482 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
June  8,  1899. 
gift  of  the  King  of  Spain  io  the  Dutch  Government.  After  we  got 
possession  of  S.  Africa  at  the  b?ginning  of  the  present  century  we,  as 
a  government,  did  our  best  to  promote  the  wool  industry,  bat  like 
many  other  matters  forced  on  the  people  by  Government,  the  experi¬ 
ment  resulted  in  failure.  People  will  not  be  forced  against  their 
inclination,  and  it  is  fair  to  suppose  those  African  farmers  knew  their 
own  business  better  than  a  paternal  Government  knew  it  for  them. 
As  long  as  there  was  labour  to  be  had  cheap  and  plentiful,  so  long 
were  other  branches  of  agriculture  the  staple  of  the  country — it  was 
only  after  the  slaves  were  freed,  and  the  necessity  of  doing  with  fewer 
hands  was  forced  on  the  farmers,  that  they  turned  their  attention 
i-eriously  to  the  shei  (,  in  Instry.  English  settlers  led  the  van,  and 
t  iler  many  preliminary  trials  hit  upon  the  right  sort  of  sheep  most 
suitable  to  the  climate. 
Here  as  in  S.  Australia  it  is  necessary  to  constantly  have  recourse 
to  new  blood  from  home.  The  wool  goes  back  to  the  original  hairy 
texture  and  loses  its  true  character. 
In  England  more  harm  is  often  done  to  sheep  by  a  too  excellent 
pasture  than  by  one  that  looks  to  the  unlearned  almost  bare.  By 
nature  the  sheep  prefers  a  short,  fine,  and  scanty  herbage,  and  thrive-s 
where  other  stock  would  pine.  Where  sheep  do  the  best  in  S.  Africa 
is  where  the  land  will  only  carry  half  a  sheep  per  acre.  The  food 
that  suits  them  best  is  the  Karoo  bush  or  sweet  veldt,  so  that  the 
best  sheep  runs  are  found  in  the  Karoo  districts.  'I'he  jfiateau  covers 
an  area  of  one  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  and  carries  about  six 
million  woolled  sh=ep,  two  millions  of  “fat  tail,”  and  numberless 
horses,  cattle,  and  goats. 
This  Karoo  bush  is  a  grey  green  shrub  about  8  to  10  inches  high, 
and  will  grow  in  regions  too  dry  for  grass.  As  sun  does  not  kill  it, 
neither  will  frost  injure  it,  so  therefore  it  is  available  for  fodder  winter 
or  summer.  The  reason  for  its  tenacity  to  life  will  be  found  in  the 
extreme  length  of  its  roots,  which  will  reach  the  moisture  sooner  or 
later.  It  must  be  in  character  somewhat  like  the  Kidney  Vetch  (Lotus 
corniculatus),  that  was  at  one  time  in  so  great  demand  for  the  blowing 
sands  of  Norfolk,  and  for  other  districts  where  the  soil  was  thin,  and 
ordinary  seeds  soon  “  gave  up  ”  if  the  summer  came  unusually  hot 
and  dry. 
For  this  wool  there  are  two  harvests  in  the  year  (we  wonder  if 
clipping  by  machinery  has  yet  been  introduced)  ?  The  sheep  are 
washed  before  clipping  as  here,  and  the  wool  is  again  washed  before 
being  baled  at  the  port  of  embarkation.  This  second  washing  is  quite 
a  business  to  itself,  and  is  carried  on  at  Uitenhage,  near  Port  Elizabeth 
and  King  Williamstown. 
The  Western  provinces  send  their  fleeces  to  Tulbagh  Basin.  After 
being  washed,  it  is  dried  by  rotary  machinery  and  compressed  into  as 
small  compass  as  possible,  with  a  view  to  the  next  stage — f  e.,  a  long 
sea  voyage.  It  can  easily  be  imagined  what  power  the  African  sun 
must  have  on  the  drying,  or  rather  bleaching  wool ;  no  fuller's  soap 
could  have  better  effect.  The  chief  ports  of  embarkation  are  Port 
Elizabeth  for  the  Free  State  and  Transvaal  wool ;  E.  London,  Cape 
Town,  IMossel  Ba}',  and  Port  Natal  also  export  large  quantities. 
