AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL PRODUCTS
Argentina is now one of the leading agricultural countries of the
world, and her importance is likely to be enhanced in the near future,
because the United States and other sources of food supply are
rapidly diminishing their exportable surplus, while in South America
population is unable to keep pace with natural production. Wheat, as
is well known, is the most important crop. Unlike the pastoral
industry, arable cultivation is comparatively modern. In 1854 there
were only 375,000 acres under tillage of all kinds, and the area
increased very slowly until the beginning of the present generation.
The promise of the country was always recognised, but it was long
before foreign capital ventured to trust itself to a land possessing
the political reputation of Argentina; and thus, without railway
development, the export of agricultural produce was impossible. "All
the cereals," says a pamphlet published in the sixties, "do remarkably
well, and such is the fertility of the soil that double crops are
often taken from the same land. In Santiago del Estero the wheat
produced is of the most excellent quality, and although but little
care is bestowed in cultivation, it generally yields eightyfold." The
encouragement of emigration and the introduction of capital, and thus
of improved methods of communication, caused progress to be very
rapid; and whereas in 1874 the wheat area was only 271,000 acres, in
1884 it was 1,717,000. By 1899 this had expanded to 5,500,000 acres,
and now it is about 14,000,000. The following figures will show the
progress of recent years:--
Production in Tons. Exportation.
1902 1,534,400 704,060
1903 2,823,900 1,790,388
1904 3,529,100 2,467,297
1905 4,102,600 3,083,378
1906 3,672,200 2,438,616
1907 4,245,400 2,867,464
1908 5,238,700 3,802,619
It is anticipated that before long the wheat export will amount to
5,000,000, and that Argentina will thus lead the world.[118] This
cannot be called a rash estimate, for when we examine the figures we
shall find that population is not keeping pace with production. The
exportation figures of 1908 were 55 per cent. better than those of
1906, while the figures of production showed a rise of only 42 per
cent. This is a satisfactory condition of things for the trader, but
less so from a national standpoint. In general, the farmer is not
rooted to the soil; he merely pays a percentage of his crops to the
landlord as rent, and after a bad season is apt to move elsewhere. It
is desirable that a scheme of intensive cultivation should be
introduced, which promises much greater national benefit in the future
in every way than can be obtained by hasty and slovenly methods. A
Government publication, apologising for the present system and
remarking that in old countries intensive agriculture is no virtue,
while in new countries extensive agriculture is no vice, adds:
"Wherever there is much ground with few inhabitants it is impossible
that the number of proprietors be very large; and if the comparative
figure demonstrates that the number of renters is _relatively_ very
large, the investigation of the facts will show that it is here that
the _qualitative_ influence of the divisor intervenes. In general, he
who seeks his fortune in agricultural work lacks the necessary capital
for purchasing land, and it is notorious that the immigrants we can
count on to colonise our lands arrive completely destitute of means.
At the very best they can hope to rent the land, counting on the
shrewd liberality of the landholder who requires of them only a
certain share of the crop in pay for the rent, and in this manner by
the results of their labour they may finally become proprietors. There
are, therefore, two consecutive subdivisions: that of the working of
the land by leasing, and that of ownership by the eventual purchase."
[Illustration: COUNTRY LIFE IN ARGENTINA.]
It is said that the best lands have been snapped up by speculators,
otherwise it might be better for the Government to present capable
immigrants with small farms, and if necessary lend them capital. The
need of Argentina is men rather than extra tons avoirdupois of
exports.
