THE FARMING INDUSTRIES OF SOUTH AFRICA.* THE author of this
interesting and useful book is already well known to us through his work on the farm live-stock of Great Britain, and also by those on Indian agriculture and the agricultural resources of Australia and New Zealand, both of which were compiled from studies made on the spot. He has also studied the same subject in Canada, the United States, Greece, Italy, and Egypt, and is, therefore, well qualified to speak from his professorial chair at Edinburgh, and to give his carefully weighed opinions to us through the press. The present work is the result of a visit undertaken at the invita- tion of the Government of Cape Colony, and during the author's tour of investigation, which lasted four months, copious notes were daily taken in duplicate, and one copy mailed home each week as a guarantee against loss of infor- mation should any accident occur to the original notebooks. When the tonr was completed it was decided that the state- ment to Government, as well as the recommendations of Professor Wallace as to improvements, should appear in an
• /arming Industries of Caps Colony. By Robert Wallace, ELS., F.CJ3., 11.11./3. Edea. ho. London: P. S. Ring and Son.
illustrated volume rather than in the unattractive form of a Blue-book. And as this volume, with its excellent letterpress and numerous maps and photographs, is published at the very low price of 10s. 6d., it is brought within the means of all who are practically interested in the farming affairs of South Africa, and should, we think, produce excellent results in time if carefully studied by them.
Before proceeding to notice special points in the work we may mention that the Professor tells us that he has been frequently asked the questions,—Is Cape Colony a great agricultural country ? and is there a hopeful future for the farming industries of South Africa P which queries cannot be answered by a categorical " Yes " or " No ; " and that in his five hundred pages of letterpress stating the case as he found it in 1895, he repeatedly says " Yee " and as frequently "No "to them because the future prospects of the agriculture of the Colony depend upon outside influences which have nothing to do with the energy or skill of the farmer, and the stock-rearing capacity or the grain-producing qualities of the soil. And in the first place he considers that there is little hope for agriculture, whether at the Cape or else- where, so long as the standard of currency remains as it is to-day. We give the Professor's opinion, which will be cordially agreed to by some, and probably condemned by a much larger number, in his own words :—
"That agriculture will be carried on, and that stack will con- tinue to be reared after a fashion, goes without saying, whether the world be prosperous or not ; but the question which the cur- rency matter will determine is, whether agriculture is to assume its rightful position as the oldest and most honourable among the arts, and be practised and supported, as in the Boman Empire of old, by the best in the land, or be left, as by the Greek philosophers and soldiers, to serfs and slaves. Are the agri- culturists of the future to occupy that independent and honour- able position among their fellow-workers in other spheres which they have done in times past, or are they to be the hewers of wood and drawers of water to the rest of the community ? These are the points which the course taken by the nations in the great problem of the world's currency will settle for the farmer, however skilled or unskilled he may be."
But while he waits for the solution of this vexed question there is something to be done by the farmer at home and abroad. Mr. Horace Plunkett has enlightened us a good deal about home affairs, and Professor Wallace points out what can be done in South Africa should that distressful country attain to a peaceful condition, without which industry can have no chance of success. In the first two chapters he gives his observations on the route taken,—i.e., through the Western Province, the Free State, the Transvaal, Natal, and the Eastern Province of Cape Colony. In the next the geological, oroigraphcal, and land-surface features are dealt with, and these are illustrated by special maps. The three next chapters deal with floral features, grass, green forage plants, and weeds—other than grasses—in arable land. After this we come to the various agricultural processes carried on, such as forestry, viticulture, and fruit-growing, and then to ostriches and ostrich-farming—wild game—the management of cattle, horses, and mules, goats and goat-farming. sheep and sheep- farming, and also swine. Then Professor Wallace treats of population, labour, wages, irrigation, implements and
machines ; field crops, rotations, and manures ; winding up with agricultural education and the Agricultural Department of Government. From this list it will be seen that the whole matter is dealt with exhaustively.
