. The story of a grain of wheat. ut three hundred mileswould be the longest railway haul necessary forany of the Argentine wheat. This would morethan cover the distance from deep water toTrenque Lauquen, in the interior of the provinceof Buenos Aires, or to Villa Maria, in the prov-ince of Cordova. These towns are about the re-motest points from deep water from which wheatis exported. If ocean steamers had easy accessto the great lakes, as they should have, the wheat-grower in Minnesota would be situated about asadvantageously with respect to proximity to theseaboard as the Argentine farmer, e
. The story of a grain of wheat. ut three hundred mileswould be the longest railway haul necessary forany of the Argentine wheat. This would morethan cover the distance from deep water toTrenque Lauquen, in the interior of the provinceof Buenos Aires, or to Villa Maria, in the prov-ince of Cordova. These towns are about the re-motest points from deep water from which wheatis exported. If ocean steamers had easy accessto the great lakes, as they should have, the wheat-grower in Minnesota would be situated about asadvantageously with respect to proximity to theseaboard as the Argentine farmer, except that theArgentine water-way is never obstructed by ice. The Argentine is now well supplied with rail-ways. The lines of the Central Argentine, theWestern of Buenos Aires, the Santa Fe, the Buenos 74 THE STORY OF A GRAIN OF WHEAT Aires and Rosario, and the Entre Rios railways,with numerous less important lines, traversethe wheat-fields of the western and northern dis-tricts, while the Great Southern Railway covers ■ ««,. Loading Wheat, Argentina. the southern districts. The latter is the most ex-tensive railway undertaking in the head office of the company is in London. Ithas over two thousand miles of line in operation,and employs about 11,000 men, and, according tothe last returns available, has an equipment of247 engines, 461 passenger cars, and 8,521 freightcars. In the nineties the growth of traffic inwheat, maize, and other commodities was so greatand unexpected that the railway companies werewholly unable to cope with it, and wheat-shippersfrequently had to see their wheat lying unpro- THE STORY OF A GRAIN OF WHEAT 75 tected at country stations for weeks before theycould secure cars. Now the situation is much im-proved in this respect. Delays are rare, except inthe busy season, and the wheat-shipper is wellserved by the railways, although the freight ratescharged on wheat are higher than those currentfor similar distances in the United States. The
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