80 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



remember that our staple cereal — maize — is planted from September un- 

 til December. In a word, if no rain falls in September, which sometimes 

 happens in the Lichtenburg and other districts, farmers cannot plough 

 their land or plant their maize unless their fields have been previously 



Soil Treatment. 



tilled and the soil moisture conserved. I am. therefore, convinced that 

 the methods so successfully adopted by the Utah farmers, and so ar- 

 dently advocated by Wi'dtsoe, Merrill and Jardine, namely, deep plough- 

 ing, constant cultivation, combined with the moisture-saving fallow will 

 also be found to be the best means for the Transvaal farmer to insure 

 his crops against seasons of drought. 



Evaporation. 



"Side by side with the rainfall should be studied the great problem 

 of evaporation. The iluminating paper read by Dr. L. G. Briggs of the 

 Department of Agriculture at your last Congress ,is worthy of the at- 

 tention of every farmer. As you may remember. Dr. Briggs' investiga- 

 tions show that at two points, namely, in North Dakota and at Amarillo, 

 Texas, the annual precipitation M^as practically the same, during the year 

 under review. Whereas the rate of evaporation at the Texas station was 

 almost twice that in North Dakota. I am certain that the rate of evapo- 

 lation on the dry lands of the Transvaal is likewise very great; and this 

 is a problem which calls for immediate investigation. In South Africa 

 it is widely believed that our seasons are drier than those of 10, 20 or 

 30 years ago. But the data compiled by Professor Chilcott and Dr. 

 Briggs relative to the rainfall of the past 30 years on the Great Plains 

 area, showing that the difference of precipitation over decennial periods 

 was actually only one-half inch, leads me to think that the same may 

 also be true of our seasons in the Transvaal. But I must not trouble 

 you with unnecessary details; and in passing from the subject of rainfall, 



Land of Sunsliine. 



I would mention that as a land of sunshine the Transvaal is probably 

 without a rival in the whole world. From maps prepared by the Di- 

 rector of Meteorology and published in the Transvaal Agricultural Jour- 

 nal we learn that whereas last year in the Transvaal there were 3,330 

 hours of sunshine, Monte Carlo in the South of France having only 2,500 

 hours and England but 1,600. The Transvaal, therefore, is entitled to be 

 called 'The Land of Eternal Sunshine,' and this is probably the chief rea- 

 son why all crops in a well tilled, moist soil, germinate and shoot to the 

 surface with such surprising rapidity. 



Soil Conditions. 



"Let us now look at the soil. To a hurried traveller, viewing mrle 

 after mile of waving rooi (red) grass, it might appear that the Transvaal 

 was more adapted to cattle ranching than to agricultural farming, an 

 opinion that has been advanced by more than one authority within the 

 past few years. This, however, is an error, which is becoming more evi- 



