486 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



something else altogether with your ground. Everyone who knows 

 this country at all, knows that if artificial food could be obtained 

 at a reasonably low price for some three or four months in the year, 

 the amount of stock the country would carry could be easily doubled. 

 Let any farmer now attempt to put on his farm as much stock as it 

 will carry in the best part of the year, he will lose half of it by sheer 

 starvation when the winter comes on or when the dry season is un- 

 usually prolonged ; find him fodder for a few months, and he might 

 safely double the amount of his stock. I am not simply theorising, 

 though I am no farmer, for the experience of England has proved 

 this clearly enough — with the introduction of root crops for winter 

 fodder, farms in England were enabled to carry a very much larger 

 amount of stock than had previously been possible, and the same 

 result would unquestionably follow in South Africa if artificial 

 feeding for part of the year became practicable. Whether the crop 

 to be raised on the irrigable lands I have advocated should be root 

 or lucerne or what, is not for me to say — that is a question which 

 would soon be solved. But that a market would be readily found 

 for the produce is, I think, clear enough, while an enormous advan- 

 tage to the whole country would accrue from the increased amount 

 of live stock, which could be reared and maintained. 



The second difficulty is the cost. " Sheer nonsense," I can 

 hear some people say, " with the country verging on bankruptcy to 

 even suggest such a thing — of course, it is impossible." If I were 

 seeking a seat in Parliament I should perhaps be ill-advised to put 

 the suggestion in my election address, or to expatiate on it from 

 the hustings, but I trust that an Association for the Advancement of 

 Science is capable of taking a broader view of things than the 

 average elector, and of looking farther ahead than the ordinary rate- 

 payer. It is just when a country is at its worst that it is most important 

 to take stock of its assets and see if the best is being made out of 

 them that could be done. Are we making the best out of our w\Tste 

 land, out of our waste water, out of our waste labour — are we even 

 making the best we can out of our grazing ground? If we are not, 

 should we not then seriously consider how Ave can use them to greater 

 advantage? Suppose such a scheme as I have indicated did mean 

 some increased taxation for a time, could we not possibly stand it, 

 even hard up as we all are? A little less whiskey, a little less 

 tobacco, a few less nights at the theatre, a star or two less on tour 

 from England, a few less new dresses for our wives, our own dress- 

 suits or tall hats a little less up to date — would any or all of these 

 things be impossible to bear if we felt that the ultimate good of the 

 whole country, and the immediate salvation of our destitute poor, 

 demanded it of us ? 



If we had to face a costly war to save our Colony or the Empire 

 from danger, we should not hesitate about the cost ; can we not face 

 the cost for such an object as I have indicated? Or was I right in 

 my pessimistic suggestion that most wars were not philanthropic or 

 patriotic, but commercial? And even if I was right, surely if we 

 can face the enormous expense of war for commercial reasons, we 



