In the same Territory is another very prominent estancia, the property of the Patagonian Sheep and Farming Company Limited. This embraces an area of 471,000 acres——734 square miles——the area of a medium-sized English county. Finally, in the same Territory is a vast property of 700,000 acres——1060 square miles——belonging to the Bank of Antwerp. In the Territory of Chubut, which for some years has been a favourite locality for European capital and European immigrants, and which contains a large French colony, there is a very important estancia belonging to the Lochiel Sheep Farming Company Limited, which covers an area of 327,000 acres, and contains 35,000 sheep. Another foreign company established in the southern part of the Argentine, “The Argentine Southern Land Company,” possesses 1,518,000 acres of land, of which 859,000 are in the Territory of Rio Negro, and 659,000 in that of Chubut. This company was established in 1899, with a capital of £230,000, later reduced, on account of business misfortunes, to £140,000, which is the present capital. On this company’s lands are 45,000 cattle, 40,000 sheep, and 4300 horses. In all these establishments, and in many others which we are unable to cite, as it is difficult to obtain precise information concerning them, we find that, thanks to the intelligent efforts of their owners in seeking to import the best breeds of the most famous European breeding establishments, there are now many stallions, bulls, and rams of the purest blood and of great value, which are either imported or selected; and through these the general stock of the country has reached a very high quality of race. All stock-breeders, even the smallest, are aware to-day of the great advantages to be obtained by crossing selected animals with sires of pure blood, and the result has been a great advance in the stock-raising industry. The statistics of importation show that in nine years, from 1899 to 1907, plus eleven months of 1908, there have entered the country from England, where the Argentine breeder usually seeks his stud animals, 10,040 bulls and cows, and 35,094 sheep. These two figures alone show the importance which the Argentine breeder attaches to the improvement of the breed of his flocks and herds. The prices paid for these animals are sometimes extravagant; in one case £3520 was paid for a bull; but land-owners willingly pay such sums in the certainty that such sires will bring them considerable profits. The area at the disposal of the Argentine stock-raiser is still practically unlimited. We need only remember that of the 750 millions of acres which roughly represent the area of the Argentine soil, one-half, or some 375 millions of acres, are adapted to stock-raising.