The owners of the great “estancias” make all necessary sacrifices in order to work their estates in the latest and most perfect manner. The machinery comes from the United States, and facilitates all the operations of _la grande culture_. Two or three years ago, for example, saw the advent of a new machine, simple and of moderate price, which replaced the reaper and thrasher, by performing both operations at once as it moved. It reaps the ears of corn, winnows them, grades the grain, and pours it into sacks; leaving the straw, it is true, but the value of straw in the Argentine is negligible. All these operations are performed as the machine progresses; four horses are enough to draw it. With this new machine corn that is standing in the morning is reaped during the day, and by the evening is ready for despatch to the port of embarkation. To give some idea of the extent to which agricultural machinery is used in the Argentine, we may mention that in the period 1890-1904 there were imported from abroad, mostly from the United States, 459,006 ploughs, officially valued for customs purposes at £1,331,409; 22,783 winnowers, valued at £277,976; 98,470 reapers, valued at £2,041,982; 37,824 drills, or sowers, valued at £176,268; and 4770 thrashing-machines, valued at £1,250,184. From 1898 to 1904 13,725 maize huskers were imported, valued at £340,479. To complete these data we append a table, giving the number of agricultural machines imported in the course of the years 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908: 1905 1906 1907 1908 Ploughs 66,404 84,948 59,196 29,775 Winnowers or huskers 790 785 134 98 Reapers 14,492 20,739 17,334 18,722 Drills or sowers 7,911 25,447 13,975 9,528 Harvesters 706 2,011 226 1,866 Thrashers 909 1,136 490 969 We must also mention that there has been a great development of factories in the Argentine, which turn out agricultural machinery and implements; some of these have been established with large amounts of capital, and possess an equipment fully equal to that of the best equipped establishments of Europe. _The Agricultural Yield_ Having now considered the agricultural progress achieved in the Argentine, the areas under seed at different periods, the prevailing crops, and the regions in which agriculture is more especially established, we must now study the results of agriculture; that is to say, its yield, and shall attempt to forecast the future reserved for the country.