430 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



unemployed. The thing is incredible, yet literally 

 true. In the last year or two some diminution in 

 this importation has occurred, but it is a standing 

 disgrace to Cape agriculturists and Cape rulers 

 that even one bushel of wheat should have to be 

 imported into a country so naturally adapted for its 

 production. It is not too much to hope that within 

 a few years the Colony will not only cease to import, 

 but actually be able to export at a profit. As to its 

 quality, Cape wheat cannot be surpassed by any in 

 the world ; the better qualities, on the rare occasions 

 upon which they have appeared, have commanded 

 a ready sale in the London market for the finest 

 kinds of pastry flours. Barley is prolific and good ; 

 oats and mealies (Indian corn) also furnish fine 

 crops. 



I have in my mind a well-known karroo 

 farmstead, which supplies an excellent example of 

 what may be accomplished on karroo land by the 

 conservation of water and systematic irrigation. 

 There a mass of foliage now decorates the once 

 barren and forbidding earth. Umbrageous trees, 

 flowering shrubs, roses and other beautiful plants, 

 welcome the wearied traveller. Vineyards, garden- 

 ground, corn and lucerne lands, make the earth 

 rejoice. Hundreds of fruit trees flourish, some of 

 them (fig trees) covering twenty-five by ten yards of 

 ground. Mulberries rear themselves to heights of 

 forty and fifty feet. Oranges, apples, pears, 

 peaches, plums, nectarines, loquats, lemons, quinces, 

 pomegranates, walnuts, almonds, cherries, and 

 strawberries, all thrive amazingly. 



To the credit of the colonists, there appears 

 likely to be a rapid increase in the system of tree 



