The Great Drought Problem of South Africa. 123 



water becomes available for plant requirements, a serious matter 

 when water is the limiting factor in such plant growth. Just as 

 serious also is the increased evaporation that ensues, clue to lack of 

 the protection the otherwise closely growing herbage would have 

 afforded, and which also robs the plant of the moisture it recpiires. 

 And so as the veld is denuded of its covering, the loss of moisture 

 due to increasing run-off and evaporation may become so rapid that 

 in time the total amount of rainfall that is made available is so scanty 

 as to be insufficient to support the original vegetation. When that 

 time arrives rapid deterioration sets in. 



The Commission finds : — 



1. The kraaling and herding of stock lends to a mechanical 

 destruction of the vegetal covering due to trampling. 



2. The lack of a sufficient number of drinking places gives rise 

 to a similar result. 



3. Overstocking not 0]ily leads to trampling, but also to over- 

 grazing. 



4. Overgrazing tends to destroy perennial fodder plants and 

 encourages the growth of annuals and plants useless for grazing pur- 

 poses. In this way the grazing yield of a season is diminished and 

 depends more and more on frequent rains. 



5. The effect of overgrazing is very serious when it occurs during 

 the main growing season. 



6. The farmer should therefore endeavour to reduce intensive 

 grazing at this period. 



7. This he can do if his farm is divided into paddocks, for such a 

 sub-division permits of the best possible distribution of the stock over 

 the farm, and allows of absolute rest for paddocks that require it. 



8. Complete grazing control is the first essential of a system of 

 stock farming that will prevent deterioration of the vegetal covering. 



9. Animals in poor condition graze more destructively than if in 

 good condition. 



10. Reserves of fodder for use, when grazing is scarce, are very 

 valuable, not only for keeping stock alive, but also for preventing 

 overgrazing at the critical time when vegetal growth is very active. 



11. Even if no permanent damage is done, overgrazing at the 

 period of active growth seriously diminishes the following yield of 

 fodder. 



12. Deterioration in the vegetal covering of the driei- parts of the 

 Union has been brought about, mainly through the practices of kraal- 

 ing, herding, and overstocking, together with an insufficient number 

 of drinking places, and overgrazing. 



Soil Erosion, 



The processes outlined above that are leading to the destruction 

 of the country's natural herbage and to periodic drought losses, also 

 lead to soil erosion. There is erosion of cultivated lands, a matter of 

 extreme importance, as well as of the veld soil, but the Commission 

 confines itself to the latter, pointing out that the soil of South Africa 



