IIG Ki;pc>nT S.A.A. Ai»\ axcement of Scii:Nri:. 



except by a few of tlie most enligliteiied ffirmei-s. Tlie arguments that 

 ha\e been advanced in favour of the practice need not be discussed 

 here. l)ut what does concern us is the (Hsastrous effect on the country. 

 It has been truly described as one of tlie most pernicious customs ever 

 in^ented by man. Tlie surface soil of a "burn '" becomes so baked and 

 hard that the rainfall runs off' as if from a roof. Very little soaks 

 in, and where ploughing on ordinary grass land can be done after a 

 moderate I'ain, it is quite impossible on a "burn." Veld burning is 

 a very potent factor in the drying up of springs and in causing dongas, 

 both of which contribute toward the desiccation of the country. The 

 formation of many dongas is of quite recent date, and the author 

 knows a case near Lady Grey in the Cape Colony where one about 

 120 ft. wide and 30 ft. deep has been formed within the last twenty- 

 five years. The Brak Hiver. opposite BritstcAvn, which fifty years 

 ago was a marshy depression full of long grtiss and bushes, now runs 

 through a donga 200 ft. wide and some IJ^ ft. deep. Near Queens- 

 to\\ n there are considerable tracts that a few years ago were covered 

 with luxuriant grass, but are now completely denuded of vegetation, 

 and so seamed and rutted as to be dangerous to man and beast. The 

 same sort of thing occurs in the Transvaal, and some astonishing 

 examples are to be found in the Barberton district. There they eat 

 right into the sides of the mountains, and there is one remarkablo (-ase 

 on the old Lvdenburg road, where two dongas are cutting clean 

 through a liigh range of hills. In 1905 there was just the widtli 

 of the roadway between the two perpendicular faces. In man}- parts 

 of the High Veld in the Transvaal flongas are becoming so serious as 

 to demand earnest and imme^liate attention. Deep shiifi^* in many 

 parts of South Africa are now running through beautiful level ground 

 that used to be fine vleisj covered with thick grass, reeds and rushes; 

 but after the sliiifs formed the vieis dried up, and now the irrigation 

 engineer is required to provide a new water-suppl}' in the place of the 

 one that has been lost by the recklessness of man. The effect of grass 

 burning on these r-fpis is very remarkable, and the author lias .seen a 

 Hei so wet and boggy that one could not walk across without getting 

 at least ankle deep in soft mud : but about three days after it had 

 been swept by fire a man could walk over dry shod, and in about 

 foui'teen days it carried a horse safely. This is a well-known fact, and 

 many Dutch farmers carefully avoid burning in the immediate vicinity 

 of their springs. 



This action of fire is well illustrated by the experience of the Cape 

 Orchard Company at Hex Kixei'. The mountain stream supplying 

 water for driving their Pelton wheel gives 60 H.P. in summer, but in 

 Decembei', 1904, fire destioyed the vegetation in the kloof from which 

 the stream gets its supply, and three days later the discharge had 

 become .so reduced that it could only pr(tduce 20 H.P. 



Increase of 'I'emiierature and Krapcrdtum. — Two important factors 

 in the desiecation of a country ai'e high temperatures and rapid 



l>r!(iiia;.:e ('liaiiiieis. t Danqt. swamiiy moum 



