The Conquest of the Desert 



destroyed, and he sums up the reason for this 

 increasing aridity in the fact that " the natives 

 have for ages been accustomed to burn the 

 plains and to destroy the timber and ancient 

 forests." He urges afforestation as the only 

 way in which to arrest the country from further 

 denudation. Half-a-century has come and 

 gone, and what have we done ? The white 

 man has joined hands with the native vandal, 

 and year after year the work of ceaseless 

 destruction goes on. Not a single tree is ever 

 planted. Day by day the desert zone is ad- 

 vancing. Fountains are rapidly diminishing, 

 rivers are drying up, and life for both man and 

 beast is becoming more relentless and more 

 severe. 



But why should we vex ourselves about the 

 desert, some may say. It is nothing to us. In 

 our province we have no desert. That is wrong. 

 The conquest of the Kalahari Desert is of vital 

 importance to every farmer in South Africa. 



The other day we stood on the Government 

 Dry Land Experimental Station at Lichten- 

 burg in the Transvaal. Suddenly a burning 

 wind swept over our wheat lands. It was 

 the desert wind. Hardly a tree to stop it for 

 200 miles. Where, then, did it go ? Perhaps 



4 