The production of maize has made enormous increases in sympathy with
the general vast development which strains the rolling stock of every
railway and with which the men and machinery in Argentina are
insufficient to cope. In 1902 the production was 2,134,200 tons, now
it is 3,456,000. This crop is peculiarly susceptible to the ravages of
locusts, which, however, have a catholic taste for every kind of
vegetable and are said to have destroyed half the crops in 1880. One
of the most miserable sights in the world is cornfields ravaged by
these pests; nothing is left but slender stumps and the sickening
odour of rotting locusts. For the locust is itself subject to a
parasite which consumes its inside, and it has been suggested that the
parasite might be introduced into the winter-breeding grounds of the
locusts. But these lie in the most remote part of the Gran Chaco, and
it does not appear that the inhabitants of any land have succeeded in
tracking the eggs on any large scale; it is therefore probable that
the farmers will have to be satisfied with attempts at cure rather
than prevention. As in India, trenches are used for the destruction of
locusts, and the noxious creatures having been driven into the
receptacle are rapidly covered with layers of earth.[119] They are to
Argentina what rabbits are to Australia.
Of linseed Argentina is by far the largest exporter in the world. Last
year the exports went up with an astonishing leap, but for many years
they have been greater than those of India, Russia, and North America
combined. In 1902 the production was 1,982,000 tons; in 1908 it was
2,625,000.
It is only about thirty years since alfafa (lucerne) was introduced
into Argentina, but there is no more useful crop, and it has been of
the utmost benefit to the pastoral industries. During the South
African War large fortunes were made by exporting alfafa to South
Africa, and, given proper soil, it yields many crops in the year. The
Province of Buenos Aires is admirably adapted to its cultivation.
Oats are still a comparatively small crop, but they are making
considerable progress. The export of 15,000 tons in 1905 had risen to
440,041 in 1908.
Sugar is an old industry, and, as is pointed out elsewhere, it has
become of importance owing to the protective policy of the Argentine
Government. In 1884 the production was 55,000 tons. For the last three
years it has been--
1906 116,287 tons
1907 109,445 "
1908 161,662 "
Tobacco is a prominent manufacture, but it is probable that a
great part of the raw material comes from abroad. It is cultivated
extensively in the northern region, but owing to its coarseness it is
not likely that the native product will ever satisfy the home demand.
Last, but not least, in Argentine agriculture comes the vine. The
culture of the vine and wine manufacture have gone forward at a
great pace in the Provinces of Mendoza and San Juan. In 1884 there
were 63,000 acres under vines, and the production of wine was
5,810,080 gallons. Now it is about 41,580,000. Mendoza is an excellent
wine country, and some of its bodegas are among the largest in the
world. The vineyards, the mountains, and the rural appearance of the
towns give to the wine country an old-world air which is refreshing in
a new country. The most popular wines are red and white clarets, the
better qualities of which are excellent, but many other kinds are
made. The country wine is by no means as cheap as it ought to be owing
to the high protection. Although this excellent industry is rapidly
increasing, it does not go near to supplying home consumption; indeed,
the value of the imports of wines and spirits is slightly in excess of
the total national production. The export of wine is of course
practically nil, for neighbouring countries follow the example of
Argentina in protecting their own vineyards by high tariffs and
every kind of _fomento_. In fact, the wines of Chile are generally
considered to be superior to those raised on the eastern slopes of the
Andes, but it is not easy to discover any difference. Nearly all the
produce of Mendoza goes to Buenos Aires and forms a very valuable
article of freight for the Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway.
[Illustration: THE PRINCIPAL STREET OF MENDOZA.
A MENDOZA VINEYARD.]
The crops of Argentina are well distributed, and some regions produce
great varieties. Buenos Aires, of course, leads in wheat, and produces
more than Santa Fé and Cordoba, which occupy the second and third
position, combined, while Entre Rios, which comes fourth, nearly
equals the total of all the other minor sources of supply. It may be,
however, that some day Patagonia will be a serious rival to Buenos
Aires, but now, being unirrigated, her chief product is wool.
The Province of the capital also supplies most of the maize and
practically all the oats, but in linseed is far out-distanced by Santa
Fé. Apart from Buenos Aires, Santa Fé, Cordoba, and Entre Rios, the
grain production, except wheat, is insignificant.
