Notes. 101 



Cost of Production of Maize Investigation. 



The first stage lias now been reached of an investigation under- 

 taken by the Department, at the request of the Maize Breeders' 

 Association, the object of which is to determine the cost of producing 

 maize on representative farms in the chief maize-growing districts of 

 the Union. Mr. E. Parish, B.Sc, Technical Assistant, who is in 

 charge of the investigation, has paid an initial visit to all of the 

 forty odd farmers who are participating in the scheme (except a few 

 in outlying districts). It is hoped that a second and final visit to 

 these farmers will be made at the end of the present maize season in 

 order to collect the inforination recorded by them regarding their 

 maize crop. In connection with the work alreadj^ carried out by him 

 Mr. Parish furnishes the following interesting notes: — 



The readiness on the part of the farmers to assist in this in- 

 vestigation by keeping detailed records of all the costs concerned in 

 the production of their maize has been most encouraging. For the 

 most part they have been very keen on the work, and have, moreover, 

 made available the information already in their possession in a most 

 gratifying manner. A few have been difficult to convince that there 

 is no ulterior motive behind the investigation — such as the obtaining 

 of information for income tax purposes or for fixing the price of 

 maize — but these, for the most part, have been ready enough to assist 

 when once convinced that the object is solely to obtain information 

 on the economics of maize production in South Africa. 



The scheme has been so arranged as to include farms varying 

 in productive capacity from 500 to 20,000 bags of maize, and on 

 which the kind of farming varies from "all maize" to "mixed." 

 and, further, on which the intensity of the farming ranges from Ibe 

 most extensive type of maize growing possible, viz., with land at £2 

 per acre, with the field operations limited to ploughing, broadcasting, 

 and harvesting, and with no cultivation, rotation, or manure, and a 

 yield of two bags per acre, to the more advanced type of mixed farming 

 with higher costs of production on selected land worth £10 per acre 

 and a yield of ten to twelve bags. 



The preliminary inquiries now completed have served to 

 emphasize the diversity of the nature of farming, the climate, the 

 price of land, the pay of labour, and the spirit in which the farming 

 is carried on in the different parts of the country. This diversity 

 may be indicated by reference to the climate and to the spirit 

 animating the farming in the various districts. At the end of 

 November the crops in the eastern Transvaal were looking well and 

 grazing was plentiful. In the western Transvaal many districts were 

 suffering from a shortage of rain, while in the south-west, at Wol- 

 maransstad and Leeuwdoorns, practically no rain had fallen, and 

 the land was still unploughed and the maize unplanted. A belt 

 through the south of the Free State was almost as dry, while in the 

 districts of Ladysmith, in Natal, even up to the middle of December, 

 the season had been one of the driest within memory, and only a very 

 small proportion of the maize crop had been planted. In some 

 districts there is a progressive spirit abroad, and the farmers are keen 

 and eager and ready to consider new ideas and methods. In others, 

 farmers are farming as their fathers farmed — vv'ithout planter, with- 

 out cultivator, without rotation, and without manure. 



With this diversity in the factors which affect the yield of the 

 maize crop or the cost of producing it there is consequently a great 



