Along the Orange River. 359 



ALONG THE ORANGE RIVER. 



A Trip to Upington, Louisvale, Keimoes, Friersdale, 

 Cannon Island, Rooikop Island, Kakanias, and 

 Marchand, 5th-20tli November, 1919. 



Jiy I. Tkibolet, Chief, Division of Hoiticulturc 



In accordance Avitli instructions to proceed to certain districts in the 

 Cape Province for tlic pnrpose of givin<;' advice to farmers o]i citrus 

 culture as well as on other branches of aj^iiculture, 1 saw Mr. Coetzee 

 at his farm " Glen Allan," neai- Prieska, and wilh his assistance 

 airanged an itinerary, etc. 1 reached Upington on Saturday after- 

 noon, the 8th November lasf, mid was met by Mr. Biggs and conveyed 

 across the river to Louisvale, an irrigation settlement of some extent, 

 on which are about 110 settlers, ranging from the raw Englishman 

 io the Dutch bywoner, >vith some capable Dutch farmers interspersed. 

 The Big'gs Brothers appear to be the dominating' factor in Louisvale. 

 I met some of the farmers there, and visited the farms of the Bigg's 

 Brothers and the holdings of Maine, Kruis, and others, TTpington. 

 I spent Monday, the iOth, in looking round the plantations near 

 Cpington. The Mayor, Mr. Van Copi)enliagen, accompanied me to 

 several holdings and introduced me to a number of farmers. Mr. 

 Wither, the magistrate, and Dr. Borcherds also put me in touch Avith 

 some of the principal men about here. 



On Tuesday, the 11th, I took car from Upington to Keimoes, 

 visiting- some farms along the river. I also touched at Cannon Island, 

 wliicli is some 2000 morgen in extent. Six separate weirs, or 

 shutter dams, are here being constructed under the supervision of 

 Mr. Hawkes, of the Irrigation Department ; some of these are well 

 on towards completion, and, when the whole scheme is finished, will 

 give a high-water level, taking in some land on the liver banks and 

 supplying the island with storage waters, as well as giving power 

 for running* a hydro-electric plant for pumping, lighting, etc. I 

 did not make Keimoes that night, but camped at a farm known as 

 (Airrie's Camp. Prom there I visited a few settlements on the 

 islands in the river, notably those of Mr. H. Stein and the Jannasch 

 Brothers. Their cultures are mostly lucerne and deciduous and 

 citrus trees, the latter having been cut to the ground by frost, 

 Stein losing over 1000 and Jannasch some hundreds of trees. The 

 deciduous trees were nlso completely depleted of their fruit by the 

 frost. 



On Wednesday, the 12th. I was fortunate in getting a motor from 

 Currie's Camp to Keimoes, and thence on to Rooikop Island, which 

 l)elongs to a syndicate managed by Mr. Seipker. Grapes and lucerne 

 are the principal cultures, both proving very profitable. Prom there 

 1 visited Mr. Sexton's farm on the outskirts of Keimoes. His planta- 

 tions consist of vines and deciduous fruit trees of various sorts, 

 citrus trees, and lucerne, everything looking very well and in good 

 (irder. His place is, I should say, the show one of the district. Mr. 

 Lenoff's citrus grove of 1600 orange trees was next visited. The 



