THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



351 



turn in cash must be small and lona-- 

 delayed. ^ 

 I'lie true solution of this question 

 seems to lie in a combination of the laud- 

 owners with the assistance of the Govern- 

 ment, under a l^orest Law whicli would 

 .provide for the permanent maintenance 

 as forest of land voluntarily aiforestcd by 

 th« owners ; and which, while interferino- 

 with no rights of property but the right 

 to disforest, would compensate land- 

 owners for 3'i elding that right, by con- 

 tributing towards the expenses of affores- 

 tation and uuiiutenance. Such a forest 

 law could, with advantage, be made to 

 include provisions dealing with the con- 

 servation of indigenous forest, and with 

 the establishment of new forest upon 

 Crown Lands; but, unless it also provided 

 means— acceptable to the land-owners— 

 for the afforestation of the vast areas of 

 poor lands in private hands all over the 



Colony, it would be incomplete. No 



scheme of afforestation that does not in- 

 clude alienated lands can much benefit 

 Katal climatically, while the direct cost 

 to the public purse of the afforestation of 

 Crown Lands will prevent any great area 

 Ijeing planted. For instance, the af- 

 forestation of, say, five thousand acres by 

 land-owners would mean comparatively 

 little actual expenditure individually — 

 most of the contributions being in work 

 done in slack seasons — but Government 

 would have to pay in cash for nearly 

 every item, and then wait for years for a 

 return of the capital. We have native 

 forests much larger than five thousand 

 acres, and our first duty is to conserve 

 them ; but next to that we should en- 

 courage private enterprise, and so place 

 the new forests where their climatic bene- 

 fits are chiefly required. 



rvEAR SIR, — I would like your advice 

 iJ on the following : — I want to plough 

 up my mealie lands as soon as we get the 

 first spring rains, and put in some fast 

 growing plant to plough in later on, when 

 1 sow my mealies. What can you recom- 

 mend for this ? Would "Johnson Grass" 

 be good ? If yu think this or any other 

 thing would suit, would you please give 

 me particulars as to what price per lb. of 

 seed, how much to sow per acre, and 

 where seed can be obtained. Is "John- 

 son" Grass the same thing as the Millet 

 one sees advertised for sale ? 1 am in 

 the Noodsl)erg district, and grass, etc., 

 seems to spring up and grow very qucikly 

 in the early spring. The soil is verv 

 sandy, and rather poor. Do you think 

 it would pay me to apply "Basic Slag," 

 so as to induce a big growth of grass us 

 quickly as possible ?'l would probably 

 want to plough in after the grass had 

 been sown about six weeks. I grew a 

 ■fairly good crop of mealies this season on 



Correspontlencem 



To the Editor Agricultural Journal. 



the ground, 

 of bone dust. 



I gave a moderate dressing 



I am, &e., 



T. L. PYVIE. 



Fawn Leas, Noodsberg. 



[Our correspondent apparently wishes 

 to find some nitrogenous plant to sow in 

 early spring for the purpose of ploughing 

 in as green manure at the time for sowing 

 his mealies. If there is any such grass, 

 which we much doubt, perhaps some 

 reader will be good enough to communi- 

 cate his knowledge to the "Journal.'' 

 Vailing such information, our corres- 

 pondent should plough up his land as 

 soon as rain, or the nature of the soil, 

 permits. Johnson Grass is catalogued 

 by Messrs. Anderson, of Sydney, N.S.W., 

 among Millets, although it is not specifi- 

 cally described as a millet. Basic Slag, 

 of good guality, is an admirable fertiliser, 

 and in all probability would give him ex- 

 cellent resixlts. If he has not experi- 

 mented with it, or seen its effect on land 

 similar to his, he would do well to send a 

 sample of his soil for analysis to the De- 

 partmental Chemist. ■ — ■ Ed., " Agricul- 

 tural Journal."] 



The profits of tihe South African Breweries 

 (■('iiipany for the hast year were £14.5,941. 



In the last issue we omitted to state — which, 

 however, was fairly obvious from the general 

 tenor of the remarks — that the two naartje 

 trees photographed were of the same age. 



