LUCERNH IX NATAL. 29 



settlements under the contr :>! of the Board, of which settlement the 

 Weenen Irrigation area already mentioned is one. 



The Commission consisted of Mr. R. Yorke Worthington, of 

 Weenen, and myself, and we received eveiy attention from the 

 Agricultural Department of the Cape Colony, and visited Robertson 

 (Breede River), Oudtshoorn, and the Strathsomers Estate on the 

 Sundays River. 



SOME RESULTS. 



Our joint report on our tour was published in the Natal Agri- 

 cultural Journal. Lectures were given at the different settlements, 

 and a great impetus was given to the enterprise as the result, 

 partly of the information so given, and partly, and perhaps mainly, 

 by the object lesson which the settlers had before them in the small 

 fields already under lucerne ; and, although ths time was short, 

 a good deal of land which was being prepared for crops of oats, 

 mealies, potatoes and tobacco for spring planting, was hastily got 

 into condition and sown with lucerne in March and April. 



As a result of Mr. R. Yorke Worthington's observations during 

 our tour in the Cape Colony, he and his partner acquired a large 

 property at the junction of the Bushman's River with the Tugela, 

 and are sowing lucerne on a larger scale, and probably have some 

 200 or 300 acres under crop at the present time, and are already 

 harvesting and marketing a large quantity. 



The farmers on the Weenen Irrigation Settlement have very 

 good prospects before them ; they will be connected very shortly 

 with the main Railway System of the Colony by means of a narrow 

 guage light railway, their, land is evidently suitable for the growth 

 of lucerne, and there is an ample water supply. 



It is safe to say that at present over 1,000 bales of cured hay are 

 being marketed monthly, and this must be considered satisfactory, 

 as we have not a field which can be, in a Cape Colony sense, con- 

 sidered " established " that is, there is no field in which the 

 plants have become deep rooted, and consequently no field is pro- 

 ducing what it may be expected to do in a year or two's time. 



The quality of the cured hay so far marketted is, I am assured 

 by dealers, equal to any they have ever handled. 



SUITABILITY OF LUCERNE FOR DIFFERENT LANDS. 



Undoubtedly the best land for the growth of this crop in Natal 

 is that formed at the bends and deltas of rivers from detritus 

 resulting from the denudation of the land in what is known as. 

 thorn country, which covers a large area, and the soil of which is 

 fertile, but in places too steep and stony for cultivation, and besides, 

 where arable, the rainfall is too low to sustain crops. This hnd 

 more nearly resembles the Karroo of the Cape Colony than any 

 other, and I consider that the flats which exist on the banks of the 

 rivers in this " thorn " country consist of soil which will be found 



