PREFACE. 



This report contains an account of a tour undertaken with the special 

 object of finding out what progress had been made in Dry-farming in 

 the United States, and whether it was likely to become an established 

 practice. The conclusion drawn from these investigations will be found 

 in the closing pages of the report. As there is still some uncertainty in the 

 minds of many as to the real meaning of the term dry-farming, I have 

 inserted a short paper dealing with this matter in the Appendix, together 

 with an account of the methods adopted in the different States. Land 

 settlement has also been briefly touched upon, because the successful 

 cultivation of the dry-lands of South Africa must ultimately pave the way 

 for a practical and comprehensive scheme of National Land Settlement for 

 the whole of South Africa. Other matters of general agricultural interest, 

 noted in this tour, will be discussed in subsequent numbers of the 

 Agricultural Journal. 



The writer's hearty thanks are due to the Government and the people 

 of the Transvaal for their sympathetic interest in this mission, which he 

 trusts he has carried out to their satisfaction. He is also indebted to the 

 Imperial Government for the honour conferred upon him in appointing 

 him to represent the Colonial Office at the Trans-Missouri Dry-farming 

 Congress ; and he earnestly hopes that the information gained may be of 

 some practical value in the agricultural development and colonisation of 

 other parts of the Empire. Nor must he fail to thank his many friends, 

 both old and new, in the United States for their ready help and warm- 

 hearted welcome. 



Department of Agriculture, 



Pretoria, 12th October, 1909. 