Tucuman is the great sugar district, and tobacco is largely grown
there and in several of the other northern Provinces. Mendoza accounts
for more than nine-tenths of the wine raised in the country, but San
Juan, Salta, Cordoba, and La Rioja are of some importance. La Rioja in
Spain, it may be added, has given its name to a special kind of red
wine, and we have Peruvian Rioja just as we have Australian Burgundy.
Agriculture in Argentina is carried out on an enormous scale, and the
hopes of travellers who visited the country a century ago have been
realised. But the country is too new, there is too much virgin soil for
settled agricultural conditions, and farmers prefer pushing further
afield and taking larger holdings to tilling a farm with care for his
son to hold after him. Consequently there is little of that _petite
culture_ which beautifies European countries and adds to the comfort of
life; and, further, in most parts of Argentina, good as are the means of
transporting staples, they are not of the kind which would make minute
farming industries profitable. It is not probable that these conditions
will change until there has been a large increase of population. As long
as the increase is due to immigration--and many of the settlers look
forward to returning to their native land when they have obtained a
competence--farming methods will be hasty and extensive.
The forest industries of Argentina, though not fully developed, are
very valuable. There are said to be 60,000 square miles of timber in
the Gran Chaco, and parts of Patagonia are well wooded. Much of the
wood is of great value, and the following are among the most useful
for commercial purposes. The ñandubay, a kind of acacia, reaches a
height of about 25 feet and is used for making fences and rafters. The
wood is extremely hard and durable. The algarroba also yields good
timber, and its fruit and leaves are used for fattening cattle, while
the Indians brew a kind of beer from the pods. The lapacho, of the
bignonia species, rises to a height of 100 feet, and its wood is used
for cabinet work. The urunday is a tree of similar appearance but
larger, and its building wood is said to last two hundred years. The
palo amarillo is a mimosa and used for making furniture. There are in
the north cedars of excellent quality, both red and white, which
attain a height of 160 feet. The Jesuits introduced into the country
several varieties of palms, and there are many of the trees known in
Europe, such as poplars, willows, and walnuts. But by far the most
valuable tree in Argentina is the quebracho,[120] which grows in two
varieties, red and white; its full height is 80 feet, and it takes a
hundred years to come to maturity; the trunk is about 30 inches in
diameter. It is the commercial staple in Argentine timber, and the
railways have given a great impetus to the trade, in which the
Province of Santiago del Estero seems to have been the pioneer. In
1884 it had five thousand men engaged in cutting railway sleepers, but
it was not till 1889 that the export trade began, when 14,000 tons of
round logs were shipped from Santa Fé.
In the past few years many companies have been formed for cutting wood
in the Gran Chaco and also for extracting tannin. The district of
Resistencia is extremely rich in quebracho, and Santiago del Estero
continues to produce it in increasing quantities, as well as firewood,
which is extensively used by the sugar-mills of Tucuman. Firewood and
posts are also largely produced in Cordoba, and Tucuman and Salta
provide woods for building and cabinet-making. The timber industry has
now been extended to Tierra del Fuego, where saw-mills have also been
established; and when internal communications have been improved it
will doubtless be developed on a large scale, for the wood is used for
sleepers, building, and furniture-making. It has been suggested that
the abundant poplars might be employed in making paper pulp; and,
indeed, the timber resources of Argentina, although less vast than
those of most of her neighbours, are certain to be a source of
increasing profit. The export of quebracho logs, which now amounts to
254,571 tons, has been almost stationary for some years; but the
figures for the extract, which in 1902 were only 9,099, are now
48,161.[121]
The oldest and most celebrated of the forest products is _yerba maté_.
