114 



water was plentiful, even though the comparative poverty of the soil in- 

 volved the application of much manure in order to secure good results. 



Beyond the fa.rm Droge Rug, where sample No. 22 was selected, the 

 country becomes very hilly and rugged; certainly not suited for sowing, 

 it is more adapted for pastoral purposes, especially for goats and sheep. 

 Keeping along the main road to Riversdale, several good farms were 

 passed over the soil bearing great resemblance to that at Droge Rug 

 until Hooge Kraal was reached, where No. 23, a very good red " Karroo " 

 soil was collected; a portion of the land represented by this sample was 

 at the time well under cultivation with cereals. At Tartouwa, No. 24 was 

 sampled, a very poor soil from old lands lying waste and declared to be 

 unfit for further cultivation. The sample is quite typical of many of the 

 surrounding farms; physically the soil may be defective owing to its 

 coarseness of texture, but chemically its phosphoric oxide is certainly very 

 low, and it yields less nitrogen than any other soil collected within this 

 division. 



The results of the analyses of the Riversdale soils are given in the 

 following table: 



(Method III.) 



No. 



1. 



2. 



3. 



4. 



5. 



6. 



7. 



8. 



9. 

 10. 

 11. 

 12. 

 13. 

 14. 

 15. 

 16. 

 17. 

 18. 

 19. 

 20. 

 21. 

 22. 

 23. 

 24. 



The soils of a large portion of this division, especially the Field- 

 cornetcies of Onder Duivenhoks River, Valsch Rivier, and Kaffir Kuils 

 River, are for the most part, to judge from the above figures, rather low 

 in phosphates, particularly if used for the cultivation of wheat. In this 

 respect they exhibit the one great want of the clay slate and shale soils, 

 which constitute so extensive an area of the Western Province grain 

 districts. 



