for
1919 was only three hundred thousand tons and that is insignificant when
one thinks of the possibilities of this great industry.

But one can hardly think of Argentina without thinking of cattle ranches
and wheat fields. It is in these industries that she shines. She now has
thirty million head of cattle, but strange as it may seem she had as
many ten years ago. She has thirty million sheep which makes her the
greatest wool producing country on earth except Australia and if I am
correctly informed she is not far behind that country.

In Argentina the country is called "Elcampo" and the large farms
"Estancias." These great estancias often consist of thousands of acres.
A single one of them is said to be as large as the state of Rhode
Island. The owners generally have good houses but do not live in them
much of the time. They are in Buenos Aires, or traveling in Europe, and
their children are in the colleges and universities. A number of
overseers look after the farm but the work is largely done by
foreigners, mostly Italians. Their lives are far from easy.

The homes of these workers are generally made of mud. The floors are
often nothing but the bare ground. These people are generally called
colonists and work the soil on shares. They are in debt to start on; the
overseers generally manipulate things so that they often never do get
out of debt. The poor man's children do not have much in common with
those of the rich. They are generally kept entirely separate from each
other.

While the cities are filled with beautiful parks and clinging roses are
nearly everywhere, yet I never saw a country town with any thing
beautiful in sight. The streets of these towns are either mud holes or
dust piles, no work whatever being done upon them. The houses and stores
are one-story buildings and often look like hovels. The one exception is
the railroad station and often that is quite well kept.

There are no four-wheeled wagons like ours in this country. All the
hauling is done on large lumbersome carts often pulled by oxen. But they
sure load them heavy; how they get so much stuff on them is a mystery.
Much of the farming is slovenly done. While England produces thirty
bushels of wheat per acre the rich fields of Argentine only produce
eleven bushels per acre. This is but little more than half as much per
acre as is raised in Saskatchewan and Argentine soil is fully as rich as
Canadian grain fields.

I crossed the great Ar