Along the Orange River. 361 



Capetown have set aside samples of the brandy as samples for Cape 

 brandy farmers to work up to. I can quite believe that this mig-ht 

 be so. 



That night I started for Upington, got as far as Currie's Camp, 

 and on Monday morning, the 17th, reached Upington and attended to 

 correspondence which had been sent on from Pretoria. On the 18th 

 I got a lift in the irrigation engineer's motor-car as far as Louisvale, 

 where I held a meeting in a big store at 4 p.m. There was, con- 

 sidering the busy time with the wheat and the birds, a very good 

 attendance, over 40 plotholders turning up, and they kept me busy 

 for over a couple of hours. I had a very good translator, so that they 

 got the lecture both in Dutch a"nd English. I got back to Upington 

 at 10 p.m. 



On Wednesday, the 19th, during the morning I visited a few 

 places near by, and in the afternoon held a meeting in the bioscope 

 hall. The mayor, Mr. Coppenhagen, presided and was also kind 

 enough to act as translator. This meeting was extremely disappoint- 

 ing as far as attendance was concerned, only 15 farmers being 

 present, although nine days' notice was given. The next morning 

 I left for Potchefstroom on my way to Pretoria, which I reached on 

 Sunday, the 23rd. 



Impressions and Possibilities. 



At first sight the country, excepting the strip of verdure on the 

 islands and the margins of the river, struck me as being a desert 

 waste and almost worthless even for stock, but on inquiry and observa- 

 tion I found that such was not the case. The farms, outside of the 

 influence of the river moisture, with sandy soil and scattered bushes 

 here and there seem almost unfit even for running goats, yet it was 

 about the only place m tlie Union from which really fat stock off natural 

 grazing were being sent to market, and, from the magistrate's 

 statistics at that date, not one animal had been reported as having 

 died from poverty or starvation through the prevailing drought. 

 Farms that four years ago were bought for £3000, and considered 

 dear at that figure, are now being sought after at from £9000 to 

 £10,000, but no business doing. The lands commanded by water, 

 such as the islands and the river bed, and the margins of the river 

 are exceedingly fertile and sell at £100 per morgen in the rough and 

 up to £180 per morgen, according to the amount of clearing and 

 levelling that has been done on them. If laid down to lucerne £210 

 per morgen is the lowest at which they can be obtained. 



The principal crops grown are wheat, lucerne, citrus, and vines, 

 all under irrigation, and in the order set down. Very good crops of 

 wheat are grown, the yield being about 20 bags per morgen; lucerne, 

 at a low estimate, gives 2| tons per morgen with six cuttings in the 

 season, that is 15 tons per morgen per annum of lucerne hay; vines 

 will give anything from 15 to 20 tons of grapes per morgen ; oranges 

 in frostless spots give heavy yields of first-class fruit, so I am told. 



Lucerne and Vines 



are the two cultures that should be encouraged, and from what I 

 have seen of the place will prove the most remunerative and most 

 stable. The whole trend of my lectures and conversations with plot- 

 holders was to that effect, although a great many other things, such 



