282 THE DEVELOPMENT OF RHODESIA. 



ing. The prevalence of horse sickness has hitherto prevented the 

 breeding of horses and mules; but Doctor Koch is convinced that a 

 simple process for immunization is possible much on the lines of his 

 process for inoculation against rinderpest, by which means South 

 Africa has been rid of that disease. If this system of inoculation 

 succeeds, as is anticipated, then there will be a great future for horse 

 and mule breeding in Rhodesia, not only in meeting local require- 

 ments, but in supplying remounts for the British army. 



Of tropical and subtropical products the most important for Eho- 

 desia are rubber, tobacco, and cotton. Rubber is found in abundance 

 in the Sabi Valley, along the Zambezi, and in many parts of Northern 

 Rhodesia. Mr. Lyttelton Gell has discussed the future development 

 of this industry and has advocated the systematic cultivation of rub- 

 ber. Tobacco grows well everywhere, and in the opinion of an Amer- 

 ican expert there is a great field for enterprise, as the diiferent varie- 

 ties of soil are capable of growing the light cigarette tobacco, the cigar 

 leaf, and heavy smoking tobacco. A special report on tobacco culture 

 has been prepared by Mr, G. M. Odium, of the department of agricul- 

 ture of Southern Rhodesia in which he shows, from an investigation 

 of the industry in America and from analogy, that the growing of 

 tobacco will play an important part in agricultural development. 



Another promising industry is the growing of cotton. Samples 

 both of native wild cotton and of that grown from Egyptian seed have 

 been favorably reported on, both by the British Cotton-Growing 

 Association and by the director of the Imperial Institute, London. 

 " I have examined," says Mr. Wolstenholme, in his report (January 

 7, 1904) on behalf of the above-mentioned association, " the samples of 

 cotton grown in Rhodesia now on view at the Liverpool Exhibition. 

 At the present moment they are worth considerably more than the 

 prices affixed to them, these^ I think, being the figures I placed on them 

 some months since. The Egyptian seed lots are worth 8M., and the 

 native seed 8-|d. to 9d. I feel sure that if you can keep up the stand- 

 ard of these samples there is a large fortune in the business. Your 

 Egyptian samples are much superior to the Nyassaland cotton sold at 

 Tid. per pound. Planters from the Zambezi inform me that they 

 could obtain plenty of labor, as the natives from Portuguese East 

 Africa prefer to work cotton to w^orking in Rhodesian mines. It is 

 evidently one of the few countries where the product of the Egyptian 

 seed maintains its characteristics, Peru being the only other I know, 

 though it has l)een tried everywhere. If you have sufficient land and 

 labor available to produce quantity equal to the samples, you probably 

 have more valuable gold mines above than below ground in Rho- 

 desia." If Rhodesia develops her cotton belt, it will be not the least 

 of her services in contributing to the economic prosjjerity of the 

 United Kingdom and the Empire. 



