132 



TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



Gart/en Work. 



SEVERAL subscribers have recently 

 expressed tlie hope that it might be 

 found possible to give in every issue some 

 gardening information suitable to the 

 time of publication. We are pleased to 

 state that Mr. W. J. Bell, Florist and 

 Seedsman, Maritzburg, has agreed to sup- 

 ply the information required. Having 

 thorough practical knowledge of garden- 

 ing in the Colony, Mr. Bell's advice should 

 prove of much value. Garden produce is 



almost always extremely costly m the 

 towns, and tomers having railway com- 

 munication should find in the supply ot 

 garden produce, as of late years they 

 found in the dairy, another substantial 

 source of income. This development 

 would probably be much facilitated were 

 the Colony to adopt the C.O.D. (collect on 

 delivery) system of the Cape and many 

 other parts of the world. 



The CO'Operaiion of Creameries, 



ELSEWHERE »vill be found a descrip- 

 tion of the Model Dairy newJy 

 opened in Durban. The Company owning 

 the Dairy will act as Durban agents to 

 the Nel's Rust Dairy and to the Natal 

 Creamery of Mooi River. This co-opera- 

 tion of the two colonial creameries is a 

 matter for general congratulation in 

 several respects. The Model Daii'y com- 

 pany can serve both Creameries as well 

 as it could serve one, and the dead expense 

 of a second costly establishment for the 

 dispensing of up-country dairy i)roduce 

 is obviated. That dead, unproductive ex- 

 pense being saved is clearly an advantage 

 to all concerned, and more especially to 

 the consumer, for in the end it is always 

 in trade matters the consumer who has to 

 pay. Neither must it be supposed that 

 the disadvantages of a "ring" or monopoly 

 is the necessary sequence of theagreement 

 between the two Creameries to abstain 

 from competition for the Durban 

 dairy-produce trade. British Chan- 

 cellors of the Exchequer in the 

 old days of heavy indirect taxation 

 used to admit that they were 

 kept in check by the smuggler, and any 

 attempt on the part of the Creameries to 

 take more than fair working profits would 

 be checked by the individual milk and 

 butter producer. This individual, be he 

 the owner of two or three cows in the town 

 or the owner of a V)ig troop in the country, 

 is not only naturally of the most indepen- 

 dent character, but is almost constitution- 



ally averse to combination. Whenever 

 and wherever competition may be prac- 

 ticable, this individual producer of milk, 

 etc., may be relied on to make the very 

 most of the opportunity offered. It will 

 be the competition between capital and 

 organisation on one side, and the keen 

 enero'y of individualism on the other, by 

 which Durban will benefit. Hence the 

 fact that the Creameries are not openly 

 competing in Durban is in no sense a 

 matter of regret but rather, as we have 

 said, a matter for congratulation. 



The time for starting the Durban busi- 

 ness is, of course, not altogether happy. 

 The Colony, in the first place, is only 

 beginning to recover from the enormous 

 los'ses occasioned by the late rinderpest 

 epidemic, secondly, the war, in many in- 

 direct ways, has greatly enhanced the 

 value of cows, and thirdly, the demands 

 for milk by the military hospitals, and by 

 the large war and British refugee popula- 

 tion, has brought about a wholly abnormal 

 condition of things as regards the de- 

 mand for milk and other dairy produce. 

 The position, however, is only temporary. 

 Cattle have been doing splendidly since 

 the rinderpest, increased interest and in- 

 telligence in dairy work are observable 

 throughout the Colony, and everything 

 points to the fact that the time is rapidly 

 approaching when the Colony will not 

 only be able to supply its own demands, 

 but be able to cor tribute largely to those 

 of the inland colonies. 



