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Mauricio and Clara.
Mauricio, in the province of Buenos Ayres, comprises an area of
about 62,000 acres (25,000 hectares). There are 164 colonists in Mauricio,
representing 211 families, and a total of 1,045 persons. The soil is not
so rich as that of other colonies in Argentina. The only way in which this
inferiority can be overcome is by variation of crops, which system
requires larger areas than are at the disposal of the colonists. As very
high prices are asked for land adjacent to the colony, the administrators
have met the difficulty by acquiring some not in its immediate vicinity,
to which some of the families at Mauricio are to be transferred. This
would permit of the allocation of more land to those that remain, thus
enabling them to vary their crops. In 1898 the following crops were sown:
wheat, 13,427 acres; maize, 6,952; lucerne, 1,475; flax, 7; barley, 12;
rye, 71; oats, 7; tobacco, 2½; vegetables, 136; making a total of 22,089
acres, or about 9,000 hectares. Cattle-breeding being considered one of
the most important forms of industry by the settlers, it has been
necessary to form large lucerne fields at considerable expense, as natural
pasturage is insufficient. Upward of 2,500 head of cattle have been placed
at the disposal of the colonists by the Jewish Colonization Association,
of which about 800 are plowoxen. A butter and cheese factory is about to
be established. Mauricio has a hospital, a steam flourmill, a
slaughter-house, and a bath. The principal centers of the colony are
Algarrobo and Alice. At each of these places there is a school, attended
by 63 boys and 30 girls and 65 boys and 28 girls respectively. A third
school has been opened in Mauricio, and is attended by 24 boys and 8
girls. The sanitary condition of the colony is good.
By far the largest group of Jewish colonies in Argentina is that known as
Clara (named after the Baroness de Hirsch) in the province of Entre Rios,
which was established by the Jewish Colonization Association in 1894. Some
of the present settlers in Clara were brought there during the second
exodus of the Jews from Russia, in 1891, and were selected from refugees
that had arrived in Constantinople. But the more important body of
colonists was organized in Russia in 1894; ten groups, of about forty
families each, being formed. These were taken direct from the ships in
which they arrived to the farms on which they were to settle, where
houses, cattle, seeds, implements, and the food necessary for them between
seed-time and harvest had already been provided. The first three groups to
arrive were settled in three villages of fifty houses each; the next three
were established upon a system midway between the village system and that
of isolated farms; while some of the families of the remaining groups were
established upon isolated farms only. The population of this colony has
been increased by a considerable immigration, although many of the early
settlers, discouraged by reverses and unable to endure the privations of
pioneer life, have withdrawn. At first the houses in Entre Rios were built
of clay, but they had to be reconstructed, and are now entirely of brick.
It was found difficult to supply the necessary water, as wells had to be
bored to a depth of 82 to 98 feet. At Moïseville and Mauricio water was
found at a depth of 7 to 9 feet. These conditions made the installation of
colonists very expensive.
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