Argentina’s great length and the range of altitude within her borders, from the lofty, snow-clad peaks of the Andes eastward to sea-level, give a widely varied climate, upon which the prevailing winds and the mountain barriers exert a further influence. In the extreme north there is a stretch of country extending about ninety miles into the torrid zone and running from the Pilcomayo river, five hundred miles west, to the Chilean border. The eastern part of this region consists of a low, wooded plain where the mean annual temperature is 73 degrees Fahrenheit and the average annual rainfall is 63 inches. The western end is a dry plateau where the temperature drops below 57 degrees Fahrenheit and the rainfall is only about two inches during the year. In the cane-growing district the rainy season is from October to March. At times during the winter the frost is severe enough to partially wither the cane leaves, but it never wholly kills the cane. Sugar cane was brought to the La Plata region by the Jesuits, and it appears in the records of the Santo Domingo monastery that sugar was manufactured in Tucumán as early as 1670. After the banishment of the Jesuits nearly one hundred years later, the industry quickly declined, in fact as late as 1871 the total production of Argentina did not exceed 1000 tons. Development in Tucumán followed the completion of the railway, which opened outside markets to the planters of the province in 1876. Railway transportation facilities brought in modern factory equipment and machinery. As a result numerous small primitive mills were eliminated and their owners turned to sugar-cane growing. Stimulated by a heavy protective tariff, the cane-producing area in Tucumán increased from 12,000 to 104,000 acres between 1881 and 1896, and in other provinces the industry made substantial progress. By 1894 the output exceeded the country’s requirements. This led the government to concede an export bounty in 1896, and a syndicate called the Unión Azucarera was formed by the producers, who agreed to deliver to it 60 per cent of their product. From 1896 to 1904 exports of sugar varied from 15,000 to 50,000 tons per annum. Conditions changed, however. The other South American countries would not buy Argentine sugar, the United States had fixed a countervailing duty on all bounty-fed sugars, and Great Britain was contemplating their exclusion entirely. To save the situation, therefore, it was decided to curtail the output, and the following plan was adopted: [Illustration: BATTERY OF BOILERS, INGENIO LA TRINIDAD, TUCUMÁN, ARGENTINA] [Illustration: HOME OF SUPERINTENDENT OF A SUGAR PLANTATION, TUCUMÁN, ARGENTINA]