Pedro Lozano declared that the tree which produced that vegetable
surpassed all other trees in utility. "The tree,"[122] he says, "is
very high, leafy, and bulky. The leaf is also somewhat bulky, very
green, and in shape like a tongue. The _yerba_ is obtained by cutting
the branches, and placing them upon brushwood, and roasting them
slowly; by hand labour they grind the leaves thus roasted in holes
sunk in the ground and lined with skins. In all this process the
labour of the Indians is so severe that they sweat profusely, because
they work the whole day without intermission and with very little
food. They eat nothing all day but such forest fruits as chance gives
them, and when they have had their supper at night their repose is
brief, for within four hours they are obliged to rise and carry on
their shoulders the ground leaves to other places, where they make
leather packages to take them to other provinces." Lozano speaks with
indignation of this cruelty to the Indians, which had depopulated all
that part of the world except the Misiones. He gives an elaborate
account of the history and uses of _yerba maté_. Its popularity has
never waned, among the country people at least, for its bitter taste
and stimulating properties are invaluable to the tired rider, and it
fills the place that tea does to the Australian Bushman or coffee to
the South African Boer. The tea is drunk through a _bombilla_, or
tube, which is placed in the _maté_, or gourd containing the infusion,
and it is passed round among the company. _Yerba maté_ is raised more
extensively in Paraguay and Brazil than in Argentina; but the value of
the crop is well recognised, and recently the Government distributed
fifty thousand plants among settlers.
The mineral wealth of Argentina is very much less than that of
most South American countries. In every part of the Continent the
difficulty of extracting the ore and bringing it to the coast is
considerable, and tends to impair the value of even rich mines; but in
Argentina, where the mineral veins are usually not very abundant, the
difficulties have seemed almost insuperable, and consequently the
capital employed in mining is small. As might have been expected, the
Andine and sub-Andine regions almost monopolise the mining interest.
The most famous mine is that at Famatina in La Rioja. The fields cover
an area of 720 miles, but they are not ancient workings like most of
those in Peru and Bolivia. As was said in the earlier chapters,
Argentina was fortunate enough to dispel the suspicion of possessing the
precious metals, and, as she is the poorest of South American lands in
minerals, so she is richest in all else. But unquestionably she would be
still richer, and possibly an important manufacturing community, if
petroleum or coal could be discovered in great quantities. To return to
Famatina, it is said that some Mexican miners passing by in the
eighteenth century were struck by the colour of the river and followed
it upward to the mountains, where they discovered great treasure. This
mine is called the Mexicana, and is situated at an elevation of 16,500
feet, where the men work in the fashion described by Darwin in Chile. Of
late the Government has been at pains to improve the communications, but
hitherto the ore (gold, silver, and copper) has not been sufficiently
rich to yield much profit. In the neighbourhood silver and copper mines
have been worked fitfully, and occasionally fortunes have been made; but
the unsettled state of the country and the death or disappearance of
those who knew the secrets of the hidden ore were unfavourable to
enterprise. All over the two continents it is believed that discoveries
of fabulous wealth would be made if the Indians told all they knew; but
they keep their secrets tenaciously, and make prospecting unsafe.
During the Spanish dominion little was done in the way of mining.
Shortly after the Revolution, when it was believed that the South
American countries, enjoying the advantage of "freedom," would go
ahead, considerable interest was taken in Argentine mines, and Sir
Francis Head made an adventurous journey across the Pampas and visited
the gold-mines of San Luis and the silver-mines of Uspallata in the
interests of the Rio Plata Mining Association, which had been formed
in 1824. The Argentine Government did not deal honestly with the
company in the matter of concessions, and Head came to the conclusion
that there was no probability of obtaining satisfactory results by the
importation of Cornish miners. The sum of £60,000 had been spent
without any return, and Head's relations with his employers became
strained.[123] The unfortunate company collapsed, and this was also
the fate of the Famatina Mines, another English company formed at the
same time, whose German manager was shot by the ferocious Quiroga and
its capital of 1,000,000 dollars lost.
