24 About Trees, Shrubs and Climbing Plants for S.A. 



(a) Shelter for stock from cold winds. Many thousands of cattle 

 and sheep are lost each Winter from sheer exposure, and the 

 thing which kills is not the frost of the quiet night, but the 

 biting, continuous cold winds which sweep over all our high 

 veld farms during June, July, and August. Even where 

 death does not follow this exposure, the cattle become thin 

 and weak, not only because of the cold, but also because this 

 bitter wind destroys, by dessication, the grasses on which the 

 animals live. In a few rare cases it may be feasible to house 

 the cattle during Winter, but this is not generally possible In 

 a few other cases, on Natal and East Griqualand farms, there 

 may be natural forest in which the animals will find warmth 

 during the three cold months. Elsewhere there may be some 

 few low veld farms, with warm valleys by way of protection. 

 But these three sets of conditions are not general, the vast 

 majority of farms being exposed all Winter to the bitter 

 mountain winds blowing from proximate or distant snow- 

 fields. 



You Jcnoiv that cattle which are exposed lose condition, 

 stop growing and, often die. And you know that on farms 

 where they are sheltered they keep their condition, although 

 food may be scarce, and that the young stock there grow all 

 the year round. With this knowledge the wise man will say 

 to himself, "I will create shelter by planting trees. I can- 

 not build houses to take my stock into, but I can grow trees 

 which will break the force of the winds which rob and kill, 

 and provide warm nooks in which my animals can live in 

 peace and comfort." 



(b) Shelter from dry winds for Grass lands. We have hinted 

 above that a secondary effect of cold winds is that of dessi- 

 catioii of grasses. The reason is that our winter winds aro 

 exceedingly dry, and, as they sweep over the country, are act- 

 ing like gigantic suction pumps, robbing the soil, through the 

 plants, of all moisture. The grasses turn brown and die 

 gradually, all nourishment is gone and the cattle starve. 

 Here is another thing you know: In sheltered valleys, in 

 corners of the bush, and about the homestead, the grass re- 

 mains green and succulent much longer than out in the 

 open. It is about the homestead only that one finds Fescue 

 grass growing vigorously during August, and the Poa annua 

 forming its mat of greenness. This is not because it is really 

 any warmer in the sheltered spots there is often more 

 actual frost there than outside but because there is shelter 

 from the drying winds which kill. The animals search out 

 such spots as these. 



This drying wind is, more than anything, the cause of the 

 drying out of what should be permanent imported grasses, 

 and the cause, very often, for failures in getting -a " stand " 

 of grass seedlings even in February. 



