T UtJ AOniCU LT 



VUAL JOURNAL 



525 



could be commanded. The area of this 

 ■vvould be something like 5,()0t) acres, or 

 possiblj- a little more, and the ordinary 

 winter supply of the Little Tugela is 

 about 100 cubic feet per second, which is 

 sufficient to water something like 10,000 

 acres. 



The lands further south, about Gourton, 

 cannot be commanded except within the 

 limits of the valley of the Little Tugela. 

 A small canal is being taken out near 

 Gourton, with good hopes of success, but 

 it would have been better to have a sur- 

 vey made. 



About Springfield there is a good deal 

 of interest in the water question. An- 

 other furrow is proposed from the Little 

 Tugela, from the place 1 have indicated 

 as suitable for the head of a public canal. 

 Survey recommended. Beyond the 

 Upper Tugela a furrow is proposed from 

 the Losonjo River; this can be carried 

 out without much difficulty. It should 

 be surveyed to make a good job of it, but 

 this, I fear, will not be done. 



One or two farmers think of pumping 

 by steam from the Tugela, at Upper 

 Tugela, but they are postponing action 

 until they are in better communication 

 with a sate market. 



2. Richmond, Ixopo, Harding, Port 

 Shepstone ; up coast to Durban, Umgeni, 

 - Verulam, Tongaat, Stanger, and Nonoti — 

 5th to 3ist July, 1900, and 4th to 11th 

 August, 1900. 



There is a good volume of water in the 

 Illovo at Richmond, but I have net been 

 shown any land on which it can be 

 utilised. A few small schemes from 

 spruits in this neighbourhood, but the 

 sub-soil is very porus, and irrigation is 

 very difficult to carry out. On one farm 

 I found the water chiefly used for irrigat- 

 ing pasture land. 



Near Moguntia irrigation asked for on 

 a farm on the Umzimkulwana River ; re- 

 quires to be pumped up 100 to 200 feet. 

 Could be done by turbine or hydraulic 

 ram, but would hadly pay in present state 

 of coinmunications. Valuable crops and 

 high farming are also necessary condi- 

 tions. 



At Port Shepstone, advised about water 

 supply, and about a small project for 

 piping springs from top of hill for fruit 

 cultivation. 



At Lower Illovo there are some nice 

 flats covered with sugar cane ; these 

 could, an4, should, be irrigated by pump- 

 ing from the river with a G Wynne's cen- 

 trifugal pump. At Isipingo also the flats 

 eould be more or less watered from the 

 Umlaas. Before purchasing plant, in- 

 vestigation should be made as to possi- 

 bility of a gravitation scheme. Not much 

 chance of it. 



At Umgeni, a pumping plant for irrigat- 

 ing sugar cane has been installed, and is 

 delivering a good volume at 270 feet lift. 



At Verulam I was shown a few springs 

 with reference to the water supply of the 

 village. These springs are weak, and 

 there appears to be no source of supply 

 but the river, whence water could be 

 pumped, as in a scheme drawn up some 

 years ago. 



At Tongaat, the watercourse from the 

 Tongaat River for the sugar mills was 

 nearly completed ; it will also do some 

 200 or oOO acres of irrigation. 



The Umvoti flats could, apparently, be 

 irrigated without much difficulty ; they 

 seem to be cultivated in patches by 

 Indians. 



I twice visited the Clifton Tea Estates, 

 near Kearsney. It would be possible to 

 pump up water from the Nonoti by tur- 

 bine power, but it would be some 250 

 feet lift, and I don't think tea would re- 

 pay the expense, as the need for irrigation 

 for that crop in dry seasons (except for 

 young plantations) is open to question 



3. iVJid-lllovo, Uniquahumbi Valley, 

 Umkomaas, Bulwer, Boston — 8th to 2;}rd 

 October, 1900. 



A small spruit near Fairview could 

 irrigate 20 or 30 acres of land close by, 

 but the owner of that land does not wish 

 to cultivate it. It will be utilised by an- 

 other farmer, but there will be a good deal 

 of loss in transit. 



The Natal Tobacco Co. are going to 

 start cultivation in the Uniquahumbi 

 Valley. There are two cultivable plots 

 that can be irrigated, one (or, rather two, 

 one on each side of spruit) of about 40 

 acres, which can get water by gravitation 

 from a small tributary, and one of some 

 200 acres, for which pumping by steam or 

 water-power to a height of 100 feet or so 

 will be necessary. 



The irrigation of the tobacco plants will 

 be carried out by spraying, as far as pos- 



