This is, on the whole, the most striking of the many very remarkable industrial features of Argentina. To begin with, some figures should be given. No doubt they are dry bones, but a body cannot be made without bones, and for the understanding of industrial phenomena it is necessary to have a skeleton map in the form of figures to guide us. If we keep a few round figures before us, we can form an idea of the progress of a country in industrial matters and its position in regard to other nations. It is impossible indeed to carry long tables of statistics in the head, but a few essential figures can be remembered, and along with them the increases and decreases (though of decreases we seldom hear in Argentina) as compared with a period of ten years ago and also the relative production or export of Argentine staples as compared with the figures of other countries in those articles.

Their total value is 645,000,000 dollars gold.[96] The United States has more cattle (71,267,000), but considerably fewer sheep and goats. Australia has more sheep (87,780,819), but far fewer horses and cattle. Chile, although looked upon as a wool-growing country, is insignificant in comparison with Argentina, possessing probably hardly more than two million sheep. Argentina has fewer hogs, mules, and donkeys than Spain, but, on the whole, it may be said that she equals, if she does not surpass, any other nation in the number and variety of her live stock.

It is of course, to the Camp that the country owes all its wealth. People in Buenos Aires use the term just as people in Calcutta speak of the Mofussil. Without the Camp, or plain, the great Buenos Aires would have no existence. The Camp is covered with estancias which are held by estancieros, or squatters. Immense fortunes have been made by those who have been skilled in the art of getting together the best stock and managing their estates, and probably there are still excellent chances of making a fortune for the competent. The life of the estanciero is free and healthy;[197]
[198] it approaches to that of the receding Gaucho, it is a life of boot and saddle, of early rising and long days in the crisp, sunny air. It is also much more comfortable than the ranching life in most countries; good houses, billiard-tables, plenty of company, and a number of the amenities of civilised life are not unusual, and the splendid railways will swiftly transport the estanciero to Buenos Aires when he desires a change.[97] Still, it is obvious that these luxuries are the result and not the cause of success; and it must not be supposed that an estanciero grows rich by living in fine houses and amusing himself; as is the case everywhere else, the desirable things of wealth are won by hard work and business ability.

In 1864 cattle amounted to 10,215,000, in 1884 to 14,171,000, in 1895 to 21,701,526. It will be seen that the rate of advance has been tolerably rapid. As the country became more settled after the middle of the last century, the increase of pastoral industries was somewhat checked by the realisation of the enormous possibilities of agriculture. In 1857 cattle formed 25 per cent. of the wealth of the country, but in 1884 only 18 per cent.[98] But with the fall in the value of wheat and the increasing demand for meat and wool, and the wonderful ingenuity of the methods of freezing and preserving, the pastoral industry has held its own.

Cattle and sheep are raised all over the Pampas and far to the north and south; but, generally speaking, cattle keep to the eastern side and sheep to the west, while Patagonia is almost exclusively devoted to sheep. The cattle industry is very different from what it was in the memory of men still living. In the old days animals were killed for their hides and the carcase was left to rot on the ground; their flesh was eaten only by those who tended them. In 1873 the export of meat was under 1,500,000 dollars, and little of this found its way to Europe. In 1907 the exports of beef and mutton amounted to 222,273 tons. The prosperity of the meat industry, however, is due not only to improved methods of transport, packing, and preserving, but also to the wisdom of the estancieros in importing valuable bulls. It is said that even the smallest among them are convinced of the value of good blood and insist upon having it. Between 1899 and 1903 Argentina imported 3,005 bulls, principally from England, and in 1907 the value of live animals imported was over 2,000,000 dollars. We have seen the huge prices that rich Argentines give for the best stallions, but, relatively, breeders are quite as eager for the best bovine sires. Uruguay is better known to the world than Argentina as a seat of the meat industry, but, as a matter of fact, the latter has infinitely more stock of every description. However, in 1908, the Uruguayan beef-salting factories slaughtered three times as many cattle as the Argentine.

