The areas planted with tobacco in 1895 and 1907 were as follows:——
1895. 1907. Acres. Acres. Province of Corrientès 16,287 27,910 Province of Salta 2,277 8,645 Province of Tucuman 6,880 7,410 Territory of Misionès 5,705 1,976 Territory of Formosa and Chaco (South) 1,294 1,235 Province of Córdoba 3,348 1,729 _Other Provinces——_ Buenos Ayres, Santa Fé, Catamarca 3,631 2,470 —————— —————— Totals 39,422 51,375 —————— ——————
The agricultural census of 1895 affirmed the existence of 3348 acres of tobacco in Córdoba, while the _Bulletin_ of the Division of Statistics at the Ministry of Agriculture announced only 1729 acres; in short, everything leads to the conclusion that we have to deal either with gross blunders or with erroneous information. As it has not been practicable for us to verify these figures we must suppose that in 1895 there was not so large an area planted as the figures would lead us to believe.[69]
[Footnote 69: See _La Culture des Plantes industrielles dans la République Argentine_, by Carlos D. Girola.]
_The Mulberry._——The culture of the mulberry-tree should perhaps be included in that of industrial crops, since its leaves are the food of the silkworm.
From the time of the Spanish Conquest, says Carlos Girola, the engineer, our competent guide in the matter of industrial crops, the silkworm was raised in the Province of Cuyo, and silk was woven there on the hand-loom; but, on account of the facilities of transport, imported silks brought such a competition to bear upon the hand-made native article that the silkworm industry gradually dwindled and finally became extinct.
Numerous experiments have of late years proved that the silkworm can be raised over a great part of the country; and that it has the best chances of development where the population is densest, labour most abundant, and the houses of the workers largest and most comfortable, as in the Provinces of Buenos Ayres (North) and Santa Fé, and in parts of Entre Rios and Córdoba. So far, however, there is no demand for the native cocoons, and it is so difficult to place them that at present one cannot recommend the silkworm industry except as an experiment or a speculation.
The mulberry-tree grows and flourishes excellently on the greater portion of the Argentine soil, and especially in the central and northern districts, where it springs up quickly and vigorously. It is greatly to be desired that it should be more widely cultivated, and that its wider cultivation should go hand in hand with the development of the sericultural industry, which in some countries constitutes one of the principal sources of wealth.