314 Journal of the Department of Agriculture. — Oct., 1922. 



GLEN. ORANGE FREE STATE. 



Short Courses. — Tlie five Short Courses, each of five days' dura- 

 tion, vveic attended hy ]29 individuals. Of this number, 97 were 

 farmers and farmers' wives and daugliters. The substitution of 

 vSpeeial Five Days' Courses for the two or tliree weeks' courses has 

 been fully justified. 



Special Poultry Course. — The S])ocial Poultiy Course of five 

 months commenced on the 24th July, and fourteen students were 

 admitted. The course is a thoroug-h one, and includes allied subjects 

 such as horticulture, field husbandry, eno-ineerinfy, and entomoloo-y. 

 In the practical work on the poultrv plant each stiulent is required 

 to manao'e a miniature ])hnit, lun an incubator, and rear the chicks. 



Training of Teachers in Agriculture. — By Administrator's Notice 

 No. 88 of 1922 it has been arransred that henceforth the diploma of 

 the Glen School of Aj^riculture will be accepted by the Administrator 

 of the Orange Free State as a qualification (equivalent to First Year's 

 B.A. Course) for admissior. to the Higher Primary Teacher's Certi- 

 ficate Examination. The result of this is that students in possession 

 of the Matriculation or Orange Free State School Leaving Certificate, 

 and the Diploma of the Glen School of Agriculture, will be able to 

 obtain the Higher Piimary Teacher's Certificate after one year at a 

 Normal College. The Orange Free State education authorities have 

 for some time past been striving to introduce agriculture into their 

 secondary and rural schools, but they have been faced with a lack of 

 men properly qualified for this work. It is anticipated that the 

 regulation now promulgated will provide the necessary teachers, and 

 the body responsible for the arrangement is to be congratulated on 

 the step taken. 



Municipal Plantations, Kimberley. — The City Engineer at Kim- 

 berley is at present undertaking- " an experiment " which may yet 

 prove of interest and economical importance to the dry parts of the 

 country. He is trying to establish a big plantation of gums (Ro- 

 sfrata) and pines {HaJepensh) on the soils of Kimberley. For the 

 last fifteen or more years enterprising" companies have been trying to 

 establish forests on those " Kalahari soils " — without success. The 

 problem has now been taclded in a scientific way. and there is a great 

 possibilitv that some of those apparentlv arid soils will yet be covered 

 witli verdant forests. It is to be hoped that the laudable exam])le of 

 the Kimberley IMunicipality will instigate tree-]d an tins' in those ])arts 

 of the country wliere at present oidy an occasional mimosa breaks the 

 mo)U)tony of the veld. 



Kaffir River. — The Lectiirers in Engineerino- and Chemistry have 

 recently visited a farm on the Kaffir Piver. They were struck with 

 the permanencv of the water in that little tributarv of the Piet Piver. 

 Altliough the Kaffir Piver has not flowed since the end of last year, 

 it still contains sufficient water to last those farms throug-h many 

 nujnths of drought. By the aid of suction s-os-eng-ines the farmers 

 inigate extensively along the river banks. The chief feature about 

 this river is that it runs on the blue shale bed-rock, with the result 

 that tlie river-bed retains its depth, the water in pools does not seep 

 away, and along- its banks there is hardlv any soil erosion. The big- 

 irrigation scheme higher up along- the river has recentlv been com 

 jdeted. allowing a large area of arable land to come under irrio-atioti. 



