IMPORTANCE AND HISTORY g 



Transvaal alone ought to produce without difficulty 35,000,000 CHAP, 

 muids. ' 



Owing to the dryness of the winter over the greater part 

 of South Africa, the farmer is able to continue harvesting and 

 shelling in the field up to the very day when he starts 

 planting the new crop ; in this respect he has an enormous 

 advantage over the American farmer. The percentage of 

 grain which is damaged by the weather is exceedingly small. 

 The moisture content of the grain exported is some 5 per cent 

 lower than that of the American-grown article. South Africa 

 has, and is likely to have for many years, an excellent local 

 market for a large part of her crop. Because she owns her 

 own railroads she can carry her surplus to the coast at cost. 

 With these great advantages in her favour, South Africa has 

 good reason for optimism as to the future of her maize industry. 

 There is good ground for the prophecy that South Africa is 

 to become the maize granary of Europe. 



9. Relative Importance of the World's Maize and Wheat 

 Crops. — There is a popular idea that wheat is a more profit- 

 able crop than maize. This is due to the fact that in the 

 inland provinces of South Africa the price of wheat is more 

 than double that of maize, and the former yields a heavier crop 

 than the latter. But if the wheat acreage were much increased 

 the price would fall ; present prices are quite abnormal, the 

 average farm price in the United States during the last ten years 

 was only 77 cents per bushel or 10s. 8d. per muid ; when South 

 Africa produces enough for local needs her wheat prices will 

 probably fall to those prevailing in the States. The difference 

 in average yield is due partly to the fact that wheat is at 

 present grown on the best alluvial lands, and, in the Transvaal 

 at least, practically all of it under irrigation, while much of the 

 maize crop is produced on newly broken veld, and all of it as 

 a dry-land crop. When the maize lands are in better " heart," 

 the average yield will probably be doubled, and even now the 

 best maize crops are nearly double those of wheat. 



History. 



10. Origin of Maize. — Researches into the history and 

 geographical distribution of the maize plant show clearly that 

 it originated in America. 



