Lastly, colonization can make no progress unless it finds markets on which it can put its produce. Up to the present western Europe has been the chief market for the wool, leather, meat, and cereals of the Pampean region; tropical America absorbs part of the output of the _saladeros_, flour, and dry fodder; and North America has recently begun to compete with Europe for wool, leather, and frozen meat. The facility with which the products of the Pampa have found their way into the world's markets, as is seen in the comparative stability of the returns, explains the continuous advance of colonization and the short duration of the crises which have disturbed it. The home market, however, has had an importance in connection with colonization that must not be overlooked. When wheat-growing spread at Santa Fe the crop was at first devoted to supplying Buenos Aires, and as late as 1883 Zeballos thought that the essential result of agricultural colonization was the fact that Chilean flour was beaten off the Argentine market. Even to-day the districts on the outskirts of the cereal area depend upon the home market. The Villa Mercedes mill supplies Mendoza. Cordoba and Santa Fe send their flour to Tucuman. The price of cereals still shows slight fluctuations in these parts as compared with prices in Buenos Aires. _Table of Exports of the Chief Products of the Pampean region_ (_in thousands of tons_): ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- | 1901 | 1905 | 1910 | 1913 | 1914 ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- Wheat | 904 | 2,868 | 1,883 | 2,812 | 980 Maize | 1,112 | 2,222 | 2,660 | 4,806 | 3,542 Flax | 338 | 654 | 604 | 1,016 | 841 Flour | 71 | 144 | 115 | 124 | 67 Wool | 228 | 191 | 150 | 120 | 117 Salted hides | 28 | 40 | 61 | 65 | 63 Dried hides | 26 | 24 | 29 | 21 | 14 Chilled beef | 44 | 152 | 253 | 306 | 368 Chilled mutton | 63 | 78 | 75 | 45 | 58 ---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- The heading "cereals" appears in the statistics of Argentine exports in 1882. In 1900 the value of the agricultural produce exported is equal to that of the products of breeding. In 1904 it is higher.