Soils of the South-Western Districts of the Cape Colony. 153 
mentary to the main series of investigations. While travelling in 
the district mentioned my attention had been more than once 
drawn by the local farmers to numerous slight elevations, from 1 
to 4 feet in height, and 20 or more yards in diameter; the soil of 
these hillocks was alleged to be extremely rich, and cereals of all 
kinds were said to grow on them with luxuriance, while on the 
lower ground, between the elevations, the soil would be poor and 
produce scanty crops. It was represented to me that if these lower 
portions could be worked up by artificial fertilisers so as to equal in 
fertility the soil of the hillocks, a great improvement in the average 
yield of the crops would be discernible. I was further told that it 
was not the practice ever to manure these hillocks, and that there 
were some lands on which wheat had been sown for nearly a century 
without the hillocks either getting any manure or becoming ex- 
hausted. Mr. J. P. Cloete, Alexanderfontein, states that for the 
last four years he has been urging farmers to use lime largely on the 
poor, cold soils, between the hillocks; but, he added, ‘“‘I am sorry 
to say that though I have preached, they have not heeded—though 
I have quoted instances to them of a very poor land having yielded 
a heavy crop of wheat by the aid of a good dressing of lme.’’* 
In order to ascertain more definitely by chemical analysis what 
difference, if any, existed between the high- and low-lying soils, 
samples were procured from some of the hillocks said to be so rich, 
and also from the adjoining grounds. Those from the hillocks are 
marked A, B, and C; those from the lower grounds A’, B’, and C’. 
In every case the soil was taken from ground that had been cul- 
tivated. 
“No. | Water. (reente Chlorine. |Nitrogen.| Lime. | Potash. | POsphoric 
Oxide. 
A 1574 5834 ‘0106 175 "146 121 ‘061 
B 1:146 3°182 ‘0078 "189 ‘O72 ‘075 °072 
C 1:472 5012 ‘0042 "126 "096 "095 073 
AY 1:010 4.332 ‘0261 "119 "014 114 "049 
IBY 1:092 2.640 ‘0159 SILI "014 045 "028 
C' 1:278 4.296 ‘0078 "119 014 (O95) i) *055 
The mechanical analysis of the soil, I may say, did not reveal 
anything very striking, there being little difference in fineness of 
grain between the soil taken from the hillocks and that below. 
* The point had first been raised in connection with the two samples from 
Karnemelksfontein, Nos. 74 and 75, the former being from high- and the latter from 
low-lying ground. The retentive power for moisture appeared greater in the case 
of No. 74, which was also the richer in plant food materials. 
Se ee 
