Notes. 291 



Wheat: Cost and Economics of Production. 



The Department is anxious to obtain some information relative 

 to the cost of production of wheat, and a scheme similar to that now 

 in operation with maize has been drawn up, a few farmers in the 

 chief wheat-growing* areas being asked to keep records, on prepared 

 schedules supplied by the Department, of all costs concerned in the 

 production tliis season of a crop of wheat on their farms. 



It is anticipated that the information furnished by the records 

 as to the cost of growing and marketing wheat in representative areas 

 will benefit not only the wheat industry in general by indicating the 

 minimum cost per bag at which the crop can be grown under specified 

 conditions, but also to a very great extent the individual farmer, 

 by providing detailed information of the costs involved in producing 

 wheat, and indicating means of avoiding some portion of this expen- 

 diture or of cheapening his methods or otherwise lowering the cost 

 of production in succeeding seasons. 



Schedules have now been addressed to some forty farmers in the 

 Bredasdorp, Malmesbury, Galedon, Paarl, Cape, Humansdorp, 

 Queerstown, Middelburg, Wodehouse, Uniondale, Alexandra, and 

 Albert districts of the Cape Province, and to a few farmers in the 

 Orange Free State and Transvaal. 



It is proposed that an officer from the School of Agriculture serving 

 the area concerned, will visit each farmer participating in the scheme 

 at the beginning of the coming season, in order to explain the method 

 of entering up the labour record sheets and any difficulties that may 

 arise; and at the end of the season, probably November or December, 

 it is hoped that the officer in charge of the investigation, Mr. E. 

 Parish, Technical Assistant, will be able to make a final visit to each 

 farmer in order to collect the information recorded, and work out the 

 cost of production. 



Farmers interested in the scheme are invited to apply for further 

 particulars, and to submit figures they may possess relative to the 

 cost of producing wheat. 



A Market for Egg-plant Fruit and Avocado Pears. 



The egg-plant fruit (Solanum exculentuni) grows readily and to 

 perfection in many parts of the Union, and as there is a considerable 

 demand for it, the Department is anxious to test the overseas market 

 which, once established, should prove a very lucrative outlet for 

 growers of the fruit. It is intended, therefore, to send some trial 

 shipments oversea during the coining season, and the Chief, Division 

 of Horticulture, Pretoria, is anxious to get in touch with growers of 

 the fruit for the purpose of obtaining and making arrangements for 

 the packing and shipping thereof of some first-class samples. With 

 the same purpose in view, it is intended also to send a few shipments 

 of avocado pears. Growers of either or both of these fruits are 

 requested, therefore, kindly to communicate with the above officer, 

 so that the required supply may be obtained, and bearing in mind 

 the benefits to growers which will follow the establishment of a 

 regular overseas market, it is trusted that this request will meet with 

 a ready response. 



For the benefit of growers, it may be added that the varieties of 

 egg-plant fruit recommended by this Department are (purple) New 

 York Purple, Black Pekin, New York Spineless, and (white) Long 

 White. 



