272 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



through, while many oi the indifferent ones practically gave up ostrich 

 farming. 



To this day Albany can produce some of the best feathers grown 

 in South Africa, and can boast of having obtained the highest price 

 for a pair of birds, viz., £1000. Although, in 1883, there were several 

 shipments of ostriches from the Cape to Australia, South America and 

 California, the industry has not thrisen in those countries, and we can 

 still claim almost the monojioly of the feather trade. 



As regards cattle farming, the Albany farmers have, without 

 excej^tion, more to contend with in the form of diseases among cattle 

 than any other district ; pretty well every disease known elsewhere and 

 a good many new ones have beset them, consecjuently the industry has 

 not thriven as it otherwise would have done. Most farmers liave t7'ied 

 to farm a hardy beast, the least susceptible to disease, but whether that 

 beast has been discovered I am doubtful. 



In the early days butter was not worth making except for home 

 consumption ; on the market it fetched about 2d. per lb., and this 

 price did not improve until markets were opened up by the railways, 

 when butter reached as high as 6s. per lb. on the Port Elizabeth 

 market. Then the farmers, to improve their milking strain, impoi'ted 

 a few good shorthorn cattle into this district ; but dairy farming was 

 carried on on very primitive lines — as the milk came from the kraal it 

 was put into a large tub, and when sufficiently full the Kafir woman 

 was set to churn with the dash, and in cold weather she would be all 

 day at it, and have to start again the next morning, before the butter 

 would come. Now, with up-to-date separators, churns and butter- 

 workers, dairying is a much easier branch of farming. 



From the foregoing remarks you will undei'stand some of the 

 great difficulties the .;Mbany farmers have had to contend against in 

 addition to the numerous diseases and pests. The competition in pro- 

 duction with other countries has become most keen, and in order to 

 keep pace the progressive farmer has had to put more energy into his 

 work, and apply all the science he possibly can to his farming opera- 

 tions. In fact, farming is now a science — nor is it, like other prt)- 

 fessions, chieHy confined to one branch ; but it embraces so many, that 

 to be a successful farmer one must possess all the necessary qualities that 

 are a sine qua iion to ensure a successful career. Agriculture has been 

 considered rather a derogatory calling to follow ; but it is not the pro- 

 fession that makes the man, but the man the profession. 



I will conclude mv remarks with an apt tjuolation from Professor 

 Wallace: "I feel cominced, after years of careful study of the ques- 

 tion, that there is little hope for the agriculture of the future in Cape 

 Colony, or in any part of the world, so long as the standarfl of currency 

 remains in the unsatisfactory condition in which it is found to-day. 

 That agriculture will be carried on, and that stock will be continued 

 to be reared in a fashion, goes without saying, whether the world be 

 prosperous or not ; but the (juestion which the currency will determine 

 is, whether agriculture is to assume its rightful place as the ohlest and 

 most honourable among the arts, and l>e practiscMl and supported as in 



