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Karroo-like in character. There is more sowing in the Coo than in the 

 Jveisie; but, on the other hand, the latter is very picturesque with its 

 many orchards and vineyards on either side of the river. From the results 

 of the chemical analyses it appears that the soils of the Keisie have a 

 richer store of plant food than those of the Coo, especially the more 

 eastern Keisie soils, i.e., towards Baden. The presence of abundance of 

 available lime seems in a great measure to be accountable for the supe- 

 riority of the Keisie for fruit culture, and it is not improbable that the 

 latter valley has been enriched by alluvium carried down from the higher 

 levels of the Coo. The first farm visited on entering the Keisie was Mr. 

 J. D. Conradie's Harmonic. Here two distinct varieties of soil were sam- 

 pled; No. 5, a virgin sandy clay, somewhat like a Karroo soil in appear- 

 ance, commonly known as " gebroken grond " (i.e., broken Karroo) repre- 

 senting the soil of the lands on the slopes, and No. 6, taken from lands 

 on the right bank of the river, rather further from the homestead, and all 

 round a better soil than No. 5, although rather alkaline. It represents a 

 fairly good alluvial soil, not very clayey, but retentive of moisture. It 

 is obvious from the analysis why, of these two soils, No. 6 succeeds better 

 than No. 5 ; it contains eight times the quantity of lime, and fifty per 

 cent, more phosphoric oxide. 



Following the course of the river, the farm of Mr. E. J. van Zyl, Har- 

 monie, was visited, and No. 7, an alluvial soil, was taken close to the river 

 bed. : it is said to be richer than the two former, but slightly more brack- 

 ish : it contains nearly five times as much lime as No. 6, and forty times 

 more than No. 5, and herein it illustrates the adage that " a lime country 

 is a rich country." At the farm Het Kruis No. 8, a sample of " vied " 

 (i.e., alluvial) soil, was taken near to a vineyard. The owner of the farm, 

 Mr. B. B. Burger, stated that by continued cultivation and irrigation it 

 is rendered alkaline, a characteristic of many Karroo soils, for by irri- 

 gation the surfaces of such clayey soils become quite hard, and, evapora- 

 tion proceeding very rapidly during warm weather, the water from lower 

 depths raises the alkaline salts or " brak " as they are locally termed 

 and deposits them at the soil surface. Hence the necessity in such cases, 

 for efficient drainage and for keeping the surface soil loose. Mr. Burger 

 gives it as his experience that guano is of practically no use to his soil. 

 No. 9, a very finely grained clay soil ,was collected next to vineyards 

 situated at the junction of the Keisies and Keizers Rivers: it was de- 

 clared to be richer than No. 8, and the explanation may be found in the 

 fact that it contains very much more lime: that it does not become brack 

 on irrigation is most probably due to the fact that the conditions for rapid 

 surface evaporation are less favourable than in the case of No. 8. In that 

 case, the vines being mostly young, and their foliage having been de- 

 stroyed by frost, protection for the surface of the soil from the rays of the 

 sun is lacking, so that a speedy caking of the surface ensues, and evapo- 

 ration goes on much more rapidly: as a result, the alkaline salts collect- 

 sooner than in a well-drained vineyard where the surface is constantly 

 loosened, and evaporation reduced to a minimum. 



From the farm Baden two samples were taken : No. 10, a virgin sam- 

 ple of vineyard soil, and No. 11, a rich clay "turf" of very fine texture, 

 said to be an excellent potato soil. The chemical analysis of this soil cer- 

 tainly confirms the farm-owner's opinion regarding its fertility. 



The village of Montagu being known for it luxuriant vines and 

 healthy fruit, typical samples of the soils predominating in and about 

 that village were selected: No. 12, an average sample of a sandy clay soil, 

 was taken from the vineyard of Mr. D. S. du Toit. No. 13, a rather more 

 clayey soil, was taken from Mr. J. F. Burger's garden. In his opinion 

 basic slag gives good results for French grapes in a sandy soil, but not 



