712 Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



WHEAT-STRAW AND ITS VALUE TO THE LAND. 



J>y C'liAS. 1'. JiKiTz, M.A., ]).Sc., 1^M.( ., A<^ri(uliiiral Kescaich 



C]iemi.st , Cai)ei()wn . 



The fact that .straw possesses a value as fodder was patent as far 

 back as Biblical times, but even its worth as manure has been known 

 for a considerable period. Centuries ago it was customary for land- 

 owners to place an embargo on the removal of straw from their lands 

 by tenants. The latter were bound to consume on the farm all the 

 straw that they produced and to return it to the land. 



The Departmental Committee on wheat-growijjg, whose report, 

 with summaries of evitlence taken in pra(tticaily every distric-t where 

 wheat is growii witJiin the Union (U.G. 42 — '19), was recently pre- 

 sented to Parliament, took occasion on its tour through the ITnion to 

 inquire of various gatherings of farmers what the practice in their 

 respective areas was with regard to utilizing the straw which 

 accumulates at every harvest from the cereal crops. The committee 

 repeatedly impressed on wheat-growers, particularly where it was 

 found that the grain lands were lacking in humus, the desirability 

 of returning the straw to the land, either directly by ploughing it 

 in, or indirectly by feeding to the live stock or using it as bedding 

 for the cattle and then applying the manure to the soil. 



Below will be found a summary of the evidence given in this 

 connection, in respect of most of the divisions of the two extensive 

 areas in respect of which the committee considered inquiries of the 

 above character specially necessary, namely, the south-western part 

 of the Cape Province and the main area of the Transvaal. The 

 districts most concerned in the south-west Cape are Ceres, Tulbagh, 

 Caledon, Malmesbury, Swellendam, and Riversdale ; and in the 

 Transvaal the same question was raised in the Districts of Marico, 

 Pustenburg, Potchefstroom, and Middelburg. 



In the Malmesbury district good results have in several cases 

 resulted from returning chaff to the land before fallowing. Evidence 

 was giAtn before the committee to the eff'ect that this practice had 

 restored lands which had become too exhausted to grow wheat. In 

 addition to the chaff' long straw was being returned to the soil, and 

 was found better suited for the lieavier than for the lighter soils. The 

 rate at which chaff or straw is applied to the soil in this district is 

 about one ton per acre. The surface of the land is first pretty well 

 covered with the straw, which is then allowed to dry on the land 

 before being ploughed in. This practice is becoming more and more 

 common throughout the district. In the sub-district of Darling, a 

 part of the Malmesbury district, all the straw, the committee was 

 informed, goes back on the land in the form of kraal manure. The 

 evidence given in another part of the same division, namely, in the 

 Moorreesburg district, was to tlie effVct thai the application of si raw 

 nm\ <]!nff to the hud, bgth - directly aud through the kraals, is a 



