For some years now, however, wool has ceased to be the sole product of the ranches. A little before 1895 the first slaughter-houses, for killing the older sheep that were no longer fertile, were erected on the Straits of Magellan. Refrigerators have succeeded these, and were opened at Puerto Callegos and San Julian. A third refrigerator is being constructed (1915) at Puerto Deseado. In southern Patagonia, also, part of the flock is sent to the refrigerators or to the slaughter houses of the Pampean region. The creation of the refrigerator has compelled breeders to adapt their work to the new economic conditions. The merino breed is being eliminated by the Lincoln in all districts which feel the influence of the refrigerator; the Lincoln is of greater weight and quicker growth, but the merino survives in arid northern Patagonia. Besides this, the establishment of the refrigerators has caused important movements of transport. The flocks which are to go to the refrigerators or the northern railways are moved in the good season, after the shearing, from November to April. The routes they take are not invariable. One of the most frequented, leading from the sub-Andean tablelands to San Julian, follows the Santa Cruz valley. When the land was cut up, there was no reason to foresee these movements, and nothing was done to facilitate them. The roads cross the ranches, which are compelled to allow it. It is a serious burden for some of them, unless they can make a profit out of their situation on the road by hiring pasture for the flocks as they pass. The Andean zone itself is still mainly pastoral, but it is nevertheless far more varied and richer in possibilities of development than the tableland. Agriculture is already combined with breeding in that area.