In speaking of the chief crops of Argentine agriculture, there is one which we must especially mention, which, although not capable of repetition year by year, yet assumes considerable proportions, occupying already many millions of acres. We refer to the fodder known as lucerne, which in 1890 was grown only on 1,480,000 acres, and on 1,729,000 in 1895; while to-day no less than 7,412,000 acres are under lucerne.
This crop is a new source of wealth for the Argentine. Its growth has arisen from the increased value of lands which were until lately considered unfit for the production of cereals. These lands are now greatly in demand, and of late years great fortunes have been made out of them.
Lucerne serves two different purposes; it is exported as dried fodder, or is used at home to feed and fatten cattle. Hence the lucerne farmer may either graze his holding or mow it; so that there are lucerne farms and lucerne “estancias,” or ranches, each having its distinct characteristics.[43]
[Footnote 43: Lucerne is exported chiefly to Brazil and South Africa.]
The farms are mostly near the stations of the chief railway-lines which lead to the ports of embarkation, and consist of holdings of 150 to 250 acres, cultivated by small proprietors, or more generally by _métayers_——tenants who pay in kind. The mowing, drying, raking, gathering and stacking of the lucerne are operations which last from October to March; the embalement, or packing into bales, which are pressed and bound with iron, by means of a press worked by horse-power, occupies the rest of the year. There is also a form of exploitation which is more elementary and also more rapid: the cutting and immediate sale of the crop as green fodder; this method is in use on farms near the cities.
But the great lucerne belt, which occupies by far the greatest proportion of the sown lands, is composed of the “estancias”, which are composed of fields or farms of lucerne destined for the feeding and fattening of animals, chiefly cattle. These exist of all sizes; from the “estanzula” to the largest ranches. _Latifundia_ sown with lucerne are common in the south of Córdoba, and there are instances of immense green savannas of from 35,000 to 50,000 acres——roughly, from 50 to 80 square miles in extent——consisting entirely of lucerne farms and belonging to a single lord and master. There are several settlements or colonies of this kind in this region; such as the Colonia Maria Soledad, situated at Carnerillo and at Chucul, including some 42,000 acres of lucerne farms; and the Duggan prairie, which has 32,000 acres of lucerne. Properties of 15,000 acres are numerous.
