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ARGENTINA FROM A BRITISH POINT OF VIEW

AND

NOTES ON ARGENTINE LIFE.



With Photographs and Diagrams.


EDITED BY
CAMPBELL P. OGILVIE.


LONDON:
WERTHEIMER, LEA & CO.,
CLIFTON HOUSE, WORSHIP STREET, E.C
1910.


PRINTED BY WERTHEIMER, LEA & CO., CLIFTON HOUSE, WORSHIP STREET, LONDON,
E.C


DEDICATED To _all_ THE SHAREHOLDERS OF THE SANTA FE LAND COMPANY,
LIMITED, _who take a real interest in the Company_.




PREFACE.


In May last I was asked to read, towards the end of the year, a paper on
Argentina, before the Royal Society of Arts. The task of compiling that
paper was one of absorbing interest to me; and though I fully realise
how inadequately I have dealt with so interesting a subject, I venture
to think that the facts and figures which the paper contains may be of
interest to some, at any rate, of the Shareholders of the Santa Fe Land
Company. It is upon this supposition that it is published.

Whilst I was obtaining the latest information for the paper (which was
read before the Royal Society of Arts on November 30th, 1910), several
members of the staff of the Santa Fe Land Company aided me by writing
some useful and interesting notes on subjects connected with Argentina,
and also giving various experiences which they had undergone whilst
resident there. I am indebted to the writers for many hints on life in
Argentina, and as I think that others will find the reading of the notes
as engaging as I did, they are now reproduced just as I received them,
and incorporated with my own paper in a book of which they form by no
means the least interesting part.

The final portion of the book--Leaves from a journal entitled "The
Tacuru"--is written in a lighter vein. It describes a trip through some
of the Northern lands of the Santa Fe Land Company, and it is included
because, although frankly humorous, it contains much really useful
information and many capital illustrations, I should, however, mention
that this journal was written by members of the expedition, and was
originally intended solely for their own private edification and
amusement; therefore all the happier phases of the trip are noted; but I
can assure my English readers that the trip, well though it was planned,
was not all luxury.

To the many who have helped me in this work I tender my most sincere
thanks.

CAMPBELL P. OGILVIE.

LAWFORD PLACE,
MANNINGTREE, ESSEX,
_December, 1910_.


CONTENTS.


PAGE

ARGENTINA FROM A BRITISH POINT OF VIEW 1

HISTORY OF THE SANTA FE LAND COMPANY, LIMITED 33

THE VALUE OF LAND IN ARGENTINA 45

REMARKS ON STORMS AND THE CLIMATE OF THE ARGENTINE 51

SOME EXPERIENCE OF WORKING ON ESTANCIAS 57

THE SOCIAL SIDE OF CAMP LIFE 69

CARNIVAL IN THE ARGENTINE 75

HORSE-RACING IN THE ARGENTINE 79

SUNDAYS IN CAMP 87

THE SERVANT PROBLEM IN ARGENTINA 91

POLICE OF A BYGONE DAY 97

A VISIT TO THE NORTHERN CHACO 107

WORK IN THE WOODS 119

CACHAPES, AND OTHER THINGS 125

MY FRIEND THE AXEMAN 131

DUST AND OTHER STORMS 141

LOCUSTS 147

CONSCRIPT LIFE IN THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC 155

ACROSS THE BOLIVIAN ANDES IN 1901 161

PROGRESS OF THE PORT OF BUENOS AIRES 185

JUST MY LUCK! 193

"THE TACURU" 199




LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS.


