54 Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



The satisfactory returns disclosed cannot, of course, be expected 

 year after year unless the soil is replenished ; the statement does not 

 include any specific item in this respect, so that in drawing our 

 conclusions an allowance must be made under this head in calculating- 

 future returns. 



Thus we see what can be produced in one season on a small farm 

 under high veld conditions with a capital of £2000. And the only 

 complaint the owner made was as to the ground available for grazing 

 being too limited. Even allowing for interest on capital, deprecia- 

 tion, the high value of produce, etc., by halving the gain, we still 

 are faced by a return of £1000 over actual working expenses from a 

 94-morgen proposition. There are some 40 settlers on the same 

 settlement, and whilst the above may be the best return there are at 

 least seven or eight others who could show very similar returns for 

 the season. 



Here are actual figures; what are the lessons? Every profession 

 has its advantages and disabilities, its successes and failures. No 

 doubt some of the failures are due to overwhelming ill fortune, but, 

 given reasonably propitious conditions, the outstanding factor is the 

 man himself. He must know his calling and apply his knowledge; 

 without this knowledge and application he must be content with 

 such reward as he may get here and there, a precarious existence. 



But however energetic and well equipped with knowledge of 

 farming the man may be, the handicap is severe and often insur- 

 mountable if he does not possess the needful capital and material 

 (capital goods) for his operations. A small team of weak oxen and 

 a shortage of implements limit the acreage which can be handled, 

 render deep ploughing difficult, and make thorough cultivation at 

 the right season almost impossible. All operations are inefficiently 

 performed. Thus it follows that the risk of farming under such 

 conditions is considerably increased and the result is a diminished 

 return. Inadequate capital is not fair to the man nor to the reputa- 

 tion of farming as a sound, business proposition. 



While energy, thrift, and sufiiciency of capital are, therefore, 

 essentials to success, the equipment is not complete unless a know- 

 ledge of good farming is added. Agriculture is the most ancient 

 of sciences, and there are certain principles which centuries of 

 practice have shown to be inseparable from good and successful 

 farming. The bounty of virgin nature is soon exhausted. And so 

 in the older countries of the world the millions of people who depend 

 upon the fruits of a soil, limited in extent, have learned that 

 continued sustenance for themselves and their fellow-men can only 

 be won by the most scrupulous attention to the fertility of the soil. 

 This is a subject which demands the first consideration of every 

 farmer, and its preaching in this country becomes more necessary as 

 time passes and the richness of the unreplenished soil is squandered. 

 On many high veld farms the result of continuous cropping is 

 becoming evident. Unless other methods are introduced, disaster 

 will follow a system aptly termed " land robbery." This Depart- 

 ment insistently publishes information as- to the most approved 

 methods of maintaining soil fertility by means of rotation, legu- 

 minous crops, and manure; to this end it advocates the more general 

 introduction of live stock and the conservation of all farmyard 

 manures as a prime necessity. The soil lives, and just as we see to 



