This being the case, it follows that the fruit-farmer is gradually acquiring rational methods, which will soon attest to their beneficent influence by transforming the old orchard-plantations, which were with reason described as forests of fruit-trees, into gardens of carefully cultivated plants, yielding crops very greatly improved in the matter of quality and the beauty of the fruit. On the other hand, the sellers of fruit-trees have at the same time been learning more as to the qualities of different varieties, and how best to select them, in order to place on the market those which will secure the largest profits to the grower, and to propagate the most popular species. The cultivation of fruit-trees is far from occupying its proper rank among Argentine industries. It is distributed in an irregular fashion; some kinds of fruit-trees abound in certain districts and are rare or unknown in others; and it is impossible for growers in the latter districts to obtain them at profitable rates, on account of the difficulty and scanty means of transport. As for the fruit trade, it has hitherto been very limited, and confined almost exclusively to the sale of fresh fruit, as with the exception of the factory of the “Tiger Packing Company” and a few others, which prepare canned peaches, etc., in syrup, all growers of fruit for public consumption offer it for sale only in the fresh state. Yet amid the feverish activity which characterises the present situation in the Argentine, the fruit trade receives a greater impulse each year; not only in the matter of home consumption, which has been popularised by the aid of such companies as the “Co-operative Fruticola,” which endeavours to supply the consumer with articles of the first quality at reasonable prices, but also in the matter of export to large foreign cities. The export of fresh fruit should soon form an important branch of commerce in the Argentine, as it does already in the United States and in other countries. In the matter of a fresh-fruit trade with foreign countries the Argentine is particularly favoured by circumstances; for on account of her geographical position she is able to profit by the inversion of the seasons with regard to Europe; that is, by placing summer fruits on the European markets in the middle of the northern winter. Another advantage which the Argentine will enjoy on these markets is the fact that she has to reckon with no formidable competitors; for those countries that might dispute her place, such as South Africa, which is situated in much the same latitude, or Chili, which grows a variety of good fruit, have not the abundant fertility of the Republic; or if they run her close in this respect, as is the case with Chili, they are separated from Europe by a greater distance, which considerably increases the price of transport.[74] [Footnote 74: And also of refrigeration; the fruit being “chilled,” that is, kept slightly above freezing point.——[TRANS.]]