THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AS A PASTORAL COUNTRY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7304, 28 October 1885, Page 4

THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AS A PASTORAL COUNTRY.

(Prom the Australasian, 17th inst.) Last year threo Australian colonists, having large expi'rioiice iv the uinnageineut .and breeding of .lie «p ud cattle, and all owners i,f j astoral properties in .. Australia, visited tho countries of Uruguay and tho Argentine Republic with the view of inquiring into the capabilities of thoso countries for producing woo), and to invest in the purchase of land if they wero favorably impressed with tho country and its inhabitants. They spent about fonr months travelling through those parts of tho country that were famed as grazing lands, and thus gained a good insight into the capabilities of tho place as a woolgrowing country, and the advantages it possesses to pastoralists as a field for investment. One member of tho party has returned to Australis, and, as any information respecting tho country that hag come to tho front so rapidly during tho last few years os a wool-producing State will he of interest to onr readers, we give the results of an interview with this gentleman as nearly as possible in his own words. On arriving at Buenos Ayres the party found that the ships had to lie off in a roadstead about 12 miles fro'.n tho town ; consequently, all imports and exports have to be taken to and from the ships in lighters, tbe cost of which was almost as great as tbe freight to Europe. Notwithstanding this drawback, the business done at the port is so great that tbe fleet of vessels lying at anchor in the roads was more numerous than what are to be seen in Melbourne and Sydney harbors put together. The city of Buenos Ayres contains abont I 300,000 inhabitants. There aro many Englishmen engaged in business, while the largo number of boatmen, lightermen, and wharf laborers are almost without an exception Italians and Basques. The men employed in forming the railways ara also Italians and Casques, while the charge of the engines and rolling stock is entirely in the hands of Englishmen. The fashion of carrying loaded revolvers is so common that the weapon may ba said to be rogarded as an article' of wearing apparel, but no instance of their use came under the notice of tho visitors during their trip. The visitors found travelling through tho country a much more easy matter than they expected. Railways are numerous, and of greater mileage than in any Australian colony, and where these end the country is traversed in every direction by coach lines. Uno coaching company, named tho Mensajeri >. Argentina, is truly a gigantic hff.ir, comp ired with which our own Cobb and Co. shrinks into insignificance. This company is said to have more than 10,000 horses at work on their coaching lines. Some of tbe great coaches have as many . as 13 and 20 horses to draw them, and | on these toam3 outriders are used. Tbe fares on the railway are somewhat higher than those on Australian lines, while the coach faro 3 are slightly lower than with U3. Away from the main Hues of road, horseback is tho only means or locomotion. Horses are pleutiful, and guides and relays of horses can be engaged for any distance. The vehicles used by the European settlers aro mostly i imported, but many aro built in tho cities on the line 3of European models. That admirable vehicle for a new country, the American buggy, is scarcely ever seen. Throughout the country hospitality is freely exercised, and the Australian visitors met everywhere a warm welcome. The hotels aro spoken cf as oven worse than those in the most j , - remote parts of Australia ; the charges are high, and tbe accommodation is bad. I The country is easily described. It consists, so far as onr traveller's observation wont, of one vast, flat, treeless, alluvial plain, the surface soil of which is of a very fertile description. In ono respect it resembles Riverina, for over hundreds of miles there is not a stone to be seen. Along the coast, and for about 300 miles inland, tho rainfall is from SOin to 40in. The nearer the line of the Andes 13 approached the rainfall becomes lighter. The soil in this district is not so rich as that to the eastward. It is of a more sandy nature, and though its grazing capabilities are not so high as that of tho coast lands, is regarded by some as better fitted for breeding and rearing fine wool sheep. On a stretch of country 400 miles north and south and 350 miles east and west, millions of acres were passed through, on which the soil was quite as good as that on the Hawkesbury flats. Of rivers, they saw none save tbe great • river of the country, the La Plata, Small streams are almost as rare, but there is no scarcity of water, which can be obtained by sinking a Bhort distance below tbe surface, on any portion of the great plain. Wells from 3ft to 18ft deep at the outside will give an iuexJ haustible supply of most excellent water. In sinking a well, after the surface soil is passed through, a bed of clay is met with of varying thickness, and beneath this clay is found a stratum of inferior limestone, in which water is certain to be struck. The honses of the landholders and those in the towns aro built of brick of a peculiar shape. They are only liin thick, being made so in consequence of the absence of firewood. They are burned with dried thistle stems and cakes of sheep and cattle manure, which is everywhere carefully preserved for fuel. The grazing capabilities of this fertile land can hardly be over-estimated. In some of the improved estates near the coast, the land will keep three or four sheep to the acre all the year round, while further inland, where the sheep are all shepherded, an immense area of country will support abont two sheep to the acre. A great change has come over the system of stock management in the Argentine Republic during the last few years. Fencing-iu and subdividing the estates is being rapidly carried on, and much improvement in the flocks and herds has been effected by the use of rams and bulls imported principally from England aud Germany. Though much has already been effected in this direction, the live stock of the country, and particularly the sheep, are still of a very inferior description as compared with the sheep and cattle of Australia. In the eastern portion of the country the management of the sheep bears a close resemblance to what was the custom in Riverina when fencing-in tbo runs was (commenced. In the back country very much tbe same style of management ia seeu as was in practice about 30 years ago on the Darling. The stockholders are evidently alive to the necessity of improving their sheep and cattle if they wish to increase their profits, and wherever practicable fenoirg is being carried on, but the country is so vast and timber so scarce that it will naturally take a very long time before the pastures are enclosed as in Australia. The Javorite siteß for improving the ' sheep are imported Rambouillet aud German merinos. Sheep having large loose folds of skin and heavy yolk are the most fancied by Bheep owners. American merinos have not yet found their, way to this country, at least the visitors saw none during their rambles through the country. English long wool sheep are in good favor, and those etockownerfl who have formed flooks of them speak highly in their favor. Those met with by the visitors were fair specimens of their type. The original sheep of . the country were of Spanish origin, but '. they must have been of a degraded type, and tbe sires since used have been of a most' worthless description. The ordinary sheep of the country are now ■*'■ . long-legged, flat-sided, and badly shaped ,: 7 ;i_f,«Yery wdy. They are bare on the _ss_*_-_..! •_..- .-.. •

points aud underneath, and the little wool they have on their bodies is of a • very coarse description, and full of kemps. In ihe very best flocks of tho country there are no sheep that could compare for an instant with fair specimens of Australian sheep. There are no sheop to be seen that bear tha .lightest resemblance to the merinos r?ared on Victorian and Tasmania" pasture?, and it is doubtful if the stockholders would appreciate these splendid animals if they had the opportunity of obUininj? them. The English sheep cros3 well with the better kind of native ah-t-p, ui,-l ou eeveral occasions really excellent flocks of crossbred sheep were mat with, which were almost as good in carcase, though not in fleece, as Australian cross, breds. Good rams are in considerable request, but though anxious to improve their stock tho flockmasters do not «iv.such fsney priceß as thuso obtained every year at the annual ram sale in Melbourne. Good sheep of the itarabouillet or German merino typo realise from £50 to £00 per head. Tho general run of tho native sheep in tbe emu'ry mny be classed as about equal for woolbearing to those sheep reared in Kivorina when sheep-farming was first tiitd in that country. The fleeces grown by Eiverina sheep were at first ao bad that it was no wonder the experienced sheepfarm era of Western Victoria confidently predicted that it was impossible to grow wool north of the Murray. In shape and size the sheep of tbe Argentine Republic aro greatly inferior to any stock ever grown in Central Australia. (To be continued.)