The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-11-08

plain, followed and nodded by the |
wind, the freeflowing air, which in |
place of running water has sculptured |
the immense expanse of fine brown |
earth.
I'm former days it mattered nothing
to the world at large and compare
lively little to the Argentine himself
whether the season was a favorable one
for wheat or lot; but now, when mil
lions beyond her confines look to Ar
gentina for bread and when Argentine
prosperity is regulated by the wheat
she sells, it matters much.
''The time will come, probably, when
plentiful rains or drought will matter
less than now; for at present agrlcul-
ture in Argentina is in the elementary
state when it is most exposed to injury
by the vicissitudes of climate. Great
fields are cultivated by few hands. The
poorly prepared soil, the shallow ploW-
ing, the neglect of cultivation, all in
wife losses III any but favorable
year. In the east rainfall usually is
abundant or excessive. There are areas
of Buenos Aires province which are in
undated by heavy rains, and great
drainage works have been undertaken
by the government at the instance of
the landowners. From east to west the
! rainfall diminishes till it becomes insult
| ticient for agriculture in the average
year, ana farming can prosper only
where irrigation is practicable.
"Thus the pampas, of which we may
think as momentous plain, exhibit
great diversity of aspect. Portions of
them may be flooded while other dis
tant regions of the same plain are dry
ing up. Portions are suited to the grow
ing of wheat, others to cattle raising
and still others in the warmer. rainy
zone about Rosario are adapted best to
the raising Of Indian corn.
"To gain an idea of the extent of
the fertile pampas region, one needs but
look at railway map of Argentina.
Buenos Aires and Rosario are the two
ports of shipment of its product, the
centers from which traffic radiates to
all sections of the country. English and
other capital has been expended to the
amount of a billion dollars in building
railways to develop the rich lands but
in the more arid and. less profitable
country the lines have been extended
only as trunk lines, aimed to reach
some distant point. The pampas are
the hub of the Argentina wheel of for
tune, of which Buenos Aires, the Argen-
tine Fl Dorado, is the center.
1.-The area of the pampas is one
sixth of the country. In the larger part
which lies beyond the pampas. the 9th
er fvesixths, there is a great extent
of lands destined to pastoral pursuits;
there are some real desert areas; and
there are also districts of great natural
resources which are either actual or pc
tential contributors to the natural
wealth.
"The pampas are paradise for cat
tie in the average year when the rain
fills the lakelets and the pasture
whether freshly green or cured to nat
ural hay, affords abundant feed. De
casionally q dry season intervenest
the water pools dry up; the plain be
comes a wastelcss desert Formerly il
such years disaster overcame the
herdsmau and his herds. Lingering by
the shrinking pools, hundreds of thou
sands OF cattle and sheep suffered from
thirst and famine till they fell ant
mummified in the dust. 1t is somewhat
different now. The seasons still vary
inexorably, and from time to time
comes one of drought and loss; but i
! has lost its gravest menace. Scattered
over the pampas wherever they may b'
wanted, are windmills, ard beside eaci
mill is a tank and drinking trough
, The wind, which so sculptured the no.
t lows of the plain that a very larg
- proportion of the rainfall sinks into it
t now pumps the supply back to tn
herds, which otherwise might perisl
, stamping the dust just above the sub
terranean waters.