The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-18

weeks of December and January, and
return home to reap their own har-
vest or gather their own vines in the
Italian summer and autumn. thus
making the best of both hemispheres.
Two Drawbacks to Agriculture.
Agricultural prosperity, more gem
eral here than almost anywhere else
in the world, Is tempered by two risks,
either of which may destroy the pro-
fits Of the year.
rainfall is, in most parts of the coun-
try. only just sufficient to give mois-
ture to the arabic land. together with
drink and grass to the animals, de-
ficient rainfall means scanty crops and
the loss Of cattle. 1t Is only along
the skirts of the Andes that much
can be done by irrigation, for the per-
manent rivers are few and the iagoons,
which at one time were frequent, have
been drying up Besides, they are
often brackish.
The other danger is q plague OF To-
Gusts These horrible creatures come
in swarms so vast as to be practically
Irresistible. Expedients may be used
to destroy them while they are walk
ing along the ground by digging
trenches in their path, tumbling them
in and burning them. but many sur
vive these efforts, and when they get
on the wing, nothing can be done to
check their devastating flight. Did
the swarms come every year, the land
would not be worth tillihg, but at
present the yield of good years more
| than covers the losses both of droughts
and the locust invasions.
| The Wealth of the Land.
| The wealth OF the land is in tiIlage
and live stock. Its three great agri-
cultural products are wheat, maize
and linseed, in each of which it Is now
in the front rank Of exporting coun-
tries. Sugar and cotton are grown
| In the north, and may increase large
| Iy there as that region gets settled
and wine Is made at Mendoza for
home consumption. Cereals will,
however, remain the most important
crop.
| Vast as has been the increase of
| live stock, the limits of the ranching
area have not yet been reached. The
export Of meat received a great slim
iulus from the INTRODUCTION of systems
of cold storage and transport, and
now an enormous amount of Euro
pean and North American as well as
Argentine capital Is embarked in this
1 trade.
There is. so far as known, hardly
lanvs coal in the country, and the
sources OF water power are only along
the Southern Andes, so that manu-
featuring industries have not been es-
Itablished on any large scale. The
slopes of the Cordilleras furnish mines
of gold, silver, copper and lead, but
the production of these minerals is
small compared to that of Peru and
Bolivia. Thus we may say that
re- ~
world which Europeans have peopled.
Argentina Is that which Is now, and
lis likely to continue, the most purely
agricultural in its Industrial charac-
ter.
/ The best evidence or illustration of
the swift progress OF Argentine and
of the confidence which European In
vestors feel in Its resources is to be
found in tho developments Of its rail-
was opened in 1867 and was twelve
miles long. In 1911 there were nearly
200 miles in operation. and the re-
ceipts In 1910 amounted to f20. 000,-
900.
A Swiftly Growing Population.
In this immense fertile and tenn
perate country with hardly ak people
to q square mile. what limit can we
set to the growth OF wealth and pop.
ulation? Already the nation Is larger
than the Dutch or Portuguese OF
Swedish. Within thirty years 1t may
equal Italy. Within fifty years 1t may
lapproach France or England. even II
the present rate Of Its increase be re.
duced. It may one day be the mosl
numerous among all the peoples thai
speak tongue Of Latin origin. as the
United States is already the most
numerous OF all tina Speak q Teutonie
one.
No other Spanish-American State
except Uruguay, has q people OF
stock so predominantly European
1.-THE aboriginal Indian element is toe
small to be worth regarding. 1t Is
now practically confined to the ex-
trene north, but elsewhere the infiu-
ence of Indian blood is undiscernible
among the people today. The abo-
rhymes of the central Pampas have
dsappeared--nearly all were killed
off--and those of Patagonia have been
dying out. We have therefore a ma
ton practically of pure South Euro
lpean blood. whose differences from
the parent stock are due, not to the
infusion Of native elements, but TO To-
cal and historical causes.
Till thirty or forty years ago this
population was almost entirely OF
Spanish stock, Then the rapid de-
Ivelopment of the Pampas for tillage
tbegan to create demand for labor
which, while 1t increased immigration
from Spain, brought in a new and
larger flow from Italy. In 1909, out
.tef 100000 persons OF foreign birth
in the republic, there were twice as
many Italians as Spaniards, besides
lone hundred thousand from France,
the latter including many French
Basques. Between 1904 and 1909 the
influx Of immigrants had risen from
5seaalnHAa,aalsE=t l't e.
| The Spaniards, of course. blend nat
t urally and quickly with the natives,
who speak the same tongue The
, Italians have not yet blent for there