12 JOLENAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. JuLY, 1922. 



latter process has taken place has never lieeu imderstood. Professor 

 Duerden demonstrates how certain conditions prevailing in ostrich 

 chicks at ahout the time of hatchino- afford the true key 

 to the problem. With the aid of diagrams he traces the 

 process by which the feather is formed, which, as is found similarly 

 in respect of the pigeon and the fowl, is actually an overlapping out- 

 growth from the scale. 



" In the course of its development," concludes I'rofessor 

 Duerden, " the ancient ostrich presents us with evidence showing 

 how the horny scales derived from reptiles have become transformed 

 into the glorious plumes of birds, by a complex system of fraying- 

 out of scale upgrowths: and another stage in (he eA^olution of birds 

 from reptiles is thus solved. It is manifest that ostrich plumes, of 

 such great commercial importance to South Africa, and employed for 

 decorative purposes the world over, are really nothing more than the 

 highly specialized frayiiigs of scales." 



Lucrative Pig Farming. 



Among the articles of South African production that bear witness 

 to the progress of agriculture in the Union, bacon and ham must be 

 included, for in recent years our exports of these articles have 

 exceeded importations, a happy reversal of conditions exivsting not 

 so many years ago. But pig farming for the purpose of supplying 

 the raw material to the factory is still in its infancy, and it is only 

 recently that this lucrative form of farming has tiegun to receive 

 proper attention. The foundations of an industry have been laid in 

 the importations of carefully selected pedigree pigs, while greater 

 systematic breeding and feeding, and management generally are 

 being observed than in the past, but the majority of pigs found in 

 the Union are still of an unsatisfactory type, and there is much scope 

 for development. The Union has many favourable conditions for 

 the farming of proper quality pigs in its comparative freedom of 

 disease, abundance of feed, and equable climate. These, together 

 with the small outlay of capital required and the quick returns 

 obtained, offer inducements that cannot be overlooked. For with 

 the growth of population and of closer settlement pig farming will 

 become increasingly popular, and a sign of progress already attained 

 is seen in the organization that has now been established in the 

 interests of pig breeders. 



The matter is of importance to farmers, and will become 

 increasingly so, and a series of articles on pig farming by 

 Mr. Morkel, the Lecturer in Animal Husbandry at the Elsenburg 

 School of Agriculture, has been commenced in the Journal, the first 

 contribution appearing in the December, 1921, issue. Mr. Morkel 

 has specially studied this subject, and his writings are of practical 

 value to farmers interested. In this issue another contribution to 

 the series is published, dealing with that well-known breed, the 

 Large Black, its origin, breed, characteristics, etc. The many 

 points of value of this breed, and the popularity it has attained in 

 the Union for cross-breeding, are discussed, and the results given of 

 experiments carried out at Elsenburg contain much that is of value 

 to breeders. 