FACING PAGE

CATTLE TRAIN ON CENTRAL ARGENTINE RAILWAY,
BRINGING CATTLE TO BARRANCOSA 39

LOADING WHEAT AT ROSARIO FROM THE "BARRANCA" 40

SAN CRISTOBAL ESTANCIA HOUSE 41

WATERING-PLACE AT BARRANCOSA 42

WOOD ON THE COMPANY'S OWN LINE READY FOR LOADING 43

LOADING TIMBER AT WAYSIDE STATION 44

WHEAT READY FOR LOADING AT STATION ON CENTRAL
ARGENTINE RAILWAY 48

THE MAKER OF LAND VALUES 50

TENNIS PARTY AT VERA 73

CARNIVAL AT VERA 77

"A DAY OF REAL ENJOYMENT" 90

SQUARE QUEBRACHO LOGS WORKED BY THE AXEMAN, SHOWING
RESIN OOZING THEREFROM 134

LOADING WHEAT AT THE PORT OF BUENOS AIRES 187

HORSES AWAITING INSPECTION 209

STACKING ALFALFA 210

ALFALFA ELEVATOR AT WORK 211

THE GREEN FIELDS OF ALFALFA 212

HERD OF CATTLE 215

EXPANSE OF ALFALFA 221

DISC-PLOUGH AT WORK 222

ROADMAKER AND RAILROAD BUILDER 223

PLOUGHING VIRGIN CAMP 226

HART-PARR ENGINE, DRAWING ROADMAKER 228

CATTLE LEAVING DIP 233

CROSSING THE SALADO 240

THE EFFECT OF A LONG DROUGHT 241

REFINED CAMPS 242

"RICH BLACK ALLUVIAL SOIL" 251

WATER KNEE-DEEP 265

QUEBRACHO COLORADO TREE 266

SLEEPERS AWAITING TRANSPORT AT VERA 267

TANNIN EXTRACT FACTORY 268

SOME OF THE HORSES 271

"AWFUL FLOOD" 276

ON THE WAY TO OLMOS 277



LIST OF DIAGRAMS.

FACING PAGE

IMMIGRATION RETURNS 2

AGRICULTURAL EXPORTATION 14

CULTIVATED AREA IN HECTARES 15

VALUE IN L STERLING OF THE TOTAL EXPORTS OF
ARGENTINA, 1900-09 22




ARGENTINA FROM A BRITISH POINT OF VIEW.


Argentina, which does not profess to be a manufacturing country,
exported in 1909 material grown on her own lands to the value of
L79,000,000, and imported goods to the extent of L60,000,000. This fact
arrests our attention, and forces us to recognise that there is a trade
balance of nearly 20 millions sterling in her favour, and to realise the
saving power of the country.

It is not mere curiosity which prompts us to ask: "Are these L79,000,000
worth of exports of any value to us? Do we consume any of them? Do we
manufacture any of them? And do we send any of this same stuff back
again after it has been dealt with by our British artisans?" It would be
difficult to follow definitely any one article, but upon broad lines the
questions are simple and can be easily answered. Amongst the
agricultural exports we find wheat, oats, maize, linseed, and flour. The
value placed upon these in 1908 amounted to L48,000,000, and England
pays for and consumes nearly 42 per cent. of these exports. Other goods,
such as frozen beef, chilled beef, mutton, pork, wool, and articles
which may be justly grouped as the results of the cattle and sheep
industry, amounted to no less a figure than L23,000,000. All these
exports represent foodstuffs or other necessities of life, and are
consumed by those nations which do not produce enough from their own
soil to keep their teeming populations. Another export which is worthy
of particular mention comes from the forests, viz., quebracho, which, in
the form of logs and extract, was exported in 1908 to the value of
L1,200,000. The value of material of all sorts sent from England to
Argentina in 1908 was L16,938,872 (this figure includes such things as
manufactured woollen goods, leather goods, oils, and paints), therefore
it is clear that we have, and must continue to take, a practical and
financial interest in the welfare and prosperity of Argentina.

New countries cannot get on without men willing and ready to exploit
Nature's gifts, and, naturally, we look to the immigration returns when
considering Argentina's progress. To give each year's return for the
last 50 years would be wearisome, but, taking the average figures for
ten-year periods from 1860 to 1909, we have the following interesting
table. (The figures represent the balance of those left in the country
after allowing for emigration):--

Yearly Average.
From 1860 to 1869 (inclusive) ... 15,044
" 1870 " 1879 " ... 29,462
" 1880 " 1889 " ... 84,586
" 1890 " 1899 " ... 43,618
" 1900 " 1909 " ... 100,998

Sixty-five per cent. of the immigrants are agricultural labourers, who
soon find work in the country, and again add their quota to the
increasing quantity and value of materials to be exported. Facing this
page is a diagram of the Immigration Returns from 1857 to 1909.

Nature has been lavish in her gifts to Argentina, and man has taken
great advantage of these gifts. My desire now is to show what has been
done in the way of developing agriculture in this richly-endowed country
during the last fifty years. One name which should never be forgotten in
Argentina is that of William Wheelwright, whose entrance into active
life in Buenos Aires was not particularly dignified; in 1826 he was
shipwrecked at the mouth of the River Plate, and struggled on
barefooted, hatless and starving to the small town of Quilmes.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF IMMIGRATION RETURNS.

