop- 
ing under conditions similar to those which prevailed in the United 
States west of the Mississippi River 30 years or more ago; that 
Argentina is already competing with the United States in the world 
markets with her cheap corn, wheat, flaxseed, meats, wool, and dairy 
products; that in northern Argentina, Paraguay, and southern 
Brazil it is possible that a cotton-growing industry will eventually 
develop equal to that of the United States; that these countries 
produce grapes, citrus, and other fruits of the finest quality which 
lack only transportation facilities and organization to compete with 
those of the United States; that great modern cities and industries 
are springing up and developing rapidly; that the people of these 
countries are as proud of their history and of their progress as are 
the people of the United States; and that just as the history of 
civilization and progress has been much the same during the last 
four centuries in all countries of North and South America and their 
interests have been and are much the same, so we may expect that 
in the future much of the marvelous development that has taken place 
in the United States during the last half century will, to a consider- 
able extent, be duplicated in the temperate regions of South America. 
POSITION AND SIZE OF ARGENTINA 2 
Argentina is wedge-shaped, broad at the north and tapering to a 
point at the south. It extends from 22° to 55° south latitude, a 
difference of 33°, or more than 2,000 miles north and south; and from 
56° to 73° of longitude west from Greenwich, a difference of 17°, or 
about 1,000 miles in the widest part at the north, and tapering to a 
width of about 150 miles in the extreme south. The position of the 
sun, the occurrence of the seasons, and the climate are just the reverse 
of those in the Northern Hemisphere. The southermost limit of 
Tierra del Fuego is in the same latitude in the Southern Hemisphere 
as the middle of Labrador, Hudson Bay, Lake Winnipeg, the middle of 
British Columbia, the southern part of Alaska, and the middle of Ber- 
ing Sea in the Northern Hemisphere. The northern limit of Argentina 
south of the Equator corresponds with the parallel of latitude north 
of the Equator which runs north of the island of Haiti, through 
the middle of Cuba, skirts the northern border of Yucatan, and 
crosses the southern part of Mexico. 
Argentina is separated from Chile on the west by a frontier more 
than 2,500 miles long, mostly in the Andes Mountains, and to the 
east from the mouth of the La Plata River to the southern extremity 
of Tierra del Fuego it has a sea-coast hne of approximately 2,600 
miles. 
The area of Argentina is approximately 1,153,000 square miles. It 
is therefore a little more than one-half the size of the United States 
2 The correct Spanish pronunciation of Argentina is "Ar-ken-teena"; the "g" is sounded like a "k" 
and the "i" like "ee" with the accent on the "i." 
