15.— HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FARMING IN ALBANY. 

 By \y. H. Pkjott. 



Albany may rightly be called the Land of the Settlers. The idea 

 of the settlement originated with Lord Charles Somerset in the year 

 1817. He was so impressed with the capabilities of this part of the 

 country, as possessing su many advantages for colonisation that he 

 wrote to the Home Go\ernment the following glowing account : " A 

 tract of country upon which to emplcjy and maintain a multitude of 

 settlers ; a most fruitful soil, in the most healthy and temperate climate 

 of the universe, where cold is never so piercing as to congeal water and 

 where the rays of the sun ai'e never so fierce as to render exposure tt> 

 them injurious and to impede the usual labours of the field. No coun- 

 try could produce better wool and wheat ; tobacco and cotton could 

 be cultivated to the greatest advantage ! " Besides this, the country 

 was represented as unrivalled in the world for its climate, natural 

 beauty and fertility, and when the House of Commons was asked for 

 a vote for £50,000 for the encouragement of emigraticm to the Cape 

 there was no hesitation in granting it. The eagerness and anxiety 

 of individuals to emigrate to South Africa was unbounded, there being 

 no fewer than 90,000 applicants, %\hilst the number accepted was about 

 5000. 



Twentj'-six vessels were chartered to convey the emigrants out, 

 and they were landed in Algoa Bay in 1820. Among the heads of 

 parties were gentlemen of high acquirements and of good family con- 

 nection, also retired military and naval oflficers. The parties them- 

 selves comprised all kinds of handicraftsmen and husbandmen. They 

 arri^"ed in Albany in a most favourable season ; all seemed fair and 

 beautiful. Little did they know of the almost insurmountable dif- 

 ficulties and drawbacks that were to beset them. The fine grassy 

 dales variegated with bush and forest everywhere exhibited to the eye 

 most enchanting views, and the appearance of this part of the country 

 appealed to them far more than the Karroo veld did, and those of us 

 who know the old country can well understand this preference. Per- 

 sonally, when I first saw the Karroo I wondered what the stock lived 

 on. The Scotch settlers were more fortunate in their selection, on 

 Baviaans River, as their part of the country proved far more suitable 

 for stock raising. 



If any people ever began in real earnest the necessary operation 

 for causing mother earth to 3'ield the needful supplies with which she 

 is wont to bless the industrious, the British settlers in Albany, with 

 few exceptions, did so. Wheat was extensively sown and crops looked 

 most promising, until the ears began to form, when they were attacked 

 by rust and spoilt. 



The crops proved a failure for three 3'ears, and it was then that 



