a 
1 May, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 323 
gold, coal, and diamond mines were, by decree, compelled to devote a percentage 
of their gain to the execution of irrigation works on lines laid down by the 
Government, they would assist in the permanent development of the country. 
Thus it would happen that when the mineral wealth of the country had dis- 
appeared its agricultural wealth would have been put on such a solid basis that 
the country would not have to fall from the height of prosperity to the depth 
of poverty, and here it is that he brings in the statement at the head of this 
article. After a short dissertation on the advantages of the metric system of 
measurement as compared with the English system, he proceeds to describe the ~ 
different sections of the three colonies in detail. 
As numbers of Australians are looking to South Africa as a country in 
which to settle down to agricultural pursuits, we reprint these details from the 
Agricultural Journal of the Cape of Good Hope. 
Tue SourH-WeEsTERN CoRNER OF THE Cape Conrony. 
The Koeberg District lies between 200 and 600 feet above sea-level, and 
is typical of the south-western corner of the Cape Colony. ‘The average rainfall 
is about 80 inches per annum. This is one of the wheat districts of the 
colony. The abundant winter rains render it independent of irrigation in 
winter. The average size cf the farms may be taken as 2,000 acres, of which 
about half the area seemed to be under cereals of some sort, principally wheat 
and oats. ‘These areas appear to be too large for their profitable working by 
comparatively poor farmers, and the ploughing was done perfunctorily. There 
is a universal complaint against rust in wheat. As no rotation of leguminous 
crops with cereals is ever attempted, but cereals are made to follow cereals with 
occasional fallows, this is not to be wondered at. One of the successful farmers 
recently sowed lucerne with his wheat in certain of his fields, and has been 
rewarded fivefold. It is contended that there is no market for beans and other 
legumins in Cape Town, and consequently they cannot be profitably grown, and 
that lucerne cannot survive the summer drought. If an agricultural railway 
was constructed through this district it would be easy to dispose of fodder, and 
very possibly the Egyptian clover (berseem, a legumin) would be an excellent 
rotation crop for a climate like that of the Koeberg, and it has a winter annual. 
Egypt and the Cape Colony might mutually aid each other by making an 
exchange of seeds. Egypt is particularly rich in legumins, while the colony is 
rich in fodders capable of existing under conditions of extreme drought. A 
crop like the Egyptain clover grown in rotation with wheat might store the soil 
ata nitrogen and probably destroy rust in the wheat. 
In these districts reservoirs for providing perennial irrigation would be 
premature at present. When the landowners had thoroughly developed their 
single crops per annum, it would be time to think of double crops. All over the 
colony legumins might be grown with cereals with great benefit to agriculture. 
In a protected country it should not be difficult to start oil-mills, make oil out of 
beans, and utilise the cake for cattle-feeding. Both in India and in Egypt the 
natives consume immense quantities of lentils (““ads” in Egypt, and “dall” in 
India), with great advantage to themselves; while beans form one of the 
principal foods of donkeys and poultry in Egypt. In India, horses, sheep, and. 
cattle are fed almost exclusively on “gram,” which is another lentil. A change 
from mealies to “‘gram’’ would be a great gain to horses and cattle in this 
country. If the taste for lentils was once developed among the coloured 
races, there would be a great demand for legumins in the colony. The 
Kimberley and Johannesburg mines might encourage their workmen to eat 
lentils cooked with curry powder, with advantage to the workmen and to the 
pepcuieure of the colony. Indeed, in the present condition of the meat supplies 
of South Africa, lentils (dall and rice) might be introduced as a food for 
Europeans as well as for natives. In India, Europeans find it a nutritious and 
palatable diet. European children are brought up on itin great part. Itis the 
main base of “ Revelenta Arabica,’ a well-known food for invalids. And, 
