The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-03-30

a capacity OF 100000 tons, and
they can discharge 10000 tons per
day. There are ."eat elevators at
Bahaia Blanca, which is on the coast
about ten hours south Of Buenos|
Aires: and the government is now
forcing the railroads to build ware
houses for grain throughout the coun-
try, SO that the Argentie will soon
have a system of elevators like those
Of Canada and the United States.
AS it is now, nearly all OF the grain
comes to the market in bags Of 155
pounds each. It is there carried in
open cars covered with canvas and is
stacked in Bags aa$the stations. There
are no arrangements on the farms for
storing the wheat, and the most of
the grain is carted from the thresher
to the railroad in enOrmOu carts,
which haul two or three tons at a load.
These carts have wheels eight feet in
diameter and tires our inches wide,
and it requires sixteen horses. OF bull
locks, to haul one of them. The chief
marketing season is from January to
May, when the roads are often rivers
of mud. Some of the wheat is hauled
as far as sixty miles to the railway,
and the freight rate is about 10 cents
per bushel. 1t costs z or 8 cents to
haul a bushel twenty miles, and in one
place. where the distance is thirty
three miles, the teamsters take two
days, camping out at night On the
trip. In some cases carts dragged by
teams of twenty-four or more bull
locks are used. Such carts will carry
five or six tons, and the load is SO
high that the last bags are carried
up OF ladders.
Rosario is the Chicago of the Ar
| sentine Republic. It is the second
largest city OF the country and one Of
the richest Of ali South America. 1t
has more than 200, 600 people and is
in the midst Of the wheat lands. 1t is
in the heart OF the Parana basin and
there are tens OF millions of acres of
good farming country extending out
on all sides. 1t is the head Of navi-
CATION for the Parana basin, and grain
can be brought here on the Parana
and its tributaries from an area COW
er1ns many thousand square miles.
Rosario is 400 miles inland from the
ocean n steamers drawing twenty
four feet sail right to the docks. It is
estimated that about SO pei CEN Of
the cereals OF Argentina are tributary
to Rosario and that they have a value
Of something like $500, 600, 600.
- l am amazed at the extent Of the
good farming lands Of South America,
This continent is on the edge of it's be-
ginning as the worlds biggest bread
baSket. and from now on it will stead.
/ lily grow as the chief spoon feeder o.
Europe and. later On, of the United
States as well. The chief wheat sup
plies of the world come from it's a1lu
vial plains and great river valleys
That of the United States, which wa!
about 500. 900, 900 bushels last year
was mostly from the basin of the Mis-
sissippi; that of British India, which
was about half as much, came from
the valleys of n GanSeS and the In
duS; while that Of Russia, amountin;
o more h 500, 00G, 900 bushels, wa
from the aldvial plains built up by tn
NolSa, the Don and the Dnieper. An
| other European bread basket is tn
valley Of the Danube, and anOthe
; North American one is the Saskatche
l wan, which annually turns out some
Y thing like zoo, 600. 900 bushels Of ca
J madam wheat.
The most of the wheat of Sout
America is raised in the valley of tn
Parana and the earth waShings of tn
Andes, which ave built up the va:
plains of Argentina known as til
pdmpas. These plains cover hundred
OF millions Of acres and they hay
produced almost 200 600 bushels
wheat in one year.
And still it is safe to say that II,
one-twentieth OF the grain area II:
been developed. I entered Argentl-
by the railway across the Andes
struck level country at Mendoza, al
from there Travelled to the AtlanE
\ ocean, a distance almost as great
1 from New York to Chicago. II
4 ! ground is fiat all the USE and r,n.
of the soil is as rich as any Of t!
Mississippi valley.
There are no stones. and tho "
lands are covered with grass. I re,
through vast estancias supporting te
Of thousands Of cattle and hundre
Of thousands Of sheep, and nc
I know that ] could go in either dire
ton, north or south, Tor hundreds
"A miles and find the same kind OF ecu
try with comparatively small. tracts
cultivated lands
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