repetition of what is stretched out before his eyes. [Illustration: “AGRICULTURE HAS SPREAD FAR AND WIDE”] Agriculture has spread far and wide in Argentina in the last two decades. Its forces are moving ever westward and southward, driving the “squatter” ever farther and farther afield. It has already crossed the boundaries of what was once known as Patagonia, no man’s land. Wire fences now enclose the lands which once were the scenes of settlers’ battles and boundary disputes. Grains and alfalfa have replaced the coarse natural grass, which was indigenous to these plains. Groves of willow, eucalyptus and poplar have been planted in the older sections of the Camp and make a diversion in the landscape. The picturesque windmill, made in the United States, is a familiar landmark on the horizon almost everywhere, for it is necessary to pump all the water during the greater part of the year. The Camp has never been divided into homesteads. The most of it is owned by the _estancieros_, whose holdings are estimated by the square league, almost six thousand acres. A man with only one square league is a small farmer, and there are many estates of five and ten square leagues. Many of these were purchased for a mere pittance twenty years ago, and the rise in value has made the owner a wealthy man, so that he can live in Buenos Aires a part of the year in luxury, or take a trip to Europe each year, as many of them do. Formerly Argentina was almost entirely a pastoral country. Millions of cattle and sheep wandered over these plains and fed on the rich herbage. The amount of land devoted to stock grazing has been reduced, but the quick-growing alfalfa furnishes more pasture to the acre. At the present time there are thirty million cattle, sixty-seven million sheep, seven million, five hundred thousand horses and mules in the republic, which is a very respectable showing, and places Argentina as one of the most important stock-raising countries in the world. They are very fine stock too. It was the care of the stock that gave rise to the “gaucho,” the cowboy of South America, and it was this character that gave romance and local colour to the Camp. [Illustration: THRESHING GRAIN ON AN ESTANCIA]