580 
professor branford’s address. 
with long lists of statistics as to what mortality has been witnessed, nor 
with irrelevant verbiage, but ask at once to what causes are all or part 
of these evils to be attributed. A great cry has been raised that over¬ 
stocking is the root of the evil; another cry is raised about the tick and 
its concomitants; some assert that grass burning, others, that twice 
shearing has its baneful influence; again, that kraaling has been a great 
factor in the destructive work. All these conjointly, 1 believe, have had 
bad influences, and to these evils may be added the lack of a supply of 
saline agents to the sheep, and the non-return to the soil of those plant- 
growth stimulating agents, which exist in the excreta of animals, and 
which for years past have been accumulating in the kraals near the 
homesteads ; and this state of matters, the non-return of such excreta to 
the soil, and the situation of the kraals, which, as a rule, are at the 
extreme end of the farm, has given rise to an immense amount of 
tramping and wear and tear of the veld, which, in a naturally dry 
climate, we must admit cannot be otherwise than highly injurious. Now, 
upon careful reflection, we should, I think, all agree in a belief that 
there is much reason in these statements, and I think we cannot do 
better than discuss the question, comparing the remarks with a few 
startling facts that may not have been generally thought of, but which, 
upon reflection, seem to carry on their face good ground for such state¬ 
ments, especially as regards overstocking and manuring, and the 
deficiency of saline agents given to any stock. Merchants tell us (and 
they surely are tolerable good judges of the financial part of the busi¬ 
ness, seeing that through their hands the produce of the land passes 
before it leaves this colony) that they have observed marked differences 
in their returns at certain periods of their business transactions or 
mercantile career, such periods harmonising considerably with other 
theories, and tending to prove the truth of professional statements. We 
are told that after a number of years of uninterrupted grazing, up to a 
certain point, heavy wool sales were experienced, then a gradual decline 
set in, followed by almost nil, then again a reaction and great rise in 
weight of products, followed after a few years by similar depression 
Again, we are told nil, appear and so on, indicating that some special, 
as well as general cause, must have been in operation to produce these 
terrible consequences under our more immediate consideration this morn¬ 
ing. For instance, in 1835, men who commenced with a small flock found 
in seven or eight years great increase, and in 1846 had become rich and 
wealthy; no overstocking evils were yet felt. In 1846 a rest was given 
to the land by the war, and wool fell off by reason of farmers trekking 
from the district. Then up to 1851 a prosperous period showed itself 
for wool-farmers, but decline began just as another war commenced; 
then again we find the land getting rest. After the war and short rest, 
the scale turned on all farms in favour of the wool-growers, and sales 
increased steadily for a few years, when gradually a variation and 
decadence appeared to be setting surely in, and farmers began inquiring 
of each other, in all directions, as to the condition of their sheep. The 
replies were in nearly every instance unsatisfactory ; and for the last ten 
or fifteen years, this unsatisfactory state of things has been steadily 
getting from bad to worse, and we now find those farms which, in years 
past, were undoubtedly the best wool-producing farms, are from mor¬ 
talities increasing among the sheep, now comparatively worthless, and 
some utterly useless. I need not particularise such farms, the facts are 
indisputable, and it behoves everyone of us to seriously consider how we 
can remedy the evil, if a remedy can be found. Looking to the state¬ 
ments of the merchants, one would infer that after a few years’ rest we 
