180 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. . Part I. 



quantity exported and consumed in Cape Town, as in the case of Madeira wine, greatly exceeds the 

 quantity manufactured. 



1096. The /wom/ is a very productive tree at the Cape ; the tree thrives in the driest and worst soil, 

 and the fruit, though small, is of excellent quality. Dried peaches, apricots, pears, and apples, are not 

 only plentiful, but good of their kind ; dried grapes, or raisins, are not so well managed. Potash is pro- 

 cured from a species of salsola which grows on the deserts ; and with this and the fat of sheeps' tails, the 

 farmers make their soap. The berries of the candleberry myrtle [Myrica ceriferd) supply a vegetable 

 Avax sold at Cape Town in large green cakes, from which odoriferous candles are made. 



1097. The aloe soccotrbia^andperfolita, cover large tracts of ground, and these afford the inspissated 

 juice or resin of the apothecaries. The leaves of the plant are cut off" one by one, and as they are cut, 

 thrown into tubs. In a day or two after they are thrown in, the juice will have run out of itself, when 

 the leaves are taken out and used as manure. The juice is then either clarified in the sun or by boiling, 

 and when dry, cut into cakes and packed up for sale. 



1098. The tobacco grown at the Cape is said to be as good as that of Virginia. Enough is grown for 

 home consumption, which is considerable ; but none for exportation. 



1099. The live stock of the Cape farmers is chiefly oxen, horses, sheep, swine, and 

 poultry. There are only some districts adapted to grazing ; and the farmers who follow 

 this department are in a much less civilized state than the others. The flocks and herds 

 wander over immense tracts, for the use of which a rent or tax according to the 

 number of beasts is paid. At night they are brought home to folds or kraals, which are 

 close to the huts of the farmers, and are represented as places of intolerable filth and stench. 



1 100. The native cattle of the Cape are a hardy, long-legged, bony animal, more in the 

 coach-horse line than fitted for the shambles. They are bad milkers, probably from 

 the bad quality and scanty supplies of forage. 



1101. The sheep are wretched beasts, more resembling goats, with wool that might be taken for frisly 

 hair, and is in fact only used for stuffing chairs, or such like purjwses ; the other parts of the body seem 

 drained to supply the accumulation of fat upon the tail, which weighs from six to twelve pounds. 



11C2. The Merinos, of which there are a few flocks, do very well : they are much degenerated for want 

 of changing, and a proper selection of rams. 



1103. The Ryeland, or Southdown sheep, would be a great acquisition here ; for the Cape mutton forms 

 a detestable food. 



1104. The Cape horse, which is not indigenous, but was introduced originally from Java, is a small, 

 active, spirited animal ; a mixture of the Spanish and Arabian, capable of undergoing great fatigue ; and, 

 as a saddle-horse, excellently adapted to the country. As a draught-horse for the farmer, he is too small j 

 and the introduction of a few of the Suffolk-punch breed, would be a real benefit to the colony, as well as 

 a source of profit to the importer. 



1105. Pigs are scarce in the colony amongst the farmers. It is difficult to say why, excepting that there 

 is more trouble in feeding them ; and they cannot be turned to graze like sheep. Poultry is, for the same 

 reason, neglected. Indeed, bad mutton may be said to be the only food of the colonists. 



1 106. The agricultural implements and operations of the Cape farmers are said to be 

 performed in the rudest manner, and their crops are thought to depend principally on 

 the goodness of the soil and climate. The plough of the Dutch farmers is a couple 

 of heavy boards nailed together, and armed with a clumsy share, which it requires a 

 dozen oxen to work. Their harrow, if they use any at all, is a few brambles. Their 

 waggons (which will carry about thirty Winchester bushels, or a ton weight, and are 

 generally drawn by sixteen and sometimes twenty oxen) are well constructed to go 

 tilting up and down the precipitous passes of the kloofs with safety ; but they have no 

 variety for the different roads. Burchell has given a portrait of one of these impos- 

 ing machines {Jig. 180.). Their method of beating out the corn is well known; the 



sheaves are spread on a circular floor, surrounded by a low wall, with which every 

 farm is supplied. The farmer's whole stock of brood mares and colts are then turned 

 in, and a black man, standing in the centre, with a long whip to enforce his authority, 

 the whole herd are compelled to frisk and canter round till the corn is trampled out 

 of the ear. This is termed " tramping out." The winnowing is performed by 

 tossing the trampled grain and dung in the air with shovels, or by exposing it to the 

 wind in a sieve. 



1107. The agriculture of the Cape appears capable of much improvement, were the 

 farmers less indolent, and more ambitious of enjoying the comforts and luxuries of 

 existence. Barrow is of opinion there might be produced an abundance of corn, cattle, 

 and wine, for exportation ; but that to effect this, " it will be necessary to procure a new 

 race of inhabitants, or to change the nature of the old ones." At the suggestion of 

 this writer, an attempt was recently made by government to settle a number of British 

 families at the Cape, as cultivators; but after they had gone out and remained there 