But though the book is mainly scientific and technical, the general reader will find very much to interest him in it,—the description of the Boers, for instance, and their ways, and that of the Cape boys ; also the poor whites, whose position is so desperate that, as the author says, a South African Lady Dufferin is wanted to organise a society of female workers who would be willing to take their reclamation in hand,— " There are," he remarks, " many gentlewomen with Florence Nightingale instincts and determination, both in Cape Colony and in Great Britain, whose upbringing has admirably qualified them for such work, who would be delighted to engage in it if they were made aware of the necessity for it, and shown means by which it could be accomplished. The difficulties are no doubt great, owing to the wide distribution of this unfortunate class, but the prospect from the humanitarian standpoint is also great, and the work could not fail to be interesting—all the more interesting that it would Die to a large extent among the young and rising generation, who would in their turn influence more effectively their parents and elders than any outside society of enthusiastic workers in well doing."
The market-gardeners—descendants of poor German and British immigrants—are a very interesting and prosperous class. Some have actually become landowners or overseers on large farms. But the majority occupy two-morgen (four acre) garden lots, which they rent with neat but unpretentious cottages at about 21 per month. The soil is rich, so that they can grow vegetables abundantly, and these they deliver at the Cape Town market two or three times a week by their own one-horse carts, returning with a load of horse manure. These people work hard, bring up their children well and educate them, teaching them also to work with their own hands so that a very prosperous and useful section of the community is thus being reared. To people with the requi- site knowledge and some capital, fruit-growing offers great inducements, and English fruit-growers who cannot make profit at home are invited to come to the Cape. The chapters on this subject, one of them by a British resident of thirty years, are most interesting. It would seem that with prudence and good methods of working success would be certain. The new-comer is advised not to start at once, but to bank his capital, spy out the land, and obtain experience in Cape ways and Cape seasons by taking a situation with some one who is already the owner of the land on which he lives. The object would be to produce fruit of excellent quality for expor- tation to Europe. This fruit must belong to varieties already known to the market, and be sent in prime condition and in large quantities of uniform quality. Nothing inferior will pay. South Africa possesses exceptional advantages for this trade. It is on the other side of the Equator from either Europe or North America, and fruit ripens at seasons of scarcity in Northern parts, and the only competitors would be the Australians, who, however, are at one-third greater distance from England. A notable point about this industry is that young fruit-trees of the right sorts can be had on the spot. There is no need to bring them from England. Cattle, native and imported, are most fully dealt with. We are told that both Kaffirs and Hottentots show great attachment to their cattle, and by studying their habits most minutely acquire great skill in their management. Both these races are believed tc have come from North Africa, bringing their cattle with them, and it is not therefore astonishing that these belong to the same species as European cattle, with which also they have been at different times crossed. The best breeds have been largely imported, too, of late years, and the crosses show naturally more vitality and resistance to disease than do the pure-bred animals. A curious and unthrifty habit prevails as to milking while cows are running in the veldt, where they daily travel as much as seven miles to feed and back again for water. They are brought to the kraal in clumps by boys, the calves getting their only suck at the same time. The calves are kept apart from their mothers, and as each cow is tied to a post in turn, her name is called out, and a Kaffir boy, know- ing each one's calf at sight, cuts out the one wanted from the mob, and lets it take the first milk. When the cow gives it freely the calf is driven back, and the milker takes the middle portion of the milk, letting the calf have the last and better portion. It is believed that the native cow will not give her milk unless the calf be there, and should it die its skin has to be stuffed to make a dummy and prevent the cow from going dry. But, as Professor Wallace reminds us, it is not so long since the " tulchan" or dummy calf was in use in Scotland, and indeed he finds many reminders of Scotch husbandry among the peoples of South Africa. We might say much, very much, more about this interesting and useful book, to which only careful reading can do justice, and those who care for its subject will find its study well worth their while.
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