Next, with a much smaller output, comes the Bieckert Company, with a capital of £362,880, and an output (in 1904) of 1,349,390 gallons; the _Cerveceria Palermo_, with a capital of £132,000, and an output of 1,264,690 gallons; the _Rio Segundo_, in the Province of Córdoba, with a capital of £80,000, and an output of 423,810 gallons; and the _Fabrica Nacional de Cerveza_, with a capital of £120,000, and an output of 540,540 gallons. Here are the statistics of production and consumption for the last six years of the thirty-two Argentine breweries:—— Year. Production Consumption (pints). (pints). 1902 49,096,235 46,933,520 1903 57,043,272 56,360,350 1904 65,663,824 65,077,538 1905 94,264,637 86,833,214 1906 113,967,478 113,898,794 1907 123,404,693 115,746,857 ----------- ----------- 503,440,139 484,850,273 ----------- ----------- The national product has won a complete victory over the foreign article, the importation of which is now negligible; and it has also popularised the liquid dear to Cambrinus, which ten years ago was still a luxury. One can only regret that agriculture, whose development has of late been so enormous, has not as yet liberated the brewery from the necessity of going to the foreigner for his malt, a product of barley which is the principal raw material of beer. Hitherto, according to Girola, the native barleys have been very little used, as they are not appreciated as they deserve to be; and the growers, on the other hand, have not taken sufficient pains to produce a good brewer’s barley. We must hope that this situation will soon be changed, and that more pains will be taken in the numberless fertile valleys of the Argentine in the growing of barley and its improvement. _Spirits._——The production of alcohol, unlike that of other industrial products, is rapidly decreasing. In 1907 only 3,823,336 gallons were produced, while in 1897 the production was nearly 6,600,000 gallons. But we must not forget that the duty, which was originally 7 centavos per litre (6·72d. per gallon), was in 1898 increased to 1 piastre per litre, or 8s. per gallon; nearly five times the prime cost of the spirits. _Weaving._——In concluding this sketch of the chief industries of the country which are connected either with agriculture or stock-raising, it is not out of place to speak of those which, although so far scarcely developed, may do better in time under favouring circumstances. With the development of cotton-planting and a plentiful supply of wool, it seems that a large number of looms might be profitably established and operated in the Argentine. But hitherto this industry, of prime importance though it be, has been held in check by the expense of the necessary machinery and of coal, which has to be imported from abroad, and the scarcity of labour.