The Conquest of the Desert 



brave Boer officer of the former Staats Artillerie 

 who bore a charmed life, as shown by the marks 

 of twenty-two bullets. Captain du Toit returned 

 to the peaceful life of a Cape farmer. When the 

 Government dry land station was established 

 he was appointed manager — a post which he 

 still holds. He has since become the tireless 

 missionary of the new agriculture amongst 

 the Dutch and the English settlers on the dry 

 lands of the Union. 



Discovery of the Durum Wheats 



The most important discovery in connection 

 with dry-farming is the value of durum wheat 

 for poor soils and in regions of light rainfall. 

 The durum wheats were formerly termed 

 macaroni wheats, because in the past they have 

 been mainly used in the manufacture of maca- 

 roni. But the better term is durum, and it 

 should be employed to describe this class of 

 wheat. The term durum comes from the Latin 

 word durus (hard). For more than forty years 

 there have been shipments into the United States 

 of these hard, glassy wheats, chiefly from Russia, 

 but also from Algeria and Chili. It is only 

 during the last thirteen years, however, that 



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