Under Rosas, of course, mining and all other enterprise languished,
but the belief in Argentina's mineral wealth continued, and from time
to time attempts were made to develop it. A report published in
the sixties states: "Extensive tracts of country are also highly
auriferous, and gold-dust makes a considerable figure in the exports
of Jujuy. The sierra of Cordova possesses silver, copper, lead, tin,
zinc, and iron mines, besides a number of quarries of splendid
marbles; and the same may be said of several of the provinces we have
named. Petroleum, equal in quality to that of Pennsylvania, has
been lately discovered, and, if our information be not altogether
inaccurate, there is every reason to believe it will soon become
valuable as a source of revenue and national wealth. Little has as yet
been done to develop the mineral affluence of the Republic; but it is
hoped effective efforts will shortly be made to work some of its
already celebrated mines, as well as many more which diligent
'prospecting' would certainly reveal to the knowledge of mankind."
In 1873 the export of metals of gold and copper amounted to 320,000
dollars gold. Progress was probably slow, but it has made considerable
positive advance, for the recent average of gold exports alone has
been about 382,000 dollars gold. Copper has, of late, remained
stationary. Salt is produced in considerable quantities, chiefly in
the south of the Province of Buenos Aires, and for a time petroleum
borings in several parts of the Andes excited great hopes. Some trains
were run by petroleum; but, unfortunately, the yield dwindled,
and no fresh discoveries in satisfactory quantities have been made.
The principal mining Provinces are Jujuy, San Juan, La Rioja,
Mendoza, Salta, San Luis, and Catarnarca, as well as several parts of
Patagonia. Gold, in paying quantities, is almost confined to the
Famatina mines in La Rioja; but there are also workings in Jujuy,
Salta, and Patagonia. Lead is found in La Rioja, Cordoba, Mendoza, and
San Luis. Copper occurs chiefly in La Rioja. Iron has been discovered
in Mendoza, Cordoba, La Rioja, and San Juan, but the quality is poor.
Coal has been found in small quantities in Mendoza, San Juan, and
Neuquen. Petroleum occurs in Salta and Mendoza; while valuable borax
deposits have been worked in Salta, Jujuy, and the Territory of Andes.
It is not probable that as long as Argentina offers so many more
tempting opportunities to capital any very great attention will be
paid to mining; but it may be that when the outlying Provinces, which
are the mining districts, become settled and interlaced with roads and
railways, it will be possible to apply more economical mining methods,
and the task of discovery will be easy. But unless coal and petroleum
are discovered it is improbable that the mines of Argentina will be of
a value in any way comparable to her agricultural and pastoral
industries.
FOOTNOTES:
[118] In 1907-8 the world's export of wheat was as follows:--
United States 4,400,000 tons
Argentina 3,540,000 "
Russia 1,651,000 "
Canada 1,530,000 "
Balkan States 623,000 "
India 533,000 "
These figures are reckoned from July 31, 1907.
[119] "All the inhabitants of the Republic, be they citizens or
foreigners, between fifteen and fifty years of age are obliged to give
personal help for the destruction of the locusts and the use of
animals or their property fitted for the work, excepting fine animals
which are destined for breeding" (Art. 7 of Locust Law of 1903).
[120] Quebracho means _break-axe_. Of the red variety Falkner says
that "in redness and colour it bears so strong a resemblance to red
marble, that it is a difficult matter to distinguish them."
[121] The total value of quebracho exported during the year 1905
amounted to over 7,000,000 dollars gold.
[122] "Coleccion," i. 199.
[123] "I feel it a duty which I owe to the Association shortly to
state that, having ridden 6,000 miles in South America--having thrown
myself on the feeble resources of the country--having been to the
bottom of every mine which has been inspected--having made all the
observations I was capable of making--having lived in deserts, and
almost in solitude, nearly a year, with no other subject on my mind
than the interests of the Association--I deliberately declare upon my
honour and upon my character, that it is my humble, but decided
opinion--
"1st. That the working of the mines in the provinces of Rio de la
Plate, by an English Association, is politically unsafe; and--
"2nd. That if there were no such risk, the expense would far exceed
the returns." (Head, "Reports," pp. 51-2.)