The Geeat Deought Peoblem of South Afeica. 129 



])eveloi'ment of Watee Supply foe Stock. 



Too little attention is given to the adequacy oi watering places 

 and to tlieir cleanliness, and stock have generally to be driven long 

 distances to obtain water, the disadvantages of which have already 

 been mentioned. The Commission recommends, therefore, that the 

 vState should encourage farmers in every way possible to improve their 

 facilities for watering stock. 



The State axd Soil Conservation. 



The culminating result of the system of larming practiseil all 

 these years has taken a firm hold in many districts where the soil is 

 rapidly being eroded, and even with a general adoption of the paddock 

 system, soil erosion will continue for many years to come. Therefore, 

 while better methods are being put into practice and the danger is 

 gradually being overcome, the Commission recommends, as one of the 

 most important principles, that the State should adopt its responsibili- 

 ties in connection with the control of soil erosion. i\.s a first step it 

 recommends the immediate appointment of a Eeclamation Ofl&cer who 

 will be attached to the Department of Agriculture, and be entiusted 

 with the duties pertaining to State control of scnl erosion. The first 

 duty of such an officer would be educative, assisting by lecturing, by 

 writing pamphlets, and by personal visits to farms. He would intro- 

 duce co-operati\e experiments in controlling erosion, adjudicate in 

 disputes arising out of matters of soil erosion, assist in questions of 

 roads where they affect paddocking, etc. 



Propacanda and Investigation by the I^epaetment of 

 Agricfltuee. 



The Commission found that farmers in general were unaware of 

 existing loan facilities for fencing ajid othei' purposes, and recom- 

 mends that the Department of Agriculture take steps to bring this 

 knowledge to the door of every farmhouse in the country, and that a 

 sustained propaganda in favour of a natural lite for small stock and 

 against overstocking be undertaken at once. 



The many problems connected with the grazing of stock, the 

 Commission recommends, should form the subject of thorough investi- 

 gation by the Department of Agriculture,- for it is only by such 

 investigation that the best methods of management for the various 

 types of veld can be determined. In this connection many farmers 

 told the Commission how valuable they had found prickly pear in 

 times of drought, while experiments carried out at the Grootfontein 

 School of Agriculture have showed that sheep could be kept alive for 

 260 days on a diet of priclcly pear only. This plant is very abuiidant 

 in many of the drier parts of the Union, ])ut is not generally used, as 

 no cheap, simple method of dealing with the spines with which the 

 " leaves " are covered has yet been evolved. The Commission, there- 

 fore, strongly recommends that the Government should investigate the 

 singeing and other methods which are in use in Mexico and 'J'exas 

 with a view to introducing them into South Africa, for, not only is 

 the prickly pear a source of food but also of water. The sheep 

 mentioned above, for example, drank no Avater during the time oi 

 the experiment and four of them, which were subsequently put on 



5 



