32 



hay for the High-veld; sown 6th November it was 3 feet high, in 

 ii'eoruary and ready for cutting for hay ; if cut then, it would have 

 matured for a second crop of hay in April. Its yield of hay per 

 acre must be tremendous. On account of the soft, thin straw, it 

 dries and cures very quickly. Of all my experiments this hai, 

 pleased me more than any.' 



" The general consensus of opinion is that Teft is a most 

 valuable hay-grass. Under favourable conditions it will mature in 

 two months from seed ; the seed scatters easily and freely, readi-j 

 producing a volunteer crop. The yield of seed is remarkably heavy 

 [rendering it cheap and easily obtainable]. The fact that the 

 farmers appreciate the crop is practically illustrated by the requests 

 received for permission to retain, and pay cash for, Teff seed 

 which is due to the Department as a return for the seed originally 

 supplied." 



In February, 1905, my then assistant, Mr. Hugh C. Sampson, 

 B.So. (14), reported that Teff sown at the Botanical Experiment 

 Station on 26th November, 1904, was cut for seed on 20th February, 

 twelve weeks from sowing, and gave a yield of 10,285 lb. of green 

 forage per acre, having had only 7.12 inches of rain during the 

 growing period. Though it has only been cut two days, the roots 

 are already starting new growth for a second cutting." 



In my Report for 1905-06 (15), I noted that ' out of twenty- 

 two co-operative trials all but two reported unqualified 

 successes, and the failures were due toi locusts and hail ; farmers 

 cannot speak too highly of this crop. One of them writes : ' This 

 can no longer be looked upon as an experiment ; its success is 

 assured.' The consequent demand for seed is greater than the 

 supply, owing to the fact that nowhere else than in Abyssinia has 

 this become a commercial crop. But next season, however, I 

 expect that all difficulty in this direction will have been overcome 

 as so much ground is being sown down to Teff this year." 



Teff seed was advertised by the Division of Botany of the 

 Transvaal Department of Agriculture, for distribution for the pur- 

 pose of co-operative experiment, in the Transvaal Agricultural 

 Journal, July, 1905 (14a). 



In my Report for 1906-07 (16) my then assistant, Mr. H. Godfrey 

 Mundy, reported that out of twenty-eight co-operative experi- 

 ments, carried out in all parts of the Transvaal, twenty-one were 

 entirely successful, in one case a yield of A tons of hay per acre 

 being reported. It was also highly spoken of, in several cases, as a 

 smother-crop for weeds. A progressive farmer in the Wakker- 

 stroom District wrote : " It is a grand stand-by at the end of the 

 winter, and I don't expect to be without it in future. All stock 

 are fond of it and do well on it if cut before the straw gets strong. 

 I am now selling seed." From the Ermelo District a farmer wrote : 

 " I have grown Teff most successfully and have supplied farmers 

 round about me with over 100 lb. of seed free." 



DIFFICULTY IN SECURING A MARKET FOR THE HAY. 

 But although Teff took with the progressive Transvaal farmer 

 from the start, the hay did not become a commercial article till 

 some years later. ,As is usually the case with new farm crops Teff- 

 hay did not sell well when first offered. But it was first grown for 

 farm consumption, and only the surplus crop tvas put on the 

 Johannesburg market. I well remember how disappointed I was 



