104 



poorest lands on the farm. The oats grown in the districts, from which 

 samples 20 to 38 were collected, had suffered severely from rust. Wheat 

 had not yet been appreciably affected, although signs were not wanting 

 to show that the disease had made its appearance. Barley had not been 

 attacked. 



No. Field Cornetcy. 



39. Groot Drakenstein. 



40. 



41. 



42. 



43. 



44. 



45. 



46. 



47. Klein Drakenstein. 



48. 



49. 



(Privately collected.) 



Farm or place. 

 Donkerhoek. 



Collector. 

 R. D. Koch. 



D. G. Cillie. 

 C. Mayer. 



50. Wellington. 



51. Wagenmakers Vallei. 

 OA. ,, 



53. Groeneberg. 



54. 



55. 



56. 



Reeboks Kloof. 

 Vruchtbaar. 

 Twyfeling. 

 Kilkerran. 



J. W. Mason. 



Eight samples of soil were collected on the farm Donkerhoek from 

 the orchards of the Donkerhoek Fruit Syndicate. Of these, Nos. 39, 40 

 and 41 were collected previous to the orchard being manured. Nos. 39 

 and 40 were clayey soils, and No. 41 a sand. Nos. 42, 43, and 44 repre- 

 sent the same soils after manuring and five years of cultivation. Nos. 

 45 and 46 were respectively a surface soil and a subsoil, also collected 

 on the farm Donkerhoek, and taken to a depth of thirty inches; these 

 two are typical of the veld soil which constitutes two-thirds of the dis- 

 trict. They both represent cool gravelly sands, with a substratum of 

 ironstone. The local opinion was that they were decidedly poor; in fact, 

 farmers in former years used to consider this type of soil quite unfit for 

 cultivation; since then, however, vines have been planted there. It 

 may be said that agriculturists find the best soils of the district to lie 

 along the river, and in the mountain kloofs ; these soils are of limited 

 extent. 



On the eastern bank of the Berg River, in the Klein Drakenstein 

 Field Cornetcy, opposite Simondium, a mixed sample of sandy soil, No. 

 47, was collected. This sample was taken from the surface to a depth 

 of 10 to 15 inches, at four different spots, and a mixture made. The 

 soil in the vicinity is composed of river drift sand to a depth of four 

 feet; below this lies a good black loamy subsoil. The surface soil is 

 naturally poor, but does not represent all the soil in the neighbourhood 

 least of all Simondium, where, according to local opinion, the soil is as 

 good as any in the Western Province for vines and fruit trees. 