There  are  difficulties,  and  great  difficulties,  for  the  sheep  breeders 
to  contend  against.  The  first  is  the  existence  of  a  tiresome  plant  of 
the  burrweed  type,  Xanthium  spinosum.  This  burr  if  it  gets  entangled 
in  the  fleece  is  perfectly  hopeless,  and  simply  ruins  its  value  entirely. 
Where  the  plant  has  come  from,  for  it  is  not  indigenous  to  Africa, 
no  one  knows ;  when  it  will  be  eradicated  no  one  knows,  either. 
The  next  enemy  we  know  something  of  by  dire  experience — scab ; 
but  not  the  mild  English  variety,  a  nice  tropical  plant  that  flourishes 
well  in  this  hot  climate.  We  almost  think  it  might  be  cured  in  time, 
but  the  Compulsory  Scab  Act  that  now  exists  must  be  drastically 
enforced. 
Our  English  chemists  have  so  many  and  so  good  remedies,  and 
withal  so  reasonable,  that  we  think  it  might  be  done.  But  until  the 
farmers  themselves  are  alive  to  the  possibilities  of  cure  not  much  good 
can  be  done.  Let  them  be  their  own  inspectors,  convince  them  that 
it  is  a  preventible  disease,  and  give  them  a  free  hand  in  the  enforce¬ 
ment  of  pains  and  penalties,  and  the  thing  might  soon  be  done.  A 
sj  arse  supply  of  water  has  b^en  urged  as  a  reason  for  not  dressing 
sheep.  We  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  fatty  matter  as  the  vehicle  for 
drugs.  We  think  it  is  more  searching  and  more  certain  than  water 
dressing.-!. 
There  is  great  complaint,  too,  about  mortality  among  lambs,  and 
the  general  delicacy  of  the  flock.  That,  it  appears  to  us,  will  in  time 
diminish.  It  will  be  a  case  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  the 
general  stock  will  become  hardier  and  stronger,  and  possibly,  too, 
means  will  be  found  to  prevent  such  great  mortality  among  the 
lambs.  It  is  wonderful  what  a  bit  of  science  wjll  sometimes  do,  and 
the  value  of  a  new  food  at  a  critical  time  of  life  is  often  little  short  of 
miraculous.  We  hive  taken  our  facts  from  an  interesting  article  ia 
April's  “  Windsor,”  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  -James  Cassidy. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Fine  weather  has  set  in  at  last,  aiul  8)ipen-s  likely-  to  continue.  We 
are  now,  iheretore,  busy  sowing  Turnips  and  Swedes,  for  the  i  iiid  which 
is  put  in  at  once  is  much  the  most  likely  to  bring  u  gootl  crop.  At  any 
rate  it  is  working  beautifully  now,  and  there  is  nothing  like  getting  on 
with  work  whilst  the  conditions  are  favourable.  There  is  abundance  of 
moisture,  and  a  Turnip  crop  should  now  be  a  certainty. 
We  sec  nitrate  of  soda  is  advocated  as  a  good  manure  for  Swedes,  and 
to  a  lesser  degree  for  Turnips.  We  can  only  say,  that  from  the  lessona 
taught  by  experience  we  do  not  think  nitrate  is  a  good  thing  for  the 
Turnip  crop— f.c.,  in  the  majority  of  cases.  If  it  is  used  at  all,  it  should 
be  in  very  limited  quantity.  We  have  tried  various  dressings,  from  56 lbs, 
per  acre  to  224  lbs.,  in  conjunction  in  all  cases  with  superphosphate  and 
potash  ;  also  as  an  addition  to  farmyard  manure. 
