744 



THB AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



from. All over the country about 

 Johannesburg are hundreds of little mills 

 of this sort, erected by Uitlanders. 



By planting trees the storage might be 

 indefinitely inci-eased. One of the most 

 successful and gratifying things our people 

 have done in these regions is the arbori- 

 culture. Eleven years ago the eye searched 

 the horizon in vain for a green leaf. It 

 was as bare as if the hoof of the Sultan's 

 horse had trodden the spot, " where tree 

 ne'er grows, nor fruit, nor flower." Now 

 you find millions of trees, many of them 

 thirty or forty feet high — a rate of growth 

 almost unprecedented. Five years ago 

 Mr. Phillips and Mr. Creswell, of this 

 city, hired lands of the Goldfields Com- 

 pany, on which they formed plantations. 

 They have already sold the same company 

 timber to the value of £4,000, and they 

 have more standing worth probably twice 

 as much. Millions of trees, pines, blue- 

 gums, or eucalyptus might be planted on 

 the hill-sides to milden the climate, en- 

 rich the soil, and improve the water 

 supply ; but the Boers don't plant trees. 

 "What is, perhaps, more remarkable in the 

 way of natural storage is that, even in the 

 Karroo and the Kalahari Desert, water can 

 almost alwa^ s be found at a moderate 

 depth. The explanation seems to 

 be that the heavy rains, when 

 they can come, carry downward 

 whatever of the clay or humus they 

 do not wash away, and that this sediment 

 forms a water-bearing layer, from which 

 supplies can be drawn during months and 

 even years of drought. Instances have 

 been known where this stratum was 

 scarcely thicker than a penny-piece, and 

 the water-finder is very careful not to 

 pierce it. It remains only to add how 

 amazing is the fertility where there is 

 water. A few days ago I visited the 

 homestead of Mr. Cooke, on the northern 

 slope of the ridge of hills near this city. 

 This gentleman bought some hundred 

 acres, of which sixty are under cultiva- 

 tion. It is now the depth of winter, but 

 I found growing acacias, wattle trees, and 

 grape vine&, cabbages, peas, cauliflowers, 

 green barley for horses and cattle ; almond 

 trees were in blossom ; oranges and 

 lemons were ripening. As there is peren- 

 nial sunshine, growth never ceases. Mr. 

 Cooke made in one year £600 by his 

 strawberries and £700 by his three crops 



of potatoes. His flower beds, especially 

 his show of chrysanthemums, are a 

 marvel. The whole secret of this luxuri- 

 ance is a little, nearly invisible rill of 

 water that issues from the hill-side, and is 

 being unceasingly turned upon the soil. 

 A Boer had this land previously, and he 

 was starving, poor man, the regulation 

 " arme Boer." 



Agriculture in France m 



'I HE "Morning Leader" calls attention 

 1 to what the Government of France does 

 for Agriculture in France : " It has estab- 

 lished a network of agricultural instruc- 

 tion, and the peasant proprietor, keenly 

 alert to every promise of increased pro- 

 duce, is taught how to extract the most 

 and the best from the soil. At Paris 

 there is a central ministry of agriculture. 

 Upon it there are dependent professors of 

 agriculture, who are to be found in every 

 department of France. In many of these 

 departments there are special professors 

 acquainted with special branches. Thus, 

 in a department where vine-growing is 

 the chief object of agriculture, there is a 

 special professor who devotes his atten- 

 tion to the improvement of the methods 

 of viticulture ; and so forth. Next, there 

 is in each commune a schoolmaster, who, 

 through his scholars, is in direct touch 

 with the peasant proprietors. The pro- 

 fessors make it their duty to keep in close 

 communication with these communal 

 schoolmasters ; and the latter, receiving 

 their lessons from the professors, impart 

 them in turn to the peasants, through the 

 medium of the children or by means of 

 conferences. Further, a plot of ground 

 is attached to the communal schools in 

 rural districts, on which the schoolmaster 

 makes experiments with various manures 

 and varieties of seeds for the instruction 

 of the farmers. Nor do official efforts end 

 here. Experimental fields, as well as 

 fields on which the asceitained effects of 

 the experiments are demonstrated, are 

 established ; competitions among farmers 

 are organised, and medals, diplomas, &c., 

 given for the best results in the employ- 

 ment of improved methods of agriculture ; 

 and, in fact, a well-organised and sus- 

 tained effort is made by the Government 

 to strengthen the tillers of the soil by 

 means of greater knowledge and skill." 



