296 Journal op the Department of Agriculture. 



Farmers' Meeting at Rustenburg. 



Organized by the Division of Tobacco and Cotton, gratifying 

 success met tbe demonstration held at tbe Government Tobacco and 

 Cotton Experiment Station at Rustenbnrg, Transvaal, on the 24th 

 Febrnary last, when over one hundred and fifty farmers, some 

 coming from parts 75 miles awaj^ in the bush veld, and a number of 

 other visitors, including a few from Johannesburg, availed themselves 

 of the invitation of the Department to attend a series of short lectures 

 and of demonstrations on the classes of farming carried on in the 

 district. Rustenburg is the largest tobacco and cotton growing 

 district in the Union, producing last year about four million pounds 

 weight of tobacco and three hundred thousand of cotton lint, and 

 these two crops received special attention. It is likewise foremost in 

 the production of citrus fruit, and this subject was also dealt with in 

 particular. 



Mr. Du Toit, Secretary for Agriculture (having as chairman 

 Mr. G. Otterman, one of the directors of the Magaliesberg Tabak 

 Planters' Yereeniging, Rustenburg) addressed the visitors on certain 

 broad principles of agricultural policy and enterprise. He was 

 accompanied by the Under-Secretary, Mr. G. N. Williams, while Mr. 

 Lounsburj^ Chief of the Division of Entomology, attended for the 

 purpose of giving general information on the work of his division, 

 which forms such an important part of the Department. Mr. 

 Scherffius, Chief of the Division of Tobacco and Cotton, assisted by 

 Mr. Oosthuisen, the manager of the experiment station, and Mr. 

 Tribolet, Chief of the Division of Horticulture, were the principal 

 speakers on the particular cultures with which they are concerned 

 and which are practised so extensively in the district. 



The visitors were entertained at the experiment station, and 

 were shown round by Mr. Oosthuisen, who explained the nature of the 

 work being carried out and the varieties of crops growing there. This 

 ocular evidence, with the presence of several of the Department's 

 officials and the advice they were able to give, added to the lessons 

 of the day. Much good is expected to result, and there is no doubt 

 that the Department's action was fully appreciated by all who were 

 present. 



World Prices and Crops. 



Hastened in a great measure by the upheaval of normal trade 

 movements and the disturbance of economic laws caused by the war, 

 there is a healthy spirit of inquiry in the farming community regard- 

 ing the marketing of produce. The farmer recognizes the necessity 

 of being well acquainted with the prices ruling for his products, not 

 only on the local market, but oversea as well. In the latter respect 

 the information hitherto available has been most meagre, a dis- 

 advantage accentuated in a country of distant reaches remote from 

 sources of information, so that such intelligence as has in the past 

 been available^ is frequently belated when it reaches the farmer, and 

 the world prices, which largely affect the local prices of his produce, 

 may have materially altered. To be of the greatest A^alue, market 