NOTE:--IN THE YEARS 1888, 1889 & 1890 THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT ASSISTED
PASSAGES.]

Mr. Wheelwright was an earnest and far-seeing man, and his knowledge of
railways in the United States helped him to realise their great
possibilities in Argentina; but, strange to say, upon his return to his
native land he could not impress any of those men who afterwards became
such great "Railway Kings" in the U.S.A. Failing to obtain capital for
Argentine railway development in his own country, Wheelwright came to
England, and interested Thomas Brassey, whose name was then a household
word amongst railway pioneers. These two men associated themselves with
Messrs. Ogilvie & Wythes, forming themselves into the firm of Brassey,
Ogilvie, Wythes & Wheelwright, whose first work was the building of a
railway 17,480 kilometres long between Buenos Aires and Quilmes in 1863;
afterwards they built the line from Rosario to Cordova, which is
embodied to-day in the Central Argentine Railway. Other railways were
projected, and this policy of progress and extension of the steel road
still holds good in Argentina.

The year 1857 saw the first railway built, from Buenos Ayres to Flores,
5,879 kilometres long; in 1870 there were 457 miles of railroad; in 1880
the railways had increased their mileage to 1,572; in 1890 Argentina
possessed 5,895 miles of railway, and in 1900 there were 10,352 miles.

The rapid increase in railway mileage during the last nine years is as
follows:--

In 1901 there were 10,565 miles of railway.
" 1902 " " 10,868 " " "
" 1903 " " 11,500 " " "
" 1904 " " 12,140 " " "
" 1905 " " 12,370 " " "
" 1906 " " 12,850 " " "
" 1907 " " 13,829 " " "
" 1908 " " 14,825 " " "
" 1909 " " 15,937[A]" " "

12,000 of which are owned by English companies, representing a capital
investment of L170,000,000.

In other words, for the last forty years Argentina has built railways
at the rate of over a mile a day, and in 1907, 1908, and 1909 her
average rate per day was nearly three miles. This means that owing to
the extension of railways during this last year alone, over a million
more acres of land could have been given up to the plough if suitable
for the cultivation of corn.

When William Wheelwright first visited Argentina it was little more than
an unknown land, whose inhabitants had no ambition, and no desire to
acquire wealth--except at the expense of broken heads. There was a
standard of wealth, but it lay in the number of cattle owned; land was
of little value, save for feeding cattle, and therefore counted for
naught, but cattle could be boiled down for tallow; bones and hides were
also marketable commodities; the man, therefore, who possessed cattle
possessed wealth.

The opening out of the country by railways soon changed the aspect of
affairs. The man who possessed cattle was no longer considered the rich
man; it was he who owned leagues of land upon which wheat could be grown
who became the potentially rich man; he, by cutting up his land and
renting it to the immigrants, who were beginning to flock in in an
endless stream to the country, found that riches were being accumulated
for him without much exertion on his part. He took a risk inasmuch as he
received payment in kind only. Therefore, when the immigrants did well,
so did he, and as many thousands of immigrants have become rich, it
follows that the land proprietors have become immensely so. It was the
railways which created this possibility, and endowed the country by
rendering it practicable to grow corn where cattle only existed before,
but many Argentines to-day forget what they owe to the railway pioneers;
it is the railways, and the railways only, which render the splendid and
yearly increasing exports possible.

In 1858 cattle formed 25 per cent. of the total wealth of Argentina, but
in 1885 cattle only represented 18 per cent. of the total wealth,
railways having made it possible during those thirty years to utilise
lands for other purposes than cattle-feeding. Let it be clearly
understood, the total value of cattle had not decreased; far from that,
the cattle had increased in value during the above period to the extent
of L48,000,000, and to-day cattle, sheep, horses, mules, pigs, goats and
asses represent a value of nearly L130,000,000. The following table
shows how great the improvement has been in Argentine animals:--

Per Head.
Cattle in 1885 were valued at an average of $13[B]
" 1908 " " " 32
Sheep in 1885 " " " 2
" 1908 " " " 4
Horses in 1885 " " " 11
1908 " " " 25

Notwithstanding these increased valuations per head, and the larger
number of animals in the country, the value created by man's labour far
outweighs the increased value of mere breeding animals.

