THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



2B1 



out amongst their stock, to facilitate the Veter- 

 inary Depiirttnent. The Hut Tax for this year 

 is now collected, the Natives havinsr paid up 

 well. They endured many hardships dnrina; the 

 Boer occupation here. The crops, takinsf them 

 all round, are not good, and all produce is 

 fetching high prices -eggs and poultry are 

 exceptionally high. This is owing to the large 

 number of troops scattered all over the 

 Division. The winter is fairly mild— at the 

 commencement several frosts were severe ; 

 there is every appearance of an early spring. 



Geo. Brunton Warner, 



Acting Magistrate. 



NEW HANOVER, 1st July. — There is 

 nothing of importance to relate since my last 

 repert, excepting that rinderpest has broken 

 out just beyond the borders of the Division. At 

 a meeting held in the Agricultural all for the 

 purpose of considering the advisibility of having 

 a show this year, a resolution was passed that 

 the show should be held on tha 24th instant, in 

 spite of the outbreak of rinderpe t and the 

 advice of the P.V.S. to postpone the >how until 

 better times. A great many of the farmers will 

 not be convinced that it actually is rinderpest, 

 and their contention is that if it is, it would 

 have spread, and could not be checked by 

 quarantining. The farmers, of course, know 

 much better than the P.V.S., for whom they 

 appear to have little gratitude for the prompt 

 steps taken to stop the spread of the disease. 

 Indeed, I have heard of complaints about the 

 disease being declared rinderpest, when at the 

 worst it could only be gall-sickness. 



A. Bitter, Magistrate. 



WEENiiN, -Jllth June.— The peculiarities of 

 the present winter — which was ushered in bv a 

 series of hot north winds such as usually visit 

 us in July and August— are being fully main- 

 tained by the cold, grey days, with occasiotial 

 showers, of the past week. Quarter-evil, surely 

 exceptional in June, has played havoc on farms, 

 while two cases of horsesickness have been 

 lately reported. As regards the latter, how- 

 ever, and in view of the fact that no post mortem 

 examinations were made, it is possible that the 

 disease may have been wrongly diagnosed, un- 

 less the old theory of immunity, after a fort- 

 night's frost, is to prove false. Lungsickness has 

 broken out in the Impaf ana Location, but the 

 cause of infection has not so far been traced, as 

 the natives deny the advent of any strange 

 cattle in their District. Scab is reported among 

 a flock of kafir goats, and still exists in a few 

 sheep flocks in the Division. Over a hundred 

 horses purchased by local residents from the 

 military have lately been brought into the 

 village, and a number have already changed 

 hands more than once with increasing profits. 

 The tobacco crop this year has bsen a record 

 one, but the supply is still far short of the de- 

 mand. An order lately receive t by one of the 

 local planters was for three tons of tobicco and 

 five cwt. of snuff ; and it is ant cipated that with 

 the re-opening of the Transvaal and Orange 

 River Colony markets, tobacco growing, during 

 the next two years, will prove the most lucrative 

 of all agricultural pursuits. 



C. Gr. Jackson, 



Acting Magistrate. 



Pound Noticesm 



1HE stock impounded as hereunder 

 will be sold, unless previously re- 

 eased, on the 7th August, next :— 



Nqutu.— One Kafir goat. No marks. 

 One bay horse (gelding), height 14 

 hands 2 inches, black points, shod on 

 fore-feet, branded (triangle) on near hind 

 quarter. 



Dronk Vlei. — Brown cow, poor con- 

 dition and old, slit in right ear, Q on 



right shoulder, little white on nose, left 

 front leg white up to knee, and both hind 

 feet white. 



Pietermaritzburg. — Light brown mare 

 donkey, in foal ; grey mare, black mark 

 down back, and across shoulders, about 

 10 hands. Will be sold on the Market 

 Square by the Marketmaster on July 

 15th, 1901, unless previously released. 



Some Wittier Retttittdlersm 



By Claude Puller, Entomologist. 



DURING this season of the year insect 

 and fungus pests are not so much in 

 evidence as in the summer [months and, 



following the old adage, are as much 

 out of mind as they are out of sight. It 

 is now, however, that much may often be 



