The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-03-08
HOPEFUL HARRY.
FARMING IN ARGENTINA.

FARMING IN ARGENTINA.
Binders Are Driven at Fast Trot Over
the Grain Fields.
Edward Burau of Fergus Falls has
just returned from South America,
and gives an entertaining description
of conditions in the Argentine repub-
lie. Mr.. Burau went south as rep
resentative of the International Har-
vester company and spent the winter,
which is the summer season there.
Mr.. Burau describes the Argentine
republic as land of great possibili-
ties, but hopelessly handicapped by
the class of people who inhabit it.
The soil is generally black loan
with clay subsoil. BE travelled over
very considerable portion of the
country, and reports good average
crop the past season, the yield of
wheat being from Is to 30 bushels per
acre. This yield would be largely in
creased if the soil we're properly Guilt
waited. AS it is the farmers go over
the land very hastily with their plows,
and their blowing merely scratches the
surface. They raise great quantities
of alfalfa and harvest five crops of
this clover a year.
Their reckless farming methods are
finely illustrated in the manner in
which they handle their binders.
Every farmer has a large herd of
horses, and these horses are never
stabbed, and are fed no grain. They
run about in the pastures or alfalfa
fields, and when they are wanted, the
farmer goes out and lassoes them.
-Four horses are attached to a binder,
fairly we'll broken team being gen.
orally placed in the center, and prop
erly harnessed, while the outside
horses are likely to be almost as wild
as those that formerly roamed the
ranges of the west. Harnesses are ex-
pensive, and instead of harness, the
outer horses have sort of girth
thrown around them, with a ring in
each side, to which the tugs are at
tached. The people there seem to
think that horse can pull as much
with rings attached to a saddle girth
as with collar around it's shoulders.
And these horses do pull. The four
horse team, even when hitched to a
binder, is never allowed to walk The
driver makes the animals trot, and
sometimes they go at an even faster
gait. The skill of the natives in
handling horses is exempli6ed in the
manner in which they can hitch prac-
tically wild horses to a binder and
drive them at rapid pace on an al
most straight line.
"Tbe first time I set up binder, :"
said Mr.. Burau, in speaking of the
subject. ~ was not aware of their
methods of driving, and I proposed to
follow the machine on foot for a short
time to see that nothing went wrong.
[ ran until I was completely out of
breath and then gave up the chase.
After that when I wanted to follow a
machine I called for pony and fol-
lowed on horseback.
''They take their almost wild horses
from the pastures, drive them three or
four hours or until they are exhausted
and then turn them loose and lasso
others. Horsefesh is no object in
that country. They are even more
Indifferent in handling their machin-
cry than they are in handling their
horses. AS long as man stays With
them he can keep the machines run
ming, but as soon as he leaves they
quit taking the trouble to oil the
different parts or to renew the Irvine
supply, and this, with their reckless
driving, works havoc with their ma
chinery. They never count on a
binder lasting more than one season,
and are very thankful if they get
through the season with only one. AS
soon as they are through cutting they
unhitch and leave the machine in the
field and buy another the next year.
"Yes, there is a great market for
American machinery down there. The
section of the company which I repre-
sented sold 176 binders, SO push bind
ers-the big twelve-foot kind-and
forty-six headers this season, and
this was its first year in the field. I
understand that some Of the other
companies, which have been estab-
lished there for some time, are selling
as high as 1000 and 5000 binders a
year.
''What do they charge for machines
down there? Well, the seven-foot
binders sell for about $50 pesos; the
larger size for 800, while the big push
binders, the combination kind, run up
to 800 or 900 pesos. A peso is worth
"A cents in American money.
ssThe farmers in general are we'll