154: Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



summer, cold and somewhat bleak in winter. Stock of all kinds do 

 well, and little trouble is experienced on account of disease. The 

 country is well covered with grass, but trees and scrub are con- 

 spicuous by their absence, excepting- round the homesteads, where 

 they api)ear to thrive so well tliat one wonders vxhy, in such a bleak 

 winter area, nothing- has been done in the way of alforestation or the 

 jjlanting" of shelter belts for the protection of cattle and sheep. 

 Owing to the severity of the winter lambing- does not take place until 

 October, when the weather is not only warmer but the veld good and 

 the sheep in excellent condition. Clean flocks are shorn in February, 

 scabby ones in November. There would appear to be a good number 

 wlio shear during the latter month. 



The average rainfall is about 24 inches. Januaiy, February, and 

 March are the rainiest months. vSnow usually falls in winter, and 

 September generally yields enough rain to ensure a good crop of wheat 

 and adequate grazing for the lambing ewes. 



The climatic conditions on the whole would seem to be particularly 

 suited to wheat, which is the principal crop. Barley, oats, rye, and 

 ])otatoes are also grown. The last-named crop is a somewhat recent 

 introduction, due to Mr. Brumberg, the storekeeper, postmaster, and 

 produce dealer at Witkop. It would appear that the potato crop had 

 set the Witkoj) farmers thinking. They had foimd that to grow 

 jxjtatoes before wheat meant a considerable inci-ease in the yield of the 

 latter croj). All woe convinced on that jioint. 



But it would appear that all did not wish to grow potatoes, 

 because that crop calls for a greater amount of tillage than any other 

 crop they had grown hitherto. The farmer wanted also to introduce 

 the potato effect on all the wheat he grew, but he could not do this 

 l)ecause of the impossibility of putting as much land under potatoes one 

 year as he desired to sow to wheat the next. Doubtless, the knowledge 

 that legumes possessed the i)ower of enriching the soil had spread to 

 Witkop, and nothing was more natural than io suspect the potato to be 

 endowed with similar power. 



Thus it came that the Witkop farmers asked us to investigate their 

 soils and tell them what fertilizers would seive the same jjui-pose as 

 the potato crop and give less trouble. 



Potato and Wiikat C'ilture. 



Lands intended for potatoes are ploughed in March. Xew lands 

 are ploughed shallow, old lands deej). They are then allowed to lie 

 exposed to the winter weather until August, when they are again 

 l)loughed, cross-ploughed, and harrowed. The potatoes are planted 

 in ^N'ovember, the sets licing dropped into furrows made by the plough 

 as the land is being ploughed for the fourth time. Probably, also, 

 the land is harrowed. The usual distance between the sets is 10 inches 

 in and 28 inches between the lOws. The favourite varietv is " Up-to- 

 d.ite." 



Frequently, during the growing season, the crop is tilled for the 

 ])urposp of keeping down weeds, and, finally, it is lifted with forks 

 from about May onwards. 



It is evident that the laud for wheat following ])otatoes has 

 received very thorough tillage, not only in the preparation for the 

 l)<)tato crop, but also throughout the period the latter occupies the 



