Depaktmental Activities. 113 



Lecturing Tour. — It has been arranged to devote a portion of 

 the winter vacation to a comprehensive tour of the Eastern Province, 

 during which the undermentioned towns will be visited and lectures 

 delivered by the officers mentioned. Farmers will thus meet the 

 various technical officers on the staff of the school, who will be avail- 

 able to satisfy inquiries on various subjects of interest, including dairy- 

 ing, crops, and diseases in stock : Cradock and Somerset East, 

 Lectures in Sheep and Wool and Veterinary Science ; TJitenhage, 

 Lectures in Botany (diseases in crops); Willowmore and Oudtshoorn, 

 Lectures in Ostriches and Entomology (parasitic disenses); and 

 Graaff-Reinet, Lectures in Botany (diseases in crops). This innova- 

 tion has received encouraging and enthusiastic support, which 

 indicates that there is a growing appreciation of the services which 

 schools of agriculture render to the community and an increasing 

 need for co-operation between schools and farmers' associations. A 

 word of thanks is due to the secretaries of those associations who, in 

 spite of difficulties of communication, have succeeded in organizing 

 successful meeting's at comparatively ishort notice. 



Extension Work. — The Research Chemist (Mr. A. Stead) has 

 visited various farmers in the Graaff-Reinet District in the course of 

 an inquiry as to the extent to which the aloe may prove possible as 

 a food for stock in times of drought, and has collected interesting 

 data. It is proposed to carry out experiments with aloes similar to 

 those with the prickly pear which have been carried out at Grootfon- 

 tein. 



Other officers of the school have been engaged in lectures and 

 demonstrations embracing a large range of subjects and including the 

 following: " The Blow-fly," " Nodular Worm," and " Ear Tick," 

 "Construction of Pit Silos," "Sheep and Wool." The Lecturer in 

 Poultry, Mr. A. Owen John, attended shows at Queenstown, Aliwal 

 North, and the challenge show at Port Elizabeth in the capacity of 

 judge. At Queenstown there were 800 entries, while the Aliwal North 

 show indicates that considerable progress is being made by breeders 

 in that area. There were 830 entries at Port Elizabeth, including 

 some very fine exhibits, notably in the Utility White Leghorn and 

 Rhode Island Red classes. Mr. John also visited various settlers in 

 the Sundays River Valley. 



Greater Itinerant Activity. — The value of meetings with 

 members of farmers' associations both to the farmers and the lecturers 

 is fully realized, and it is a matter of regret that, owing to time 

 occupied in the instruction of some 80 students at the school, the 

 opportunities ofiered for this work are not as frequent as could be 

 desired. Applications for assistance in this connection are always 

 welcomed by the school, and every endeavour is made to meet them, 

 but this is not always possible owing to difficulties in the train service 

 and long distances involved, especially in cases where prolonged 

 absence from Grootfontein is involved. It is confidently anticipated, 

 however, that next year will see a marked improvement in facilities 

 for extension work as a result of contemplated changes in the syllabus 

 of the school designed with the object of releasing lecturers to a 

 greater extent for research and itinerant work in the area served by 

 the school. 



