750 



TEE AORIGULTURAL JOURNAL. 



concerned, I may state, upon the informa- 

 tion of the Principal of the Cape Agricul- 

 tural College, that similar observations 

 have been made at the Elsenburg farm. 

 — C. Fuller. 



W. Mapstonb, Thornville Junction. 



To fulfil my promise to write you 

 regarding the Algerian and our own oats, 

 I will commence with the Algerian. On 

 the 18th January, 1901, we sowed about 

 eight acres of these oats, and harrowed 

 them in. They came on very well until 

 May, when rust appeared very badly in 

 them, and as a consequence they died 

 away nearly to the ground, although they 

 were over two feet high. With the 

 beautiful early rains they shot up again, 

 and we began cutting on 16th October. 

 It was, however, a very poor crop, and 

 full of dried straw caused by the rust. 

 This necessitated cleaning the hay before 

 sending to market, and in so doing about 

 half the weight was lost. As a conse- 

 quence we considered the crop, to a great 

 extent, a failure. 



On 26th March we sowed and harrowed 

 in 250 lbs. of our oats, i.e., the oats called 

 after us, and upon the same day we 

 planted a field of Algerian alongside, and 

 another strip through the middle of our 

 oats. This was done so that we might 

 compare the two kinds during their 

 growth, for, as you know, there is a great 

 likeness between the two. All came up 

 very well, but in a month from planting 

 the Algerian shot up three to four inches 

 above the Mapstone, which were then 

 almost flat on the ground, and stooling 

 out very much. By 1st May, rust made 

 its appearance in the Algerian, but not in 

 the Mapstone. With the first few sharp 

 frosts, however, the Algerian recovered it- 

 self to a great extent. The Mapstone oats 

 were ripe for harvesting by 20th Novem- 

 ber, the 250 lbs. of seed yielding about 

 seven tons of forage. The Algerian was 

 ready for cutting a fortnight later and 

 gave a very fair crop, but in both cases 

 the crops would have been much heavier 

 could we have irrigated. We notice that 

 the Algerian takes longer to dry when 

 cut than the other, and that it had a little 

 smut in it, which we have never seen in 

 ours during the five years we have had it. 



I may mention here that in all these 

 cases the oats were planted after a mealie 

 crop, for which the land had been bone- 

 dusted. 



We also planted about 30 acres with 

 Algerian oats in another field between 1st 

 and 12th February last. These suflEered 

 rather much with rust, and when har- 

 vested we had to clean the dead straw 

 before tying into bundles. 



J. A. F. Orttlepp, Vlakbult, Zulu- 

 land. 



Writing on the 4th of January Mr- 

 Orttlepp says :— I am glad to be able to 

 inform you that the 25 lbs. of Mapstone 

 oats received from the Department early 

 last April has proved itself to be a 

 thorough success, considering the results 

 all round. The 25 lbs. was distributed 

 amongst five farmers in equal parts, all 

 but one lot of about 9 lbs., and I have no 

 hesitation in saying that we have in the 

 Mapstone oat a thorough, all-round, valu- 

 able oat. The five lots were sown 'at 

 different altitudes, that sown at the lowest 

 (2,000ft.) was simply perfect ; others 

 sown at the highest (about 3,000ft.) were 

 very much affected by rust when seeding. 



Altogether the 25 lbs. were sown on IJ 

 acres of land, yielding, as near as I can 

 gather from the information received 

 from the parties to whom I supplied seed, 

 after repeated requests for written state- 

 ments without avail, 1,158 lbs. nett seed, 

 and 3,322 lbs. of straw. All had to irri- 

 gate, and are highly satisfied with the 

 general qualities of the forage. 



The following is the result of my trial 

 of 9 lbs. of seed planted on my farm, 

 Vlakbult, altitude 3,000 feet ; sown on the 

 9th April on well cultivated, fine soil. 

 The plot, 2-5ths of an acre, was heavily 

 manured with kraal manure last year, 

 and planted with potatoes previous to the 

 oats. The ground was well ploughed just 

 after a good rain, seed sown and harrowed 

 in, after which carefully hand-raked and 

 cross furrowed for leading water ; no rain 

 up to the 27th, when the field was well 

 irrigated. Splendid rain on the 7th May, 

 also on the 19th, 21st, and 24th May. 

 June rather dry ; watered twice. Irri- 

 gated during July ; looking fine and 

 stooling well. Sufficient rain during 

 August. September wet ; too much rain, 

 showing rust in some parts. October the 



