'■Upplrmnil  to 
232 
JO/://liYAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  ]2,  1903. 
Gardening  in  the  Transvaal. 
The  New  Colony Seasons  —  Rainfall  —  Soils  — 
Vegetables  and  Flowehs — Irrigation— Farm  and 
(!arden  Labour- Tran-srort  :  a  Redfction  of  Kates 
—  Fruit  Culture  -  Hailstorms  and  Locusts. 
/  ^^HIS  fresh  South  Africa  colony  of  ours  is,  in  a  sense,  settled 
^  y  down  to  its  new  Government,  although  a  long  time  mmst  en- 
J  sue  ere  it  is  in  really  good  working  order.  I  shall  endeavour 
to  give  a  few  general  notes  about  the  country  which  may 
be  found  of  some  little  interest.  I  do  not  know  if  much 
is  even  thought  of  in  the  Old  Country  of  its  gardening  possibilities. 
Its  farming  will  be  more  heard  of,  seeing  the  interest  our  present 
Government  is  taking  in  it — its  liberal  compensation  to  the  Boer 
farmers  and  the  chances  they  are  giving  to  settlers  in  the  country 
districts.  To  start  with,  our  seasons  are  exactly  the  opposite  to 
yours;  our  summer  is  your  winter,  and  so  on.  We  have  no  rain 
in  winter ;  our  rainy  season  extends  usually  from  October  to  May 
— at  times  it  is  a  little  longer  or  shorter  on  either  side.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  shows  the  average  rainfall  registered  at  the  Government 
Builclings,  Pretoria,  for  ten  years  previous  to  June  30,  1902:  — 
.Inly 
August  . . 
September. 
October  . . 
November. 
December  . 
.lanuary  . . 
February . . 
March 
April 
May 
J  line 
lucliea. 
0-0/ 
0-19 
I'lS 
1-93 
3- 99 
4- 35 
(1*7  2 
3*76 
3*(  7 
0  'tS 
0-J8 
0  19 
D.iys, 
1 
2 
4 
8 
12 
13 
15 
10 
1*2 
6 
3 
1 
The  average  for  one  year,  therefore,  is  26.91in  in  eighty-nine 
days.  The  present  season  has  been  an  exceptionally  rainless  one 
all  over  the  colony.  When  the  rains  do  come,  they  last  two  days 
or  more  ;  generally  they  clear  off  in  that  time,  and  then  we  have 
splendid  weather.  During  winter  we  have  pretty  sharp  frosts  in 
the  higher  populated  parts,  as  much  as  8deg  to  12deg,  and  even 
14deg  have  been  recorded.  As  a  rule,  however,  flowers  stand 
them  without  harm,  the  reason  attached  being  the  dryness  of  the 
atino.sphere.  During  these  severe  touches  it  is  frightfully  cold. 
I  must  add  here,  though,  that  the  young  or  tender  vegetables 
Avill  not  stand  these  frosts.  The  soil  is  in  many  parts,  according 
to  reports,  of  a  fairly  deep,  red  loamy 
nature,  with  a  good  amount  of  sand ; 
I  indeed,  sand  is  predominant  in  some 
I  regions.  A  peculiar  black  soil  is  found 
f  to  be  very  suitable  for  some  fruit  trees. 
I  j  One  most  important  constituent  of  the 
Vegetables  jn  Central  Africa.  (Page  235. 
soil  is,  of  course,  gold  quartz.  To  procure  the  best  results,  arti¬ 
ficial  or  farmyard  manure  must  be  added. 
Wed,  and*  what  grows  in  this  soil  and  climate?  As  for  vege¬ 
tables  I  can  safely  say  that  there  is  no  limit,  and  many  of  them 
do  better  in  winter  than  in  summer,  and  soine  of  them  do  better 
here  than  in  England.  Rhubarb,  however,  is  inferior  and  difficult 
to  keep.  Generalisations  may  be  made  of  flowers;  annuals 
do  splendidly,  but  the  herbaceous  perennials  soon,  run  out. 
For  the  tuberous  rooted  and  the  bulbous  plants  a  finer  climate 
could  not  be  named.  Strawberries  do  well,  and  as  many  as  three 
crops  can  be  picked  in  a  season  ;  but  to  be  able  to  grow  them 
irrigation  has  to  be*  resorted  to  during  the  dry  season.  Potatoes, 
especially  the  French  Early  Rose,  crop  grandly;  I  might  almost 
say  that  they  are  more  than  ecjual  to  English  grown  tubers. 
Ancl  now  I  come  to  the  all-important  point — the  water  supply. 
