New Ulm review., 1916-01-19

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fattening on the green grass of ofspringtime.
Rural Life in South America.
The following letter sent for publica-
tion gives some interesting data on
country life in the South American
republic:
Argentine in general is very flat, level
country, except right around Tandil and
shereit is quite hilly and rolling but reach
ing out from here as far as one can see, it
is fiat and so fiat that the water can't
decide which way to run; at least it looks
that way to me, as the water seems to
spread right out on top of the ground
after a rain and does not run off in any di-
rection.
The country is all fenced up, but in
very large tracts, there being no squares
smaller. than three miles square; that is
where the roads are laid off in sections,
as we call it at home.
In travelling across country from town
to town there is one main road and any
one wishing to 60 somewhere else or make
a short cut is pestered by the repeated
necessity Of opening gates. The large
land owners will not open up roads
through their land nor are they COM
PEELED to do so. Roads are about one
hundred feet wide and some of them still
more, in fact, a road looks like nice
long green pasture. They never do any
work such as making garden, etc. but
when one track gets bad they make
another. The wagons they use here are
great things, the back wheels stand from
eight and half to ten feet high and the
spokes are the size of a two by four; the
bed of the wagon is so high that I can
walk under it without STOPPING bit.
Nine Tons to the Load.
Instead of having a tongue to these
great wagons they have shaft and one
horse is hitched in this to do the steering;
at the end of each shaft there is hitched
a horse, all three having collars on and
lines for guiding. Then from each axle
there hangs a ring, and from these rings
a rope is stretched and it's other end tied
in ring which is fastened in a girth that
goes around the horse. The ring is
fastened on the sideso you see the horses
have to pull side ways all the time.
These horses heads are all tied to the
leaders so they have to follow. They
tie on as many horses as the load requires.
I have seen more than twenty horses to
one wagon and one man driving them,
and I have seen over nine tons of wheat
in one of these great wagons. These
wagons are only used for hauling on the
road and long distance.
The grain is all sacked here, so it isn't
such job to load wagon. A peon
puts sack of grain on his shoulders
and climbs up ladder into the wagon.
Bottles Used as Windows.
Now little about life in the country,
guess you won't like it, 1 know I don't
but it is all in the game, when you are
in Rome do as the Romans do," and I
get caught out sometimes and have to
do as they do. The ordinary farmer and
stock mans house is made of poles set
in the ground, wire stretched around and
then long grass twisted and wallered in
mud and then hung over the lower wire,
then the next course hangs down on the
first and so on; after this dries they
plaster it out side and in with mud. The
roof is also made of long, coarse grass
tied on with wire, and some are gal
vanized iron. The floor is just the pure,
good, old dirt, wet down and packed.
For windows they use few bottles set
in the wall as the home is under con-
struction and for door they use most
anything, some are boards off machine
crates, etc.
Hogs Household Pets.
The stove is couple of rocks with
some iron bars across, the smoke goes
out of it's own free will. The table is
some kind of box as a usual thing, the
beds are of the most humble kind, and
most of them are bunch of sheep skins
thrown on the floor. Some homes have
benches and stools but some have no
kind OF chair, but the inmates squat on
their heels. The dog, chicken, pig, cat
and flea have free access to the house.
These people live on mutton gallita,
hard biscuit which is made in the larger
towns and sold all over the country; the
older and harder they are, the better they
are; and mate which is kind of a bitter
tea that grows in Uruguay and Northern
Argentina. This stuff is put into gourd
and hot water poured on it and then is
supped out through metal called bom-
billa.
Coal Scarce Article.