With the British Association in Africa. 27 



From Kimberly the line runs north through a wilderness of 

 sparse dried grass, with scattered small trees and occasional 

 ant hills, some containing 40 to 50 tons of stuff. There seemed to 

 be no humus or vegetable mould. We assumed that all vegetable 

 remains were washed away as soon as formed in the wet season. 



I venture with much diffidence to express an opinion on the 

 question of agriculture in South Africa, which is a difficult one. 

 Most of the country is very dry when it is dry and very wet when 

 it is wet ; also subject to disastrous hailstorms, and occasionally to 

 continued droughts, and the locust and other insect plagues are 

 also to be reckoned with. Animals suffer from various diseases, 

 but it was said that in mixed farming out of all the various crops 

 and stock a portion would survive out of which sufficient profit 

 might be made, especially as the population increased and markets 

 improved. The soil varies in quality a good deal, and land of 

 course could be had at a low price, from a free grant upwards. 

 With their large tracts of ground and native labour, the Boers 

 made it pay. The dearth of Kaffir labour owing to the high wages 

 of the war time made it more difficult now, and the Boers, it was 

 said, complained that their products were cut out by imported 

 goods and the cold storage companies. Others thought they were 

 only making a poor mouth in view of getting compensation after 

 the war, Fruit-farming and vine-growing appeared to succeed in 

 parts suitable to these. I was advised that no intending settler 

 should go out without a billet arranged for. 



The climate on the high veldt is considered healthy by those 

 who did not mind heat. All over South Africa dust is a great 

 enemy. A doctor told me that they had to eat sand and worse 

 than sand and the alimentary canal suffered. The great agricultural 

 want is water, and it has been said that only by irrigation could 

 South Africa ever hope to become a prosperous agricultural 

 country. The difficulty is to obtain water. Attempts to obtain 

 it by artesian boring have not been encouraging, and the rivers have 

 a comparatively small supply in the dry season, when the water 

 is most needed. By means of dams the flow of the wet season 



