CHAPTER V. 



THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE HORSE IN SOUTH 

 AFRICAN FARMING. 



The acquisition of the horse by the first colonists has been one 

 of the chief factors in the rise and supremacy of the white race in 

 South Africa ; yet he has never been of such direct economical value 

 as his brother in other countries. In the agricultural development 

 of the country he has not yet come to his own ; the ox, the mule and 

 also the ass have been mainly used for transport, and agricultural 

 purposes, their popularity and quantity varying with the degree 

 of agricultural intensity and economic factors in the various por- 

 tions of the Union. Mules are more abundantly used in the grain 

 district around the Cape Peninsula, and in the argicultural dis- 

 tricts of the Eastern Cape Colony, whereas the ox and more recently 

 the ass are mostly used in the interior and Natal. It is for eco- 

 nomical reasons that the horse was never put to greater utility in 

 agriculture. South Africa is by nature a pastoral country first. 

 The large herds of cattle up to recently, after supplying the market 

 with beef still furnished a large amount of oxen. So wnth the ex- 

 ception of those small localities where crops are grown more ex- 

 tensively, all cultivation and transport are done by teams of oxen. 

 The team of oxen requires less handling, no stabling nor extra feed. 



Most of the plowing is done after the summer rains have 

 fallen and the pastures are full. A good and well trained team of 

 12 or 16 large Africanders in good condition and managed by only 

 two average farm hands walks at a good pace and with a double or 

 three share plough they turn over a fine piece of land in a day. 

 The horse or muel will do more ; but not so economically in the 

 semi-arid regions with summer rains only whereas the opposite may 

 be said of the ox in the regions of greater agricultural intensity and 

 these compared with the domain of the ox is fractional. 



In 1896 and for some time after w^hen the Rinderpest carried 

 off almost 50% of the cattle of all the country north of the Cape 

 Colony the horse received better recognition ; but he was up against 



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