The advice I would give to all those thinking of trying Argentina as a field for agricultural work is to remember that to be successful one must begin at the bottom, the harder the school the better will be the result:  you cannot detect and correct the faults which militate against success unless you have been through the mill.  Not long ago I sent a boy out to Argentina and painted the first two years of learning in the new country in rather lurid colours.  I explained and dwelt on the hardships—­indeed, I described it as “a dog’s life.”  Within a year, the lad wrote home to his parents and mentioned all that I had told him, but finished up by saying, “There’s plenty of ‘life’ about it, but not much ‘dog.’” The truth is that the boy had accepted things as they came along and had adapted himself to his surroundings, and, I predict, he will never regret having left his home, where opportunities were cramped by small surroundings, for the wider field of Argentina.

A great many Englishmen resident in Argentina, whose sons are looking forward to finding their life’s work in that country, send their boys home to England to be educated.  Far be it from me to deprecate the training acquired by English public school life, but it might well be worth while to consider the other phase.  The boy who has had his schooling in Argentina and goes through his training and passes into one of their Universities will have to his credit something which cannot be bought by money or influence by boys straight out from home.  He will have been a fellow student, and worked shoulder to shoulder with men who will in due time occupy positions of power and influence, and it is just as well to weigh out these things before deciding where to educate your boy.  A boy born in Argentina, whatever the nationality of his parents may be, is by Argentine law an Argentine subject, and should be brought up to appreciate that he is liable to be called upon to go through a military course:  the Argentine boy, who has had just as gentle an upbringing as the English boy, is compelled to serve his time in the army if called upon, and generally the discipline engendered by this training has not only been good for him, but is a distinctly valuable asset to the country, and the English boy, as well as a boy of any other parentage born in the country, will be obliged to go through this military training if required.

I venture to think that were England to adopt compulsory military service in some shape or form, we should hear a great deal less of the unemployed and “don’t-want-work” demonstrations.

To attempt to give a picture of Argentine life is impossible in the short time at my disposal.  Imagine to yourself, if you can, a country of 1,212,600 square miles whose borders extend from well within the Tropics to away down south to the everlasting snows, embracing all kinds of lands, from the very richest of soils to ice-capped and rocky peaks, and you must admit that to attempt to describe the various conditions of life therein is wellnigh impossible.  Life is much what the surrounding conditions make it—­on the extreme edge of cultivation it is distinctly rough, on the inner camps refinement steps in, and in the cities you will find just what society you wish.  Amongst the cosmopolitan population of Buenos Aires there are many men and women of the highest culture and education.