The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-29
ARGENTINE WHEAT FARMING
1S SEEN ON THE GREAT
 P4MPAS.
GREAT
Grain Growing Is Superseding Cattle
 Raising on These Vast Plains.

| l Raising on These Vast Plains.
 [ The article by Charles B. Spahr in tht r Outlook of November last on "Tht northern farm" interested me very l much, but especially in connection witt a vieit that I have just made to the I great farming regions of the Pampas in 7 Argentina. In the article mentioned MT. Spahr spoke of David A. Wells's proposition that "the independent small farm is soon to be a thing of the past,
 and then went on to show that the ten
 dency in the Northwest has been in just the opposite direction-that is, toward
 small holdings cultivated by the own
 CT. The same tendency is to be seen on
 the Pampas, but in a more marked de-
 gree, due to the peculiar industrial con-
 ditions of the country. In Argentina
 never heard any mention of the move
 ment toward small holdings, but it was
 none the less apparent even to the ln-
 experienced observer.
 The Pampas, or the prairies of South
 America, lie south and west of Buenos
 Ayres and the River Platte, but those
 due south show the most advancement
 in methods of cultivating the land and
 1t Is of them that speak. Though the
 land is tremendously fertile and the cli- mate all that can be desired for wheat growing, 1t is only within the last 15
 years that cattle raising has been
 pushed aside by wheat-growing. This
 is result of a government of doubtful
 stability and still more doubtful fnteg-
 rity, as we'll as of a lack of railroads. e1o i,,ny1 inc
 and, in spite of them, the farmers are l getting ahead The land ifs wholly in
 the hands of the money classes, who are
 ready to rent it, but never think of sell
 ing it to the farmers. The farmers come from places where they have not
 been allowed to own land, so the idea
 of such ownership never occurs to them, | and they are content with leasing 1t, prior to the wheat growing era, when the land was devoted exclusively to cat tie and sheep-raising, 1t was held in immense unfenced tracts called estan-
 cias, which varied in size from 10 to 1000 square miles. In the center of each was the estancia house, where lived the manageable is called the major
 domo--or the owner if he happened to
 manage his own land. About the estan-
 cia house were the quarters for the
 hands, the barns, the sheep-dip, and
 the corrals It was the center of life and industry for the entire region. This was in the cattle-raising era, in the days when cattle were killed for their hides and horns. Then came the wheat, and with 1t a tremendous change, | though it must be remembered that cat tie are still raised in great numbers in connection with the wheat-growng, or | on the estancias remote from railroads. l
 When the estancias began to plant [ wheat, the major domo superintended | the work themselves, as on the "bonan- ga" farms of the Northwest. The la- borers lived in the quarters about the estancia house, and went to and from the more or less distant fields twice a day. For while, until too much land was under cultivation this worked well. The requisites for a successful major domo made 1t next to impossible to ob- tain suitable men. The grasp and com- prehension of a general coupled with the education and technical knowledge of a scientist, were necessary, not to the need of a thousand eyes, the greatest tact, ard an iron constitu- ton. Without such man or manager the little losses which eat up the profits asserted themselves, and the system , broke down from it's own weight. Then came the change to what is known as he Colony" system, which is Just now very popular, though there are yet some { sstancias where the old idea of centra- ization still holds. f
 In the colony system the land is , 'ented to the tenants in small holdings. ( Or which they pay a specified cash V 'ent or share of the crop raised. In f he former case the tenant owns his r mares, blows, and harvesting machin- r ry The tenant builds in three days very comfortable house of sod, with a ( galvanized iron roof, and is ready for york. The wiser landowners do not
 How tenats to rent as much land as hey wish, but allot them little less | han the tenant thinks he can culti- iS ate. This insures more thorough cul- t ivation, and larger results in propor- lC ion to the land under tilage. One of h he causes of loss in the system of cen V is the impossibility of getting c sufficent number of men to handle O nd stack the grain cut by the harvest u rs before it has been seriously injured u y lying in the bundle. This is largely p bviated when the holdings are small. W When the land Is cultivated on shares, D le following is common arrangement d etWeen landlord and tenant. The land- a 'rd furnishes the land, the mares, the m achinery and seed; and because the tf nant rarely has any capital, credit at Tn le camp store for such supplies as are sN eeded before the harvest. After the dl arvest the landlord takes half the crop. su us half the amount of the seed ueed tn alf the cost of threshing, and the store tu H. On these estancias it will be seen It, lat the position of major -domo is no co nger that of a general, but of ient- ar llector-a position which an inferioreI ca an can fill. pl At one estancia at which I stayed .ii .arly month, and which contained .o me 30 square miles, the change to the to olony'' system was taking place. Two " ars before, the maj domo was on pe man, an ideal manager, and under Se m the estancia had been very profit p' le. He died suddenly and his place " IS taken by a brother who had not \ g capacity for such a position. In the