158 Journal of the Department op Agriculture. 



Wlien virgin this soil gives a seven-fold return of potatoes in a 

 good season. If potatoes are grown the following year the yield would 

 not be more than three-fold. 



Wheat grown after the first crop of potatoes gives a maximum 

 return of eighteen-fold, dropping to ten-fold the next year, and 

 becoming so low the year after as to l^e unpayable. Rye is generally 

 sown at this stage, and yields about fifteen-fold. After one or two 

 crops of rye luive been taken the land is allowed to revert to pastvirage, 

 and soon becomes covered with blauwzaad gi-ass, blaiiwbloemetjes, and 

 Cape clover, which afford very good grazing. With regard to the 

 vegetation just mentioned, this only applies to sand-bult soil derived 

 from red beds. 



lite mixed turf is a colluvial soil lying at the lower slopes of rather 

 steep hills. It is similar in mechanical make-u]) to tlie sand-bult type, 

 but it is fairly rich in organic matter. It gives not only better yields, 

 but it lasts longer under cultivation. 



Virgin land of this type will give a ten-fold return of potatoes, 

 followed the next year by a thirty to forty-fold return of wheat. If 

 potatoes follow, the yield would decrease by about one-fifth of the 

 virgin yield. Wheat would now yield no more than from fifteen to 

 twenty-fold, and this return would be maintained for several years, 

 provided potatoes and wheat alternate. It may be mentioned that 

 potatoes do not give satisfactory returns if grown two years in succes- 

 sion on the same land. 



On virgin land one bag of oats will give 1500 bundles weighing 

 about 2T00 lb., dropping to 1000 bundles the third year, after which 

 there woubl ap])ear to be no further decline. 



[The next instalment of this report will deal with the geology of 

 the area, the chemical and mechanical composition of the soils, and 

 suggestions for their manurial treatment.] 



Women's Work. 



Each country has its own problems and conditions; "distance 

 lends enchantment," but closer acquaintance sometimes brings into 

 view the sterner realities of a country, and, possibly, as time and 

 space divide us from the land we have left its own problems seem less 

 formidable and in contrast its privileges are more to be desired. That 

 this is the experience of a lady who received a Government bursary 

 for study in Domestic Science, and is now at the University of McGill, 

 Canada, is evident from letters written to her mother in South Africa. 

 Avhich we have been permitted to see. She writes: — " ... I 

 would never like to live in this country, because there are no natives 

 to do the dirty work, and one has to do it all oneself. The daughters 

 of the farmers here work just as hard as the men. They have to do 

 all the milking, and have to help with the ploughing, and as for 

 taking out the potatoes and onions, the girls have to do it all. Thank 

 heaven I am a South African!" 



