Farming in the Early Cape Days. 533 



encourage the farmer to grow these plants. In 1719 a quantity of 

 indigo seed was sent from Batavia with a man who understood its 

 cultivation. After some years of trial it was found unsuitable as a 

 general crop. In Yau Eiebeek's days the olive was first planted, 

 and for some years after was considered as a plant which would 

 succeed. Simon van der Stel tried the cultivation of this tree and 

 planted the trees in everj- kind of soil and in different positions, hut 

 the results do not appear to have been very satisfactory. Some of 

 the French refugees made experiments with it by grafting on the 

 wild olive of the country. Trial after trial was made, and it was 

 found that while some of the trees grew well, many died nfl: suddenly 

 wdthout cause. In others the fruit dropped off while still young. 

 Trials were made in the growing of tobacco leaf, but were abandoned. 

 A man who had experience in the cultivation and manufacture of 

 tobacco was sent from Amsterdam in 1719. He travelled through 

 what is now the Paarl district, through Stellenbosch, up to Tulbagh 

 and Riebeek Kasteel examining the soil. In the light cf later 

 events it is interesting to observe that he reported that everywhere 

 the soil was unfit for the cultivation of the tobacco plant. It was 

 heavy clay, he wrote, while the tobacco required black sandy soil. 

 If planted in the summer it suffered from heat and drought, whilst 

 the small sprouts were beaten off the stalk by the south-east winds. 

 In the rainy season the plants did not thrive, and another drawback 

 was that a shed had to be erected on every tobacco field to dry the 

 green leaves, which, being j^oung, could not be conveyed two or 

 three miles from one place to another, owing to injury by the motion 

 of the A^ehicles, and thus rendered useless. Several experiments in 

 the manufacture of silk were made, but in 1735 the idea of making 

 it pay was abandoned. 



Wheat Gkowing. 



The production of wheat, the making of wine, and cattle rearing 

 would appear to have been amongst the principal pursuits of the 

 farming community in the colony. The first agriculturists tilled 

 the soil along the banks of the Liesbeek, and as the farmer pushed 

 further inland areas in the Western Province, which are to-day well 

 known as grain-raising centres, were recognized as such in the 

 eighteenth centurj'. In 1684 the first consignment of grain was 

 exported from the country. The farmers were only allowed to sell 

 their wheat to the Company, and it is interesting to see what prices 

 they were paid. In lo6(j they received lis. 8d. per muid, and four 

 years later the Company paid them 7s. 5d. per 100 lb., for there was 

 not sufficient production to provide for the garrison and people, and 

 it was considered that this price would encourage the farmer to 

 produce more. From 1685, for a period of more than thirty years, 

 the average price for wheat was 12s. 6d. per muid, and between that 

 price and about 10s. seems to have been the amount paid during the 

 eighteenth century. 



The wheat was threshed in those days practically in the same 

 manner as it is done in some parts of the country to-day. Within 

 circular enclosure the ground was levelled and hardened, a mud wall 

 being built round this. The sheaves were spread out, and either 

 horses, oxen, or donkeys driven into the enclosure and made to go 

 round and round until the ears had been separated from the stalks. 