The  prosperity  of  a  large  garden  or  farm  depends  entirely  on 
this.  Given  a  good  supply  of  water,  then  the  flower  garden  can 
be  kept  gay  all  tlu’  year  round;  the  market  gardener  can  supply 
the  vegetable  market  without  a  break,  and  the  farmer  can  have 
green  Barley  or  forage  and  early  Potatoes  ready  for  the  highest 
price's.  Without  a  good,  steady  supply,  all  the.se  advantages  can 
hardly  be  guaranteed.  The  irrigation  of  the  land  entails  a  great 
amount  of  labour  and  expense.  There  is  the  making  of  a  largo 
dam  or  reservoir,  which  incurs  more  or  less  outlay,  according 
to  the  situation  of  the  land  or  to  the  wishes  of  the  proprietor. 
Then  there  is  the  means  whereby  the  water  is  conveyed  to  the 
land  requiring  watering,  of  which  one  system  is  to  lay  shallow 
“sluits”  or  “  gutters,”’ providing  the  land  is  suited  for  such. 
In  small  private  gardens,  jhpes  are  laid  throughout,  and  pierced 
with  holes  to  allow  the  water  to  saturate  the  ground. 
The  natives  make  very  fair  garden  and  farm  labourers.  Those 
who  liave  had  a  training  under  the  sjambok  make  the  best 
assistants,  and,  with  a  bit  of  “pushing,”  do  a  fair  day  s  work. 
Since  the  war,  they  have  been  rather  scarce,  but  now  tliere  ap¬ 
pear  to  be  a  few  niore  going  about.  They  can  be  had  at  £2  a 
month,  with  mealies  (Indian  Corn);  but  for  the  best  ^'orkers, 
£3  to  £4  must  be.  paid.  Around  the  towns,  wages  are  all  at  the 
higher  rate.  These  natives,  or  Kaffirs,  rarely  stay  longer  than 
a  few  months  in  a  place  ;  their  only  ambition  seeming  to  be  to 
make  enough  money  to  buy  one  or  two  wives,  then  they  letuiii 
to  their  kraals  “and  live  happy  ever  afterwarcis 
Transport  is  a  great  (piestion  for  those  at  distances  from  the 
be.st  markets.  For  those  at  easy  distances  oxen  are  the  most 
commonly  used,  and  although  they  are  slow,  they  are  steady  and 
take  heaVy  loads.  I  have  recently  observed  an  enterprising 
market  gardener  (an  Italian,  I  believe),  taking  his  produce  into 
the  Johannesburg  market  by  motor  traction  from  a  good  distance 
outside  that  town.  For  those  in  touch  with  the  railway  through¬ 
out  the  country  great  reductions  (20  per  cent  )  I'^ve^  just  been 
made  on  all  gocids  traffic;  and  on  “  country  produce  I  think  the 
reduction  is  a  little  more.  The  customs  rates  have  also  been 
revi.sed  and  greatly  reduced,  much  to  the  benefit  of  the  agricul¬ 
turist.  I  notice  that  green  fodder  is  now  free  pf  duty  to  pass  from 
the  Cape  Colony  into  the  Transvaal, 
Avhich  will  greatly!  tend  to  reduce 
prices  up  here.  Still,  fresh  green 
-  Barley  will  always  retain  the  highest 
'  prices.  At  present  it  takes  from 
four  to  eight  days  to  come  from 
Cape  Colony  to  our  best  markets. 
Good  farms  can  be  procured  through¬ 
out  the  Transvaal,  many  being  as 
near  railway  communication  as  pos¬ 
sible.  In  the  Boksburg,  Heidleburg, 
Krugersdorp,  Lydenburg,  Zeerust, 
Zoutpansberg,  Standerton,  and  Pot- 
chef  stroon  districts,  good  farming 
land  can  be  had. 
For  the  culture  of  Peaches, 
Nectarines,  Apricots,  Pears,  Apples, 
and  Oranges,  the  good  (tistricts  com¬ 
prise  Vereeniging,  Witwatersraiid. 
Rustenburg,  and  Potchef.stroom . 
These  are  a  few  of  the  best  out  of 
many  good  regions.  At  Barberton 
(although  not  a  healthy  spot  to  live 
ill)  large  fruit  farms  are  getting  into 
order.  This  is  also  a  great  Orange 
growing  locality,  and,  from  what  I 
have  seen,  better  Oranges  can  be 
grown  in  some  parts  of  the  Trans¬ 
vaal  than  in  Natal.  Mangoes,  too, 
bring  good  prices  from  Barberton, 
and  Coffee  growing  is  just  in  its  in¬ 
fancy  there. 
Hailstorms  and  locusts  are  the 
worst  enemies  here.  A  heavy  hail¬ 
storm  will  ruin  a  whole  farm  or  gar¬ 
den  in  a  few  minutes.  In  many 
cases,  fruit  growers  abstain  from 
thinnine  their  fruit  crons,  knowiim. 