Next to the railways the improvements in shipping have helped the
development of Argentina; the shipping trade of Buenos Aires has
increased at the rate of one million tons per annum for the past few
years, and the entries into the port form an interesting and instructive
table:

The following statement gives the total tonnage that passed through the
port of Buenos Aires from 1880 to 1909, and will more clearly show the
increase and advance made in the last thirty years. These figures
include both steamers and sailing-vessels, and local as well as foreign
trade:--

Tons.
1880 ... 644,750
1881 ... 827,072
1882 ... 995,597
1883 ... 1,207,321
1884 ... 1,782,382
1885 ... 2,200,779
1886 ... 2,408,323
1887 ... 3,369,057
1888 ... 3,396,212
1889 ... 3,804,037
1890 ... 4,507,096
1891 ... 4,546,729
1892 ... 5,475,942
1893 ... 6,177,818
1894 ... 6,686,123
1895 ... 6,894,834
1896 ... 6,115,547
1897 ... 7,365,547
1898 ... 8,051,045
1899 ... 8,741,934
1900 ... 8,047,010
1901 ... 8,661,300
1902 ... 8,902,605
1903 ... 10,269,298
1904 ... 10,424,615
1905 ... 11,467,954
1906 ... 12,448,219
1907 ... 13,335,733
1908 ... 15,465,417
1909 ... 16,993,973

In 1897, out of the total number of steamers that entered Buenos Aires,
viz., 901, with a tonnage of 2,342,391; 519, with a tonnage of
1,327,571, were British. Taking the year 1909 we find that 2,008
steamers and 137 sailing-vessels entered the port of Buenos Aires from
foreign shores with a tonnage of 5,193,542, and 1,978 steamers and 129
sailing-vessels left the port for foreign shores with a tonnage of
5,174,114; out of these, British boats lead with 2,242 steamers and 37
sailing-vessels, or say 53-1/2 per cent. of the total. Germany comes
next with 456 steamers and 2 sailing-vessels, or say 10-3/4 per cent, of
the total. Italy with 307 steamers and 67 sailing-vessels is next, and
then France with 264 steamers. The total number of steamers that entered
and left the port from local and foreign ports is 13,485, with a tonnage
of 14,481,526, and 20,264 sailing-vessels with 2,512,447 tons, which
make up the amount of 16,993,973 tons, as shown above.

In the year 1884 the experiment of freezing beef, killed in Buenos
Aires, and shipping it to Europe was first tried. That was successful,
but an immense improvement was made when the process of chilling became
the common means by which meat could be exported. The frozen beef trade
in Argentina has had a wonderful development; it commenced in 1884, and
the export of chilled meat has progressed steadily at the rate of 25,000
beeves yearly, until, in 1908, it reached the enormous quantity of
573,946 beeves, or 180,000 tons. Frozen mutton has remained
comparatively steady, and has only increased by 38,000 tons in
twenty-two years, or from 2,000,000 sheep frozen in 1886 to 3,297,667 in
1908, whilst "jerked beef," which was mostly sent to Cuba and Brazil,
has fallen from 50,000 tons per annum to 6,651 tons. The value of frozen
and preserved meats exported in 1908 was L5,233,948.

The value of live-stock in Argentina in 1908 was made up as follows:--

Cattle ... ... ... L82,000,000
Sheep ... ... ... 25,000,000
Horses ... ... ... 18,000,000
Mules ... ... ... 2,000,000
Pigs ... ... ... 1,368,000
Goats and Asses ... 1,000,000

A few years ago it was common on an estancia feeding 50,000 or 60,000
cattle to find the household using canned Swiss milk. To-day 425,000
litres of milk are brought into the city of Buenos Aires each day for
consumption, and no less than two tons of butter, one ton of cream, and
three tons of cheese are used there daily. Argentina also exports
butter. This trade has sprung up entirely within the last fourteen
years, and in 1908 she exported 3,549 tons of butter, the value of which
was L283,973.