A great many estancias are in English hands; all over the Pampas are great numbers of young Englishmen managing the estates. A warning note has lately been sounded to the effect that Beef Trusts and other United States Trusts are attempting to acquire land and meat factories and to control the supply of meat. It is needless to say that if these organisations make headway, neither the estancieros, nor our traders, nor the meat consumer, will have any reason to congratulate themselves, and it is to be hoped that the Argentine Government will take energetic measures to keep the country out of the grip of the octopus.

The sheep industry has not maintained its old relative importance. In 1830 Argentina had 2,500,000 sheep and exported 6,000,000 lbs. of wool; in 1883 the figures were 69,000,000 sheep (somewhat more than now) and 261,000,000 lbs. of wool. In 1908 the shipments were 175,538 tons, and Argentina is of great importance in the world's markets, but the conditions of the industry have changed considerably within recent years. In the old days Spain prohibited the export of her valuable merino sheep to foreign countries, but the colonies were fortunate enough not to be included in the prohibition, and in 1550 the first merinos appeared in Tucuman from Peru.[99] Professor Clapham, in his valuable work, "The Woollen and Worsted Industries," says: "There, together with an inferior, long-wooled breed, also of Spanish extraction, they ran wild and deteriorated for over two hundred years; so that eventually the Argentine flocks were as sorely in need of new blood as were those of France, Germany, or Russia, which, until the middle of the eighteenth century, had never had the benefit of a cross with the old Spanish strain. Between 1760 and 1840, thanks to a change in the commercial policy of Spain, such crossing took place in almost every country of Europe and in many European colonies." About the beginning of the nineteenth century pure-bred Spanish rams were brought to Argentina, and others from France and Saxony. By 1846 the wool had so greatly improved that it was exported to England. Forty years ago the exports consisted almost entirely of merino wool, but now seven-eighths is cross-bred. For this change there are two reasons—firstly, the rich, loamy soil does not suit merinos, which are apt to deteriorate in rank pastures, and, secondly, the trade in frozen meat has made such enormous strides that estancieros are anxious to obtain mutton breeds, especially Lincolns. The Lincolnshire breeders drive a flourishing trade with Buenos Aires, and as much as 1,000 guineas is often given for a ram. There used to be a prejudice in Bradford against Argentine wool,[100] but it is disappearing, although the Australian product still fetches a somewhat higher price.

The improvements which of late years have been introduced into sheep-breeding and sheep-farming are very remarkable, and they are partly due to the efforts of immigrants from New Zealand who have introduced effective cures for foot-rot and other diseases. During the last ten years of the nineteenth century breeders pinned their faith almost entirely to Lincolns, and the importations were very large. Up to 1890 the majority of Argentine sheep were weak cross-breds, and such[201]
[202] good blood as remained had been weakened by over-crossing. The hardy Lincoln brought health and energy to the enfeebled mass, and breeders made it their business to rear hardy sheep and obtain a good average without going to extremes in their preference for any particular stock. The breeding of sheep has been greatly benefited by the fact that the estancias have been largely in English hands[101] and the proprietors have thus introduced hardy English breeds and good methods.

All over Argentina the intelligent selection of breeds is receiving great attention. It is now recognised that in an alfafa district a stock-master should keep cattle rather than flocks, and that such sheep as he has should be producers of mutton rather than wool. Again, in the southern districts where the grass is rich and tender, the Lincoln breed is unsuitable and crossings are favoured with the Romney Marsh, which counteracts the tendency towards coarseness, and gives silkiness, closeness, and, to some extent, fineness to the wool. Thus in Tierra del Fuego the hardy Romney Marsh, imported from the Falkland Islands, is being bred, and in this inhospitable climate the sheep keep fat all the year round, even when the snow lies a foot deep on the ground, for the sheep have learned to scrape the snow away with their hoofs and find the grass.

AN ESTANCIERO'S HOUSE.