Our  object  in  using  nitrate  was  to  obtain  quickly  a  strong  robust 
plant.  Contrary  to  expectation  we  found  that  the  heavy  dressing  rather 
checked  growth  than  otherwise  ;  the  young  leaves  were  a  very  dark 
green,  but  they  did  not  make  rapid  progress.  Later  on  in  the  season, 
they  grew  well,  and  developed  a  large  top  ;  but  we  could  not  see 
any  increase  in  the  weight  of  roots  in  this  way  over  those  grown  with 
manure  and  superphosphate  alone,  or  produced  with  super  and  bonemeaL 
One  thing  we  did  discover,  that  the  Swedes  assisted  (?)  by  the  nitrate 
were  not  of  so  good  a  shape  as  those  grown  w  ithout  it,  and  that  they 
were  very  much  affected  by  canker,  so  much  so  that  many  of  them 
became  quite  rotten  and  useless  before  they  could  be  consumed. 
The  experience  of  a  neighbour  was  exactly  the  same  as  ours,  though 
his  Swedes  were  grown  on  good  limestone,  whilst  ours  were  grown  on 
weak  sand.  Erperto  credo  !  Keep  the  nitrogen  for  the  grain  or  Potato- 
crops. 
The  ewes  have  been  clipped  since  our  last.  The  wool  weighs  fairly 
well,  as  it  generally  does  after  a  mild  winter,  but  there  is  a  large  propor¬ 
tion  of  cotted  fleeces.  As  the  wool  buyers  are  only  offering  9s.  per  stone 
for  good  wool,  they  will  almost  wish  to  beg  the  cotts. 
Surely  something  must  De  wrong  when  good  English  wool  will  only- 
fetch  7|d.  per  lb.  Blankets  ought  to  be  cheap. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Sqtjaee,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32’  40”  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0”  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
d 
•3 
1899. 
May 
ami 
June. 
fc-  *73  —  1 
®  a  ® 
g  g  Hygrometer 
tion  of 
Wind-  1  foot 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
ce  ^  qp  1  TV 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
inchs  deg. 
deg. 
1  deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchs,. 
Sunday  .... 
28 
30-480  54-3 
47-8 
N.W.  50-0 
63-6 
37-2 
114-9 
33-0 
Monday  .... 
29 
30-441  50 -7 
48-9 
N.  51-2 
68-0 
38-8 
111-8 
35-3 
_ 
Tuesday  .... 
30 
30 -4091  52-6 
49-7 
N.  53-4 
68 -1 
41-1 
95-2 
38-3 
_ 
W  ednesday 
31 
30-364  61-9 
51-2 
S.  53-0 
74-2 
42-3 
113-1 
38-1 
_ 
Thursday  . . 
1 
30-250  68-3 
58-3 
S.E.  ,  54-6 
80-1 
46-8 
121 -4 
42-1 
Friday . 
2 
30-104  75-0 
59-8 
S.  '  57-1 
83-7 
56-2 
127-9 
51-8 
Saturday .... 
3 
30-2161  64-9 
55-1 
N.E.  59-1 
77-2 
61-0 
110-0 
46-3 
— 
3U-323j  6-2-0 
53-0 
64-1 
73‘G 
44-8 
113’5 
40-7 
— 
REMARKS. 
28th.— Bright  sun  almost  throughout,  and  clear  night. 
29th. — (ieneraDy  bright  and  sunny,  but  cloudy  for  a  time  in  afternoon. 
30th. — Sun  almost  throughout,  but  faint  owing  to  thick  haze. 
3lst. — Hazy  early,  bright  sun  all  day. 
1st. — A  warm,  clear  summer  day. 
2nd. — Bright  and  warm,  thre,atening  looking  clouds  in  afternoon. 
3rd. — tVarm  and  sunny,  but  a  little  hazy. 
A  rainless  and  sunny  week,  but  much  haze.  Shade  maxima  high  in  the  second 
lialf,  but  mean  temperature  not  much  above  the  average.— G.  J.  SYMONS. 