Until 1876 Argentina imported wheat for home consumption; in that year,
when for many years past agricultural labourers had been arriving at an
average of 25,000 per annum, she began to export wheat with a modest
shipment of 5,000 tons. Thirty years later the export had mounted up to
2,247,988 tons, and in 1908 the wheat exported amounted to 3,636,293
tons, and was valued at L25,768,520. Agricultural colonies had sprung up
everywhere, and cattle became of second-rate importance; to-day the
value of the exports of corn, which term includes wheat, barley, maize,
oats, etc., is more than double that of cattle and cattle products. It
is interesting to follow the evolution wrought by labour, intelligence,
and capital in the prairie lands of Argentina. First, let us note the
developments on those wonderful tracts of splendid prairie lands lying
between the River Plate and the Andes: fifty years ago these lands were
of little account, and only a few cattle were to be found roaming about
them, but upon the advance of the railway they came under the plough,
and, without much attention or care, produced wheat and maize. After a
time improvements in the method of cultivation produced a better return,
and to-day a great deal of attention is paid to the preparing of the
land, and thought and care are given to the seed time, the growing, and
the harvest. When it is found desirable to rest the land after crops of
wheat and maize, etc., alfalfa is grown thereon. Alfalfa is one of the
clover tribe, and has the peculiar property of attaching to itself those
micro-organisms which are able to fix the nitrogen in the air and render
it available for plant food. Every colonist knows the value of alfalfa
for feeding his animals, but it is not every colonist who knows why this
plant occupies such a high place amongst feeding stuffs. Alfalfa is
easily grown, very strong when established, and, provided its roots can
get to water, will go on growing for years. The _raison d'etre_ for
growing alfalfa is for the feeding of cattle and preparing them for
market, and for this purpose a league of alfalfa (6,177 acres metric
measurement) will carry on an average 3,500 head. When grown for dry
fodder it produces three or four crops per annum and a fair yield is
from 6 to 8 tons per acre of dry alfalfa for each year. A ton of such
hay is worth about $20 to $30, and after deducting expenses there is a
clear return of about $14 per acre.

The figures supplied by one large company are interesting; they show
that, on an average, cattle, when placed upon alfalfa lands, improve in
value at the rate of $2.00 per head per month, so it is easy to place a
value on its feeding properties. Thus, we will take a camp under alfalfa
capable of carrying 10,000 head of cattle all the year round, where as
the fattened animals are sold off an equal number is bought to replace
them. Such a camp would bring in a clear profit of $200,000 per annum,
and the property should be worth L175,000 sterling. An animal that has
been kept all its life on rough camp, and, when too old for breeding, is
placed for the first time on alfalfa lands, fattens extremely quickly,
and the meat is tender and in quality compares favourably with any other
beef. No business in Argentina of the same importance has shown such
good returns as cattle breeding, and these results have been chiefly
brought about by the introduction of alfalfa, and a knowledge of the
life history of alfalfa is of the greatest importance to the cattle
farmer. All cereal crops take from the soil mineral matter and nitrogen.
Therefore, after continuous cropping the land becomes exhausted and
generally poorer; experience has taught us that rotation of crops is a
necessity to alleviate the strain on the soil, and such an axiom has
this become that in many cases English landlords insist that their
leases shall contain a clause binding the tenants to grow certain stated
crops in rotation.

This system is known in England as the four-course shift. Knowledge
gained by successive generations of observant farmers has given us the
key to what Nature had hitherto kept to herself, and to-day we know why
the plan adopted by our forefathers was right, and why the rotation of
crops was, and is, a necessity. Men of science are devoting their lives
to the systematic study of Nature's hidden secrets, and by means of
Agricultural Colleges, as well as private individual research, these
discoveries are being given to mankind, and long before the soils of
Argentina show any serious loss of nitrogen from continuous cropping,
science will probably have established means of applying in a practical
manner those methods already known of propagating the
nitrogen-collecting bacteria which thrive on alfalfa, clover, peas, soya
beans, and other leguminous plants. Almost every country is now devoting
time, money, and energy to agricultural research work. In 1908 the
Agricultural College at Ontario prepared no less than 474 packages of
Legume Bacteria, and in 309 cases beneficial results followed from the
application thereof to the soil; in 165 cases no improvements in the
crops were noticed, this may, however, have been due to the want of
knowledge of how to manipulate the bacteria, or to lack of experience in
noting effects scientifically, but in any case the experiment must be
considered successful when the results obtained were satisfactory in no
less than 65 per cent. of the trials. No greater factor exists than the
microscope in opening up and hunting out the secrets concealed in the
very soil we are standing on.

If soils were composed of nothing but pure silica sand, nothing would
ever grow; but in Nature we find that soils contain all sorts of mineral
matter, and chief amongst these is lime.

Alfalfa thrives on land which contains lime, and gives but poor results
where this ingredient is deficient. The explanation is simple. There is
a community of interest between the very low microscopic animal life,
known as bacteria, and plant life generally. In every ounce of soil
there are millions of these living germs which have their allotted work
to do, and they thrive best in soils containing lime.

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