6S4 



THE AGBIOULTURAL JOURNAL. 



the way you described Mr. John Marwick 

 as doing. Grubs are very active this year. 

 Land should be turned over in the early 

 winter to minimise the pest. I shall do 

 my best to get this done in future. A 

 new pest is sorrel. I suppose it came to 

 the Colony inbadly-cleaned seed ; it seems 

 as if it is going to become a curse to culti- 

 vators." 



Implements. 



Of our talk about farm implements 

 there was but little worth recording. A 

 double-furrow Columbia Gang plough, in- 

 cluding riding attachment, price £14 lOs., 

 which he bought from Messrs. Steel, 

 Murray, and is worked with ten ordinary 

 farm oxen, Mr. Henwood speaks very 

 highly of. It turns over twelve inches ; 

 but he would much prefer on«') which 

 would turn over fifteen inches of old 

 land, but they are not to be got in the 

 Colony. 



Watek Ram. 



Until a few years ago Mr. Henwood 

 always had water near to his house. 

 Di;ring the recent droughcy years that 

 supply has entirely di8a])peared, and he 

 now gets his water from the river by 

 hydraulic ram power. The distance is 

 over 800 feet and the rise is 130 feet. The 

 ram cost ten guineas, and ninety pounds 

 went for tanks and piping. It is the 

 piping that runs into the money ; black 

 piping soons rusts away, and the same 

 happens just as quickly with the galvan- 

 ised if not of good quality. 



Horses. 



" Let us now come to the stock in which 

 you take the greatest interest —horses " 



" Yes ; my fancy is in horses. I have 

 a natural passion for breeding for the 

 turf, and there is nothing I like to see 

 more than a bit of blood in a horse. No ; 

 I don't care a bit about betting On 

 rare occasions I have backed a horse for 

 five pounds, but sovereigns or hats are my 

 usual stakes. Among others which have 

 won races I have bred Viola, Capsome, 

 Chink, Canyon, Chaos ; and among the 

 thoroughbred sires I have had Cajnllaire, 

 Vanquisher, Aristocrat, Vagabond, Cre- 

 vasse, and King of Song. At present my 

 stud horse is Pilcornayo. Breeders of 



thoroughbred horses do not meet with 

 the encouragnient they have a ri^ht to 

 expect from local sportsmen. These 

 sportsmen are evidently prej udiced against 

 Natal horses, and are ready to spend 

 money freely on second-and-third-rate 

 Argentine and Australian thoroughbreds. 

 With Virago I met four or five of them 

 in one race and beat the lot easily. Chink, 

 Canyon, and Choas have also met them 

 and beat them on their own merits. Other 

 Natal breeders have had similar success, 

 and yet in finding a m^arket th-i merits of 

 the local horses are unrecognised." 

 " What remedy do you suggest ? " 

 " I think racing committees would give 

 great encouragement to local breeders were 

 they to confine a fair proportion of races 

 to Natal-bred horses. It would bring a 

 demand that would enable Natal breeders 

 to import even still higher-bred sires, and 

 so improve the stock of the Colony. Oar 

 Government, like nearly all the Govern- 

 ments of the world, should also subsidize 

 such races. It is an acknowledged fact 

 the nearer military horses are to the 

 thoroughbred the better they are. In 

 England there are King's Plates and 

 King's Premiums, and so the principle of 

 subsidising is recognised by the British 

 Parliament." 



" Tell me something about Pilcornayo, 

 your stud horse for the present season." 



" Pilcomayo belongs to Messrs. 

 Donaldson and i^ieveright, of the Rand. 

 He is a beautifully-bred animal, and has 

 been a grand performer in Argentine and 

 here in South Africa. He is by Gay 

 Hermit by Hermit, out of Gordiana by 

 Galopin. He is good temp3red, has im- 

 mense bone, and in every respect is a 

 splendidly-made i-acehorse. The other 

 stud horse, but from which I am not 

 breeding this year, is Kloof, a bay horse 

 five yeai-s old, by Crevasse out of Fortress 

 by Aristocrat. He stands 17-2, and is 

 faultless in proportion. Unfortunately, 

 for beauty's sake, he has drooping ears. 

 His dam evidently threw back to her 

 Melbourne strain." 



I saw the young blood stock, and cer- 

 tainly they were a promising lot. May 

 they escape from disease, wire fences, and 

 all other accidents to which the most 

 cherished of young horses seem often to 

 be specially fated. 



