Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

was a most beautiful floral display. The gardening is under the charge of a graduate of the horticultural school of Turin.

SAN JACINTO.

San Jacinto estancia is located about two hours' ride due west of Buenos Aires, and is noted for its Thoroughbred horses and Shorthorn cattle. A few Jersey cattle are kept. Some mules are bred and a large number of sheep are raised, principally for the meat market. There are 20,000 cattle in all, and 35,000 sheep. The owner of this estancia is peculiar in his attitude toward pedigrees. He keeps no pedigrees whatever of his cattle or sheep, and although all his cows are at least very high grade Shorthorns, and a great many of them practically purebred, he enters only the classes for grades and crosses at the shows.

[graphic]

FIG. 48. The sheep barn at Las Acacias.

Sheep in foreground are some of the breeding ewes in the flock. (Original.)

The Thoroughbreds on this estancia are among the best in Argentina, and it goes without saying that the same system regarding pedigrees used with the cattle would not be possible with the Thoroughbreds, on account of the rules of the racing commission of the Jockey Club. The leading stallions are Bat and Val d'Or (fig. 49) both well known in racing circles. Bat is a beautiful horse, rather small, but full-made, with a great deal of quality. His colts have not been very successful on the turf, although they are uniform in appearance and have excellent conformation. From the standpoint of individuality Bat's progeny are superior to those of Val d'Or, but the latter, which is a son of the famous Flying Fox, is the better racing sire. One million francs ($193,000) were paid for Val d'Or. He is a big, almost coarse, horse, with a good top line. His colts lack the uniformity of

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Bat's but the best ones are far superior. The mares on this estancia compare very favorably with those seen on the better stock farms of Kentucky.

CHAPADMALAL.

Chapadmalal estancia is located 12 miles from Mar del Plata, the seaside resort of Buenos Aires, a night's ride from that city. The estancia comprises 10 square leagues of land (about 67,000 acres), and has a frontage of 12 miles on the sea. It has been developed along the lines of the great estates of England, and the influence of England on its owners is marked at every turn. The mansion was designed by an English architect, and all the wood and furniture

[graphic][merged small][merged small]

used were imported from England. Englishmen are found everywhere in charge of the animals. The estancia aspires to be a sort of general supply house for all kinds of breeding stock. Almost every sort and breed of horse is raised except the American Trotter and American Saddle Horse. Hackneys, Shires, Cleveland Bays, English hunters, English polo ponies, and even Morgans are shown the visitor. The Hackneys are very good indeed, and the owner is fitting them for the coaching run from London to Brighton. Hopwood Viceroy, the Hackney champion at the 1908 Olympia show at London, was seen and photographed. He was in excellent condition after his long sea voyage, and is a horse which should be of great value in his new

home.

The Shorthorn cattle on this estancia are fair in quality, and the Lincoln sheep are magnificent. The establishment vies with La Belen for first honors in the Lincoln classes at the great shows.

[graphic]

FIG. 50.-Thoroughbred mares and foals at San Jacinto. (Original.)

Considerable farming is done at Chapadmalal. About 1,000 acres are sown annually in oats, wheat, corn, peas, and mangel-wurzels.

[graphic]

FIG. 51.-Hackney stallion Hopwood Viceroy 9280, E. H. S. B. First in class for Hackney stallions, over 15.2 hands, foaled in 1904 or before, and winner of Woodhatch champion cup for best Hackney stallion, International Horse Show, Olympia, London, in 1908. Imported into Argentina in 1908 by Sr. Miguel A. Martinez de Hoz, Chapadmalal. Photographed in November, 1908. (Original.)

No land is kept in crops longer than three years in succession. The managers are planning to begin the use of silage and are putting in

a unique system of machinery to prepare the silage. The fodder will be cut in the usual manner and then run into a large grinding machine similar to a sausage grinder, corn-and-cob meal being run in at the same time and mixed with it; the silage mixture will then be conveyed to a pit for storage. The pastures on the estancia differ from those around Buenos Aires in that the grasses are not the native grasses, but such as English rye grass, orchard grass, etc. The pastures are plowed up occasionally and reseeded. This is not an alfalfa country, except in the bottom lands.

MEAT PACKING.

The slaughtering business at the River Plate ports is naturally very extensive, for without the export meat trade the cattle business of Argentina could not exist and the sheep business would be dependent wholly on the wool trade. In contrast with our own system the abattoirs in Buenos Aires are more or less scattered, although all of them are on the Riachuelo, a small navigable stream tributary to the River Plate, which bears much the same relation to Buenos Aires that the Chicago River does to the city of Chicago, and the two streams look very much alike.

None of the plants begin to approach the great Chicago or Kansas City establishments in size or number of slaughterings. A plant with a daily capacity of 500 cattle and 3,000 sheep is a large one. Owing to the small capacity there is not the same demand for labor-saving devices. Very little mechanical traction is used in moving carcasses from the killing floor to the freezing rooms. At one of the leading plants in Buenos Aires the record time for slaughtering a steer from the time he is struck to the time his carcass is started to the cooler was said by the foreman to be 7 minutes, and this was regarded as a good record in other establishments.

The external appearance and surroundings of the plants are usually rendered as atractive as possible, the buildings being painted white and flowers planted in the open spaces near them. The abattoirs themselves are usually quite clean, and little objectionable odor is noticeable.

In general the system of killing is similar to that used in the United States. The electric prod, the long alleyways to the killing pens, the tilting floor, and the butcher with his poleax are familiar sights. In some plants the cattle swim through a long vat or stand for 10 to 15 minutes under a shower to clean the hides, cool the animals, and put them into better condition for killing. One foreman claimed to get as much as $1 gold per 100 kilos (220 pounds) more for hides so treated.

In killing, a common method is to strike the animal a sharp blow with a short, heavy, triangular-shaped knife in the neck just back of the head, which severs the spinal cord and kills at once if the blow is properly directed. The common poleax is also used, and sometimes one that is sharp and hollow at one end and cuts through the skull.

Chilling rooms are kept at 29 to 30° F., and freezing rooms at 14 to 18° F. Carcasses may be put into the freezing rooms at once or

[graphic]

FIG. 52. A "gaucho."

These men bear the same relation to the animal industry of Argentina that the cowboys did in early days to western ranching in the United States. They are splendid horsemen, and the cavalry of the Argentine army is largely recruited from them. Note manner of carrying quirt. A gaucho's wages are 30 to 40 pesos a month, quarters and rations; rations are 5 pounds of meat daily and bread. (Original.)

cooled gradually. They sometimes remain as long as two weeks in the freezing rooms before being put on board steamer. The temperature in the freezing chambers on board ship is kept at about 18° F. Frozen beef is very economically stored on ship, being piled in tiers from the bottom to the top of the hold. Chilled beef must be hung on hooks.

A few "frigorificos" (freezing plants) in Buenos Aires are located so that they can load directly into a steamer's hold, but most of them load first into lighters and reload to the vessels. One of the

« AnteriorContinuar »