524 



THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



Umvoti Counties, I was met with excuses 

 aud postpone iiients. By the middle of 

 October it was evident that little or 

 nothing could be done for several months, 

 and accordingly I suggested to the Govern- 

 ment that I should be allowed to proceed 

 home for six months, that period being 

 considered as a break in my service of 

 two years. This suggestion was accepted, 

 and accordingly I proceeded on leave 26th 

 October, 1899, and returned I4th May, 

 1900. 



2. I at once resumed my visits to 

 farmers, whom I found not at all gener- 

 ally aware that they could obtain my 

 services gratuitiously by applying for 

 them. I, therefore, had a letter circu- 

 lated through Agricultural and Farmers' 

 Associations, and this certainly produced 

 a few more applications. But, up to the 

 time of writing, I still frequently find a 

 disinclination to apply, and a tendency to 

 wait until I am known to be in the 

 neighbourhood ; when, as likely as not, 

 the application is too late for that tour. 

 Farmers often think their case such a 

 small one that they hardly like to send for 

 me ; also, they are often not prepared to 

 embark at once on any expenditure, and 

 for that reason hesitate to apply for my 

 services. 



3. I soon began to find that I was 

 making very little progress, taking 

 separate trips by rail from Maritzburg. 

 and from the railway to farms in the 

 vicinity, conveyed from the station by the 

 applicant. Much of my time was occu- 

 pied by railway travelling, and, unfortu- 

 nately, all the Government mules were 

 "at the front," and I had no means of 

 making continuous tours. 



4. On nth July, 1900, however, the 

 Chief Engineer, P.W.D., kindly arranged 

 to lend me a trap and pair, with which I 

 journeyed by Kichinond, Ixopo, and 

 Harding to Port Shepstone, and thence 

 up the coast to Durban ; but I was again 

 unable to get a trap until 4th September, 

 when I took a tour in Weenen County 

 and to Ladysmith. Just after this tour 

 the Government mules returned, and I 

 have since only had to ask for anything 

 I wanted in the way of transport. 



5. In Appendix II. are a few rough 

 notes of some tours, and in Appendix III. 

 a list of the cases that have come before 

 me up to ;51st December, 1900, with a 



brief abstract of each ; also, a classified 

 abstract in Appendix IV. I think there 

 is no doubt that had there been no war 

 and no difficulty about conveyance (which 

 difficulty, too, was due to the war), there 

 would have been a good many more cases 

 on the Register. 



6. I have made some visits to Lady- 

 smith, Elandslaagte, Waschbank, Dundee, 

 Dannhauser, &c., but have not yet been 

 able to go freely about the whole of the 

 Klip River County this I hope to do in 

 the course of the next few months. 

 Polela will, I hope, be visited in February. 

 [Polela and Underberg since visited. 

 Conditions most favourable. Plenty of 

 streams and good soil in valleys ; easily 

 watered. With a railway, this country 

 should flourish exceedingly. Hail is a 

 drawback.] 



7. In August, 1900, I purchased 20 

 copies of an American work on irrigation, 

 entitled " Irrigation for the Farm, Garden, 

 and Orchard," by Stewart, and have sold 

 16 copies to farmers. I he price is only 

 3s. 6d. per copy, and the book contains 

 much valuable information. I have or- 

 dered 10 copies of a still better book, 

 "Irrigation Farming," by Lute Wilcox, 

 the price of which will be about 5s. 



It is to America that Natal farmers 

 should look for the results of experience 

 in small irrigation works. 



Appendix II.— Notes on Some 

 Tours. 



1. Tugela and Little Tugela Rivers, 

 Colenso Flats, Gourton, Springfield, Upper 

 Tugela— visited (with Commissioner of 

 Agriculture) 21st to 25th June, 1899 ; 

 also, alone 4th to 18th September, 1900. 



There is a large stretch of good soil on 

 the right bank of the Tugela, from Spring- 

 field to Colenso, extending some miles 

 from the river. Only a comparatively 

 narrow strip can be commanded by the 

 Little Tugela ; the best place to take out 

 a canal was pointed out to me by Mr. 

 G. C. Williams in 1899, a little above the 

 bridge. It would, no doubt, be possible 

 to take a canal out from the main Tugela, 

 a little above the junction, and possibly 

 this water might be combined with that 

 from the little Tugela; but the works 

 would be expensive, and it seems likely 

 that the Little Tugela alone will give 

 enough water for the strip of land that 



