these figures at their true value, one must remember that twenty-five years ago the Argentine was still importing foreign flour to make her bread, while to-day the

production of grain represents nearly a ton per head per inhabitant.

It is the same with maize: twenty years ago it was hardly grown, and to-day the harvest amounts to 6 millions of tons; furnished almost entirely by two provinces—those of Buenos Ayres and Santa Fé.

As for stock-raising, we cannot make a comparison with any very recent statistics—since the last available date back to 1895—but we may say that the general census which has just been undertaken, under the direction of Señor Alberto B. Martinez, has revealed a wealth whose magnitude surpasses all conception. To-day the Argentine counts 29,116,625 horned cattle, 67,211,754 sheep, 7,531,376 horses, 750,125 mules and asses, and 3,945,086 goats; which is equivalent, at the present time, to a capital of 1481 millions of paper piastres, or £130,000,000. By referring to the figures for 1895, which give us 21,701,526 horned cattle and 4,446,859 horses, we may judge of the immense progress which the Argentine has realised in a few years, thanks to the transformation of 3³⁄₄ millions of acres of soil into magnificent pastures of lucerne.

On the other hand we must, it is true, note a decrease of 7,167,808 head of sheep, which are gradually falling back before the advance of agriculture and the increasing numbers of cattle. This harmless animal contents itself with a poorer soil, and does not fear the intemperance of the seasons; also sheep-raising is now giving place, in our central provinces, to other more remunerative industries, and the sheep are taking refuge in great quantities in the southern regions.[2]

If we consider these facts with a view to noting the precise direction in which the Argentine is to-day evolving, we shall observe a marked tendency towards the extension of agriculture proper, and a check in the progress of stock-raising, which appears—at least for the moment—to be developing more slowly than of old.

This characteristic change is perceptible each year in the

statistics of foreign trade. The exportation of agricultural products amounted, for the year 1907, to the value of 164 millions of piastres (gold), or £32,800,000 as against £32,400,000 and £34,000,000 for the two preceding years. As for the products of stock-raising, the value in 1907 amounted only to £24,800,000, while in the two preceding years it was £24,800,000 and £28,200,000; and ten years ago it exceeded by more than £10,000,000 the value of the agricultural exports.

Many causes are contributing to this transformation of a pastoral into an agricultural country; their action is progressive, and they are profoundly modifying the aspect of the land, by gradually substituting, for the monotonous horizons of the ranchero’s prairies, the variety of cultured fields.

While the prices of cereals have always attained a remunerative figure, those of the bestial, on the contrary, have now and then suffered sensible depression; and, what is still more serious, the ranching industries have also suffered, as they did in 1908, by a lack of demand for hides and wool, and simultaneously for an insufficient outlet for meats.

The dried-meat (saladeros) industry, which used to absorb annually nearly two million beasts, has by now been almost entirely removed in the direction of Uruguay, or the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, and is little more than a memory; as this primitive and rudimentary method of preparation had perforce to give way before the more hygienic and progressive chilled and frozen meat trade. The chilled beef industry, however, upon which such hopes were founded, has not of late years made any conquest of new markets, England being almost the Republic’s only customer.

As for the exportation of cattle on the hoof, it is greatly impeded in Europe by prohibitive measures, which diplomacy, by means of commercial treaties, is endeavouring to remove. Yet were the desired advantages obtained, the result would be doubtful on account of the considerable rise in the price of cattle and the high freights which are charged for the transport of living stock. It therefore results that this particular species of exploitation is at an obvious disadvantage in the face of the refrigerating trade.

If the raising of stock and its dependent industries have not, in these last few years, realised a progress comparable to that of agriculture, we must by no means conclude that this department of production has ceased to be an element of national prosperity. Quite on the contrary: thanks to the efforts made to better affairs by happy selections in the breed of animals, the value of live stock has increased in surprising proportions, and the Argentine still retains its rank as second to the United States as a stock-raising country.

What we have endeavoured to emphasise, as a new manifestation of the national activity during the last few years, is that the development of the country has been in especial along agricultural lines; an incontestable proof of progress, and an index of a higher degree of civilisation.

Agriculture, as compared to stock-raising, is, from the economical point of view, a source of wealth having quite a different bearing upon the general prosperity and welfare of a nation. It is the fairy which little by little transforms the vast plains of the Argentine pampas into a more animated landscape, peopled by numerous homesteads, foci of colonisation, which then develop into villages, which in a score of years may perhaps be important cities. Agriculture summons the railroad, stimulates emigration, promotes the division of the soil, creates the small proprietor; it influences even the manners and morals of the inhabitants, for it demands more labour, more intelligence than ranching; nimbler wits, more method, greater foresight.

The comparison between the two great industries of the Argentine is summed up in the following fact: a property comprising 25,000 acres of pasture can be put into working order and managed by a staff of ten to twelve men. For an estate of 1500 acres under culture, one may estimate that forty to fifty persons, grouped in families, may easily live upon the soil and prosper. We may perceive by this the great superiority of agriculture from the point of view of the general interest of the country. It demands and supports a denser population; it permits the grouping of this population in villages and cities, it creates, in proportion, with a smaller capital, a great wealth of produce; in short, it contributes on

the one hand towards increasing the wealth of the country by participating largely in its exports, and on the other it increases its power of consumption, by absorbing a greater number of imported products.

Thus the evolution of the Argentine towards agriculture constitutes a real progress, and if the country continues to follow the same path, its