The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-01-30
NEW F|ELD| OPEN 10 AMERICAN BREEDERS Argentine Cattlemen Look to America for Stock . BRING FANCY PRICES Champion Durham Bull at Palermo Show Brought Nearly $30,000.
 Many Improvements Are
 Being Made
BRING FANCY PRICES

Buenos Aires, January 2.-(Correspond- ence of the Associated Press. 1.-The re. moval of the interdict upon the importa- tion of American cattle into Argentina opens to American breeders most prom ising market that has been monopolzed by British breeders heretofore. Already some of the Argentine estancieros, as the owners of great ranches are called, have taken interest in the possibilities of the new conditions, and as a pioneer in the trade, Senor Celendio Pereda, one of the most prominent of the Argentine ranch men, has gone to the United States to select bulls and other blooded stock for his vast estates.
 In view of the phenomenal advance in the prices for live stock in the Argentine and the probability that they may reach still greater heights, particularly if the European war continues, it Is assumed that the estancieros who seek cattle in the United States will be prepared to pay well for choice stock.
 The cattle show at Palermo, which is an annual fixture and which is considered an economic barometer of prosperity in
 
 that are far more encouraging than could have been expected. It made plain the fact that in whatever other ways the country might be suffering depression, it's basic industry-cattle grazing-prospers IS never before.
 Crisis of Progress
 The Argentine has suffered trade dis turbance as a result of the war, and during the past two years the country has 1I I,o a "crisis of progress'-the result of lavish expenditure of borrowed capital in na- tonaI and provincial public works. But in the face of these adverse conditions, there is the outstanding significant fact that single champion Durham bull, for instance, has just sold at auction for $60- 000 paper (the Argentine paper dollar be- ing equivalent to about 42 cents gold)
 The average prices at the Palermo show established many records. The favorite breed in the Argentine is now the Dur ham shorthorn, of which 200 bulls, mak- ing up the first lot put up at the auction, brought total of $1,140,O00 paper, or an average of s5700 a head about $2515 Amer ican gold). And this does not include 6 per cent commission which, in this country is paid by the purchaser.
 The Hereford has, it appears, declined in favor, the champion bull of that breed being sold for $12,000 paper-only fifth of the price paid for the champion Dur ham.
 The boiled Angus, which was deemed the coming breed few years ago, was in such little favor at Palermo that 1t was difficult to find bidder. The cham pion of this class went for only $4500 pa per. The Angus steer, however, is in great demand among the establishments that pack frozen beef. Only recently prices in the ordinary cattle markets went as high as s4O0 paper for this type of steer-probably 8 world record.
 One outcome of the flourishing state of the grazing industry may be inn provements in the Argentine ranches. With the exception of few locali- ties, grazing is carried on under priin- itive conditions, with little application of science and expert knowledge.
 Ideal Grazing Country
 Argentina is an ideal grazing coun- try, but the natural pasture, except in privileged zones. is very scrubby Ow ing to these visible disadvantages lands were sold by the league in the old times, the price being based upon the quantity of stock that could be car ried. There are vast extensions, hun dreds of thousands of leagues, that are still obtainable at prairie value. The poor settler can do nothing with these lands. He would starve on league of it if he had not a gun to shoot birds. But the rich syndicate or private in- vestor could and many do, buy with a. view to improvement When this is done judiciously the results are sur prising.
 In this country stock is never housed. Some animals preparing for the show are raised in special paddocks but the animal raised for the butcher rarely sees the inside of a building, or tastes I3s 1.,rf 1.f of-door life saves expense and, doubt less, avoids some of the cattle dis eases. The settler who purchased land 40 years ago at prairie value and put it under alfalfa is the wealthy estan- ciero of today. Some of the big es- tancias have been handed down from father to son, but Argentine law gov erning succession is altogether con trary to the maintenance of hereditary Interest, for when the owner dies there Is generally a division of all his es- tates among his heirs.
 The great enemy of grazing and az riculture is drought and at present it is keenly felt in Cordoba, the princi- pal alfalfa province, where it is com plicated by the locusts, a plague which has cost the republic millions to keep down. It is claimed that the depre- dations of the Voracious insect are not so great as formerly, but just now it IS admitted that the damages being caused are very great. The insects come from Bolivia, Brazil and Para quay They return to their quarters in those countries after Argentine has spent much money killing a more or less negligible pe~centage of them and they return in clouds the following season. In regard to drought the prob- lem is no less complex. The republic is so large and the natural rainfall is so unequally distributed that the trou- ble is endemic in about nine-tenths of the total area. The various schemes of money and created only an oasis here and there.
 The skilful settler or wealthy es- tanciero contents himself with sinking wells and erecting windmills to supply his house and stock. but 1t is obvious 1y impossible to overcome, by artificial means, the heavy handicap imposed by nature. MT. Ross, an American expert, who has been touring the provinces, suggests a solution. He finds that there are 200 varieties of the cactus nat ural to the country. He thinks that this plant, deprived of thorns by breeding them out, would solve the difficulty. The cactus will thrive in the poorest soil and 90 per cent of it's leaf weight is water. The fibre of the plant Is also declared use3ul for the textile indus try. The alfalfa plant, however, must still continue to hold the field in lit era1 sense.
 Brief Decisions Just because man is enioined to love