^e^V vo;;k 



Journal of the Department 

 OF Agriculture. 



Vol. II. JANUARY, 1921. No. 1. 



Published monthly in English and Afrikaans by the Department of Agriculture, 



Union of South Africa. 



Editor: G. W. Klerck. 



Subscription: Within the Union and South- West Protectorate, 5s» (otherwise GSm) 

 per annum, post free, payable in advance. 



Applications, with subscriptions, to be sent to the Government 

 Printer, Box 378, Pretoiia. 



NOTES. 



THE SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTURE. 



The Appointment of Mr. P. J. du Toit as Secretary 

 for Agriculture, has now been confirmed by the Government, 

 as from 1st October, 1920, from which date he has been 

 filling the Office in an acting capacity. 



The Manuring of Vineyards. 



All article on the above subject by Dr. A. I. Perold was published 

 in 1911 and has proved of great value to viticulturists. The publica- 

 tion is out of print, but arising out of Dr. Perold's article the 

 subject has now been exhaustively written up by Dr. Ross, the 

 Research Chemist, at Elsenburg, and Mr. S. W. van Niekerk, the 

 Government Viticulturist, and is published in this issue of the 

 Journal. The ideal system of manuring is one which provides for a 

 return to the soil of at least as much of each of the important plant 

 foods as are removed by the crop ; this will maintain the fertility of 

 the soil from year to year and, indeed, may even increase it. In 

 this respect the requirements of the vine are dealt with at length in 

 the article and also the various fertilizer materials which are available 

 to the farmer and the use thereof, the systems of manuring and the 

 use of lime in vineyards. The authors strongly advise farmers who 

 are wine producers on a large scale to obtain their own experimental 

 evidence by carrying out tests, and in their article furnish plans for 

 manurial experiments, a practice which we commend, for our vine- 

 yard soils are of many different types and a system of fertilizing 

 which may give the best results in one locality may not be the best or 

 most econornical in another. We feel sure that the publication of 

 this article is timely and will prove of the greatest value to viticul- 

 turists to whom we recommend its careful perusal and application. 

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