154 TRAVELS IN 
vated with equal success, giving, after being twice cut down, 
a plentiful crop of seed. A small kidney bean, the Phaseohcs 
lobahis, grew very rapidly, producing two crops in one season ; 
this is an excellent species of food for cattle, whether given to 
them green or dried into hay, which is the case also with the 
lucerne. A strong tall dog's-tail-grass, the Cynomrus coracaims 
of India, affording a wholesome food for man and beast, 
after being cut down twice, produced a crop of seed. Of 
this species of grass horses are extravagantly fond, and it 
will remain green nearly through the winter. The culture of 
all these would be of the greatest importance to the welfare 
of the colony. Nothing is so much wanted as green food for 
the cattle in the summer months when every kind of herbage 
is burnt up and disappears. The Cape might also be rendered 
valuable to the state on which it may be dependent, by 
the cultivation of the different kinds of hemp for cordage and 
canvass, and which might be carried on to an unlimited extent. 
The Cannabis sativa, or common hemp, has been long planted 
here as a substitute for tobacco, but its cultivation was never 
attempted for other purposes. It grows in the shape of a 
branching shrub, losing entirely that habit of springing up in 
a single stem as it always appears in Europe ; which is no 
doubt owing to its being planted singly. When sown 
thick on the ground as in Europe, it is said to shoot up 
exactly in the same manner, ascending to about the height 
of eight feet, and giving to all appearance a fibre of equal 
strength and tenacity to that Avhere it is usually culti- 
vated ; and it requires very little trouble in keeping clean on 
the ground. The different plants of India, cultivated there for 
the purposes of hemp, have been found to grow at the Cape 
fully as well as in their native soil. Of these the most com- 
