Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1911-06-01
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WHEAT field
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WHEAT
RAISING POSSIBILITIES OF
THE ARGENTINE REPUB.
LIC

A new competitor is looming up
in the wheat growing world. North
Dakota farmers will have to diversi-
fy their crops and use their land for
other than mainly wheat purposes,
the same as farmers in the older
states. The Farm, Stock and Home
says of Argentine, South America:
The attention of the world is being
irresistibly drawn to the possibilities
of the Argentine as feeder of the
nations. That country-in area one
third the size of the United States
is estimated capable of supporting
an agricultural population of 1907
100000. It is a country deficient
in mineral wealth, but exceedingly
rich in agricultural possibilities. The
climate is diverse, ranging from sub
tropical to cool temperature; the
rainfall varies much as it does in our
own country, and the farmer is able
to produce a wheat equal to that OF
our northwest.
The same tendencies in wheat pro-
duction observable here are notice.
able in the Argentine. The crop a.
rea is moving toward the cooler re-
gions, with a resulting improvement
in the quality of the berry. The In
crease in acreage within the past
few. years has been phenomenal, ex-
ceeding that of thirteen years since
by 26O per cent. The average yield
per acre is about twelve bushels and
the cultivation practice and general
methods of harvesting are quite SIM
liar to our own.
The system of land ownership diff
fers radically from ours. Large es-
tates rented out are the. rule. Botn
share and cash rent are common.
Generally a clause is inserted in the
lease providing that the land shall
be left seeded to alfalfa. Since !at-
tie raising is an important phase OF
Argentine agriculture this reliance
upon alfalfa is interesting, both as
affecting the sustained fertility OF the
land, and as shifting area OF the
wheat fields. In general the most
successful are those who have COM
bined stock raising and mixed farm
ing.
The marketing system lacks the de-
velopment here reached. Wheat IS
sacked in 1856 pound sacks, direct
from the machine, and piled up at
the railway stations. There 1t Is
covered over with tarpaulins, and
later loaded upon uat cars to be
shipped to the terminals. On reach
ing the terminal the wheat Is unload
ed by hand, six or seven men un-
loading an average of four cars per
day.
All this costs money, and it is TAX
en-, as in other lands, out OF the pro-
ducer. Eighty cents in gold is a
fair price, out of which must come
month hands pay at $1o, day labor
at $500, stackers at $3.50, thresh-
ermen at s1.75 or threshing at 13
cents a bushel, twine 10 cents per
pound, and the sack, which goes with
the grain, averages cost of three
cents per bushel. Taking into ac-
count the quality of the labor anu
the fixed charges above given, there
seems no reason for northwestern
farmers to envy their South Amerl-
can cousins on the score Of better
profits.
Meanwhile the broad acres OF the
Argentine are but beginning to be
titled, and for two generations to
come the markets of Europe Will de-
pend to large extent upon the wheat
fields south of the La Plata.