Departmental Activities. 413 



Extension Work. — Persons otherwise well informed often have 

 little or no personal knowledge of the Schools of Agriculture in their 

 area and the facilities they offer. Probably one of the most effective 

 ways of keeping' the farming public informed of the best methods 

 to be followed and bringing them into touch with the local 

 agricultural education and research institution and organizing them, 

 is by means of the country agent. At any rate it is maintained in the 

 United States that the country agents have been the most eft'ective 

 means of establishing a contact between the scientific workshop and 

 the farm. In South Africa country agents have not yet been ap- 

 pointed, and other means have to be employed for making known the 

 facilities offered in the way of education, research, and advice by the 

 various Schools of Agriculture. At Glen every opportunity has 

 recently been taken of making visitors to Bloemfontein acquainted 

 with tile work and function of the school. In May last a party of 

 70 members of the Dutch Reformed Synod were invited to Glen, and 

 in September 150 members of the Presbyterian Church Congress 

 were shown the various sections with their stock and equipment. 

 Towards the end of the month 70 delegates of the Associated 

 Chambers of Commerce visited Glen and left it equipped with some 

 of the properties of a country agent ; it is hoped that they will make 

 full use of their exceptional opportunities of making known the 

 school and the facilities it offers. Commerce and agriculture are 

 mutually interdependent, and any progress in agriculture is reflected 

 to an equal extent in tlie commerce of the land. 



The Value of Subsoil Inspection. — Two ([uestions which have 

 always to be answered by farmers who send samples of soil for 

 analysis or who want advice on a particular soil, are: "How deep 

 is the soil?" and " What is the nature of the subsoil?" It is sur- 

 prising that a large number of farmers cannot answer these questions 

 with any certainty, even if asked with reference to a cultivated soil 

 on their own farm. It has often happened that the chemist, when 

 visiting farms, is shown a patch of lucerne that will not thrive or an 

 orchard which is dying off, or " something wrong " with one or other 

 deep-rooted crop. Of course the first questions he asks the farmer 

 (if necessary) are the two mentioned above ; and more often than not 

 the solution of the problem has thus been found. So much of thd 

 agricultural value of a soil depends on its depth and the nature of its 

 subsoil that subsoil inspection can never be too strongly recom- 

 mended. It is obvious that for a deep-rooted crop there must be a 

 deep soil, or the subsoil must be sufficiently penetrable and contain 

 sufficient moisture, air, and available plant-food to allow of proper 

 root development. Many trees and other plants will send their roots 

 deep into a limestone subsoil, whereas the same root will not penetrate 

 into the soft Imt " dead " and compact clay subsoil found beneath 

 many soils. Similarly a gravelly subsoil might be more desirable 

 than one consisting of fine silt and clay, and rich in plant-food but 

 not sufficiently aerated. Questions about soils which " dry out 

 rapidly " are often asked. In most cases the cause has been traced 

 to the nature of the subsoil. To know the physical nature of a soil 

 down to its bedrock foundation is worth more than the results of a 

 chemical analysis of the first few inches of surface soil. 



