The Arizona sentinel., 1885-12-12
SBANDRT.
The Future of Agriculture in the United
 States and South America.

The cheapenlng or aSrlculIuIh PIoU- ucts through the application ofimproved machinery on the farm, and the saving of food in making beef, mutton and swine by means of better-bred stock, improved by the use of pure-bred sires upon the mixed stock of the country, | and also in the early maturity of feeding l animals by which time is saved, has vir- tually changed the whole economy of agriculture. It is no longer the drudg- i cry it was forty years ago. Farmers, except a class who never read and never accept new ideas, no longer suppose it necessary to trudge from dawn to dark, neither do they drudge their teams in the old-fashioned way. The hours ot labor are lessened, but the intensity of labor is increased. The best and most successful farmers of to-day read and think, they work as much with thelr brains as with their hands.
 A fertile West with improved machin- cry has caused its settlement with the most ambitious and intelligent of the farmers and artisans of the civilized world. There is still room for more, but the bulk of the fertile lands are set tied and the products have filled the mar kets of the world with the various eX- portable products of the farm to an eX- tent that would have been impossible, except through the fortuitOuS causes mentioned. Where will the overcrowd- ed population of the Old World seek new fields? There are vast tracts eligible to cultivation in Asia and Africa. Un- fortunately the governments of districts there are not inviting to the reading, thinking man. These countries must come under strong and yet enlightened governments before emigration will seek those countries. Before these regions can do much at producing in competi- ton with the United States they must be settled by people who can guide the na- tive population in proper channels ofpro- duction, difficult thing in population welded to old-caste ideas. The English are not colonizing people in the true sense of the word; they govern, but do not seek to utilize native industry by inn proved processes, even in the cultiva- ton of the soil The English people seek to sell goods to the colonies. The Germans have gotten a foothold in Ali rica. This nation, wherever they colo nize, become liberal and integral part of the community, and while not loving the Fatherland less seek to form and do become part of the growing colony. They are, with the great original race from which they sprang, the foremost of our foreign populations in molding the destiny of the United States. If German immigra- ton settles the great tracts of Africa and others which the genius of Bismarck still seeks to grasp as colonizing outlets for the superabundant German population, then the United States will have q strong and intelligent competition for agricultural products products which we now largely supply to the markets of the world.
 But it is really upon this hemisphere that we have to fear the strongest com petition in the future. The Argentine Republic contains the area apparently most favorably situated for successful competition. This is a vast country of fertile table or plain lands, the soil a rich black loam not unlike that of the lower regions east and west of the Mis- sissippi, and especially like that of Dakota, and is widely attracting the at- tention of intending immigrants. Few persons who have not made study of the temperate regions of South America comprehend the agricultural importance of this region and its wondeful increase in products since 1880. From 1854 to 1864, the cultivated area had only in creased from 375,O00 to 506. 1000 acres, and in 1874 to S25, ,000 acres. In 1884 the area cultivated had increased to 3, 435,
 GOO acres. and in this last decade the acreage of wheat increased from 271 ,000 in 1874, to 1,717, 900 acres in 1884. In 1885 the acreage in wheat was increased to 2.500,000 acres. In 1884 the Argen- tine Republic exported 5,525, 900 bushels of wheat. The average yield of wheat for that year was eight and a half bush els per acre. Other principal exports were barley, baled hay, iax-seed, pea nuts, potatoes and sugar, the yield of this last product last year being 50,000, ,000 pounds. Tobacco is also an important product, both sugar and tobacco being largely grown by Cuban emigrants.
 The extent of available agricultural lands in the Argentine Republic is stated at 600, GOO square miles, an area equal to Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Ten nessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Iowa and Wis consin, and capable of producing every crop raised in those States. So far inn migration, large as it has been. comes principally from Southern Europe and largely from Italy. As rule they are farmers. The great cattle regions lie in tho interior. The livestock census com prises 30,00O, 900 cattle, 100000 horses, and vast fiocks of sheep. Of the immi- grants devoted to agriculture in 1882 there were 51 ,000 arrivals; in 1883, 63, PAP; in 1884, 96,000; and during the first five months of 1885, 55, 5,000 Within the last five years 1,126,000 acres of land have been taken up by colonies repre-. senting population of 82,000, mostly Italians and Swiss.
 The United States is seeking to ex- tend her exports, particularly of manu- factured products. A wise policy would seem to be to seek new fields so we could stand on fair footing with other nations, particularly England, our strongest competitor in this direction. As a means of increasing our wealth in exportable agricultural products and az
 ricultural machinery, the Argentine Re public would seem to offer a good field
 Our agricultural machinery and imple- ments are acknowledged to be superior to any in the world. The country is be-
 coming filled with high-class rare breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, swine and poul. ft,%,, ~