13S Journal of THfi t)EPARtMENT op AGKicuLfuiifi. 



the Cambrian system of other coutiuents. Until Cambrian beds are 

 recognized there can be no thorough comparison of the ancient rocks 

 with the pre-Cambriau of other countries." 



Moulle in 1885 correlated the Malmesbury geological series with 

 the Cambrian formation, and, like E. J. Dunn and others, looked 

 upon the Table Mountain series as lower Devonian. This would mean 

 that the vineyards of the south-western Cape have been established 

 mainly upon soils derived from Cambrian and pre-Cambrian rocks. 



The Manager of the Government Wine Farm, Groot Constantia 

 (which lies partly on granite and partly on Table Mountain sand- 

 stone), pronounced the South Australian soil to be totally different in 

 character from the soils of the Constantia Estate, being very much 

 lighter. It compared very favourably, he said, with the soils further 

 away from the mountain slopes, such as some of those at Berg Vliet 

 and Sillery, but as these form only a small area, his general summary 

 was that the Constantia soils are far heavier than that from Chateau 

 Tanunda and nearer to clay in character. 



Some of the Australian soil was sent by me to Dr. A. I. Perold, 

 Professor of Viticulture at the University of Stellenbosch. Dr. 

 Perold applied some physical tests to the soil and said that he con- 

 sidered it very sandy, fine-grained, and containing a fair amount of 

 silt. " If the elements of plant food are present in fair amount," 

 he wrote, " it should be a ]3roductive soil under favourable condi- 

 tions." But he added that under suitable conditions vines grow in 

 almost any soil. 



I sent a quantity of small stones sifted off from the Australian 

 soil by means of a 3 mm. sieve to Dr. A. L. du Toit, geologist to the 

 Irrigation Department, for an expression of his opinion. He replied 

 as follows : — 



" The sample that you forwarded contains ' large ' fragments of 

 quartz, lumps of a ferruginous material rather like that known as 

 the laterite of the Cape, e.g. small grains of quartz sand cemented 

 with a little ferric oxide, and small pieces of a recent calcareous sand- 

 stone or impure limestone, like those found in the Van Hhynsdorp 

 district, or in the northern Karroo. I think the sample could be 

 matched with soils found in the coastal part of Clanwilliam or Van 

 Ehynsdorp." 



Many of the Cape vineyards are situated on granitic soil, for 

 instance, in the Paarl district and at the base of Table Mountain. 

 The old settlers did wisely when they selected the granite soils for 

 constituting their vineyards; instinctively they selected a geological 

 formation capable of supplying potash to the potash-loving grape. 

 It is, however, not with such soils that the Angaston soil is to be com- 

 pared, as the sequel will show, but with the sandier and poorer soils 

 derived from the Table Mountain sandstone and quartzite. 



The weight of the entire sample brought from xingaston was 

 28.8 lb., and it consisted of: — 



Per cent. 



Stones (larger than 3 mm.) .51 



Coarse gravel (3 to 2 mm.) 1.25 



Soil (below 2 mm.) 98.24 



