The province of Santa Fé is a large province, extending from the northern boundary of the province of Buenos Aires to Santiago del Estero, and contains what is known as the Gran Chaco. The southern portion of this province is largely dedicated to the production of wheat, linseed, and maize, for which it is admirably adapted. There are also large estancias carrying vast herds of cattle, sheep, and horses, while the northern portion has vast forests of very fine and valuable timber. [Illustration: _Wheat ready for Loading at Station on Central Argentine Railway._] The first part of this province to be developed was the country around Rosario, the large port on the River Parana, where ocean-going steamers call. This, together with good railway accommodation in all directions combined with excellent land in the district, facilitates the cultivation of cereals on a very large scale. Property in Rosario itself is very valuable, and from £30 to £50 a yard is a common figure. In the immediate district of Rosario land is rarely sold in large areas, but may be calculated at £20 an acre, whilst 40 leagues further north it is to-day worth £50,000 a league. I know of one estancia of one league which was bought in 1885 for £2,000, resold, after being sown down in alfalfa and divided into paddocks, without further improvements, at £12,000 (this was in 1903), and again sold in 1909, certainly with further improvements as regards watering arrangements and more paddocks, house, and sheds, etc., in fact, a fair model estancia in good working order, for £60,000. Land on the south-west of Rosario, and about 40 leagues distant, has in the twenty-five years risen from £2,000 a league to £40,000 a league. This is for virgin camp, and to-day in these districts the average price can be stated at from £30,000 to £40,000 per league, yet 300 miles further north land--good land--can be had at from £4,000 to £6,000 per league. The next province, Cordoba, is one of the most hilly in the country, and has been one of the most developed during latter years. Some twenty years ago this was almost considered a desert, where one was told nothing would grow and cattle could not live. To-day it is one of the most prosperous; wheat and linseed are great products here, while alfalfa, when carefully treated, that is, not overstocked, lives for ever on account of the sandy soil, and water being so near the surface. These lands twenty years ago were valued at about £500 to £600 per league, while to-day it is difficult to acquire land under cultivation or alfalfa at less than £30,000 per league. In the Northern part of this province are very valuable stone quarries.