98 
OSTRICH FARMING. 
sweet grass flats of the interior, and although, like the 
springbok, the ostrich occasionally resorts to the long 
sour grass of the coast lands, where, perhaps, the lime 
and salt replace alkalies of the ‘ sweet grass * and 
Karroo, neither will thrive for any length of time on 
the ‘ strand veldt ’ or the * sour grass ’ of the sandstone 
ranges, deficient in alkalies. Alkalies in some form or 
other seem to he necessary to the very existence of 
sheep, bucks, and ostriches, and where these do not 
exist on the soils or plants, they must be supplied 
artificially to ensure the healthy condition of the 
animal, and the proper growth of the wool, hair, and 
feathers. It is for this reason that salt, so necessary 
for all domesticated animals, is in some parts of the 
Brazils said to be worth its weight in gold. I have 
heard of a house, the walls of which (made of brack 
ground) were nearly licked through by a span of 
tuurveldt oxen let loose on the reef. The attraction of 
the salt licks or pans in the interior for game and 
stock is well known. This natural want may often be 
recognised at a glance on the surface of a farm. No 
bones are seen lying about on a tuurveldt farm, all 
being greedily devoured by the stock ; cattle and sheep 
crush them up, and ostriches swallow them whole, 
whereas on a sweetveldt farm, whose soil and shrubs 
are rich in alkalies, the bones are untouched. Nothino* 
o 
requires them. There are three farms adjoining each 
other within a dozen miles of Graham’s Town, on which 
upwards of 150 ostriches are kept, which strikingly 
exemplify this fact, and this comparative adaptability 
of different soils and pasture for sheep, Angoras, and 
ostriches. Kruisfontein, on the south, belonging to my 
brother, John Atherstone, is an unmitigated tuurveldt 
