The Poor and the Land 



would afford a pleasant and profitable occupa- 

 tion for the daughters of the settlers, and work 

 in the factory would inspire the inventive genius 

 of their brothers. The Californian girls are 

 paid 10s. a day for wrapping and packing 

 oranges, and while at Riverside I saw a small 

 machine, invented by a young mechanic, which 

 tossed out 3000 boxes in a single day. 

 • •••••• 



But is that all ! Travel down the majestic 

 river from Prieska to Kakamas. 'What a 

 panorama of agricultural possibilities ! Settle 

 a handful of hard-working colonists — a paltry 

 thousand from South Africa and oversea — give 

 to each of them one hundred arces of river silt, 

 wet or dry. Figure out this sum : 1000 by 100, 

 or 100,000 acres by £70, or £7,000,000 worth 

 of oranges per annum. Take two well-grown 

 Washington navels. Together they weigh one 

 pound. Reckon 800 on a tree, 56,000 on an 

 acre, and you have 14 tons of fruit from every 

 acre. Now remember that the special export 

 rate for oranges is 15s. per ton, and you will 

 find that from an orchard of 100,000 acres 

 under oranges the railway receipts for freight 

 alone in a single year would amount to a sum 

 far over £1,000,000. Such are a few of the 



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