35 



Division of Botany of the Department of Agriculture), I received 

 5 lbs. of Teff, with instructions to plant 2i lbs. per acre. I took 

 great care to plant it at that rate, and had a most successful crop, 

 cutting one acre twice ; I do not remember at this date, the exact 

 quantity reaped. I found it a most excellent feed, so saved enough 

 seed to put in a much larger acreage the following year, which 

 again proved a success. Afier selling a quantity to the Standerton 

 Municipality, in 1908, I believe, I forwarded a small truck to Johan- 

 nesburg market, and expecting that it would be mistaken for 

 " Sweet Grass," I instructed my agents that in the event of not 

 getting a fair offer, to give to some good consumer five bales as a 

 sample and store the remainder. My anticipation proving correct, 

 Mr. Duminy, a large dairyman, took 5 bales on trial, with which he 

 was so satisfied he took the balance. From this time, any I sent 

 to market was well bidden for, and the following season (1909 1) it 

 became more common and also in great demand." 



By 1910, only seven years after its re-introduction (though 

 twenty-four years after the first seed from Kew had been tried, and 

 failed to establish itself), Teff had become an established crop in 

 the Transvaal. Writing in April, 1911 (19), Mr. J. Wentworth Sykes 

 stated : " Teff has certainly come to stay, as witness the hundreds 

 of tons of hay sold last year on the Johannesburg and Pretoria 

 markets, which is but a tithe of that sold privately or fed locally." 



THE WORLD'S RECORD CROP OF TEFF. 

 Enormous quantities of Teff-hay are daily disposed of on the 

 Johannesburg market, during the season, as much as 150 tons being 

 sold some mornings. The Market Report for the week ending 

 September 2nd, 1916, states: "The feature of the week has been 

 the enormous business in Teff, which amounts to many hundreds 

 of tons." 



Fifty to three hundred acres under Teff is now a common sight 

 on most Transvaal farms, and one of my correspondents is arranging 

 to sow 800 acres in the season of 1916-17. But the world's record for 

 Teff -growing on any one farm is held by Mr. W. A. McLaren, of 

 Vereeniging, the well-known South African Manager for Messrs. 

 John Fowler and Co., Steam-plough Manufacturers, of Leeds, 

 England. In Ihe season 1913-14, Mr. McLaren sowed down some 

 twelve hundred acres at Vereeniging, to Teff-grass, for feeding his 

 large herd of cattle. 



SUITABILITY FOR OTHER COUNTRIES. 

 The magnificent success which has attended the introduction of 

 Teff' into South Africa satisfies me that it would do equally well in 

 Australia and the Southern United States — if properly har<dled. 

 Native (trasses of South Africa, such as Rhodes-grass and Natal- 

 grass (rricAolrfna rosea) do so well in many parts of these regions, 

 that it is reasonable to expect Teff would prove equally successful, 

 and it is well worth careful and extended trial. 



In 1911, Mr. J. Wentworth Sykes reported having sent " large 

 consignments of seed to all the Provinces of the Union, Rhodesia, 

 Portuguese Territory, and British East Africa." (19.) 



In addition to the above localitips the present writer has sup- 

 plied seed to Nyassaland, the British South-West Protectorate, 

 the Belo^an Congo, India, Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, the 

 United States of America, and Argentina. 



