WOOL 185 



Transvaal is about the size of the United Kingdom, and the 

 Orange Free State the size of England. 



In the Transvaal the lower parts of the Bush Veld are 

 infested with the tsetse fly, and neither sheep nor cattle can 

 live there, while on the higher parts of the High Veld the soil 

 is too poor and stony for grass to grow, but with these excep- 

 tions the whole country is grazing land, and very large sheep 

 and cattle farms are characteristic of it. 



The Orange Free State is one large grassy plateau affording 

 ample pasture for sheep and cattle. 



Natal is about two-thirds the size of Scotland, and the 

 inner terrace, the uplands, has excellent grass on which sheep 

 and goats live. 



With regard to the rest of British Africa, the high dry 

 plateaux all afford excellent pasture ; especially is this the 

 case in the eastern part of the Protectorate of Bechuanaland, 

 in Basutoland, in Swaziland, in Matabeleland (i. e. the southern 

 part of Southern Rhodesia), and in the western part of British 

 East Africa. 



In India the sheep pastures are chiefly on the hills in the 

 north-west. 



Sheep are long-suffering, hardy animals. Not only do they 

 thrive on the dry, hot plateaux of Australia and Africa, but 

 they seem equally at home in the cool, moist, ungenial climate 

 of the Falkland Isles. Indeed, here grass and sheep are 

 the only features of the landscape, and wool is the only 

 product. 



In the Dominion of Canada the principal sheep pastures are 

 situated on the eastern slopes of the Rockies and in Ontario. 



SUMMARY. 1 The amount of wool consumed in the United 

 Kingdom shows a steady increase. The average yearly con- 

 sumption amounts to 566 million pounds, which works out 

 to between 12 and 13 pounds per head of the population. 



Our own sheep in the British Isles produce enough to 

 supply us with about 24 per cent, of our requirements, but 

 1 Taking the average of the years 1909-1913. 



