An African Farm.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 June 1911, Page 4

An African Farm.

PUREBRED CATTLE,

MAIZE A>ND FRUIT GROWING. The following article, culled from a recent issue of the Natal -Witness (Maritzburg) gives a faithful idea of what small farmers are now doing in South Africa. Dealing with the cultivation of maize, which is being grown eadh year in larger quantities in and around Levin, the writer says:— For the yellow mealie section Mr Stockil (the farmer) is growing n variety known as the "Golden Beauty," a very handsiome mealie with a large grain,, and a vast improvement- on the much-despised "Golden King." I saw these mealies when they were just about ripe, and they were certainly the finest yellow mealies T Lave seen. This farm affords interesting pro ,f of the enormous value of cffien;is fertilisation. The soil is natural ,v so poor that without manure < f some sort, mealies will not grow all, or rather, will never bear a. cob. 1 saw proof of this in a- field of most flourishing mealies, almost ripe, where the fertiliser had been niis-'d by accident in two rows. 'Hie res .It was a road through the field, r-i-!' merely a few scraggy li-tle plant*, n few inches high, struggling for existence. Yet from this field, a very lairge one, Mr Stockil reckons to reap eight or NINE BAGS TO THE ACRE in spite of some hail and drought. The great secret of successful mealie-growiug, says Mr Stockil, is to plough in Alareli and again in •the spring, and let t'he second ploughing be done cross-wise if .possible. The improved quality of the mealies, and' the greatly increased yield resulting from till is method amply repay the additional labour and time expended. in .regard to the much disputed point as to the correct distances at which to plant mealies, I find Mr Stockil a believer in the narrow tows, and he himself plants 3ftf. 4in. _ In reply to a suggestion that in six feet rows, the mealies could be sown more thickly, he pointed out that in experiments at Geda-ra, it was proved that the best results could be obtained from mealies planted 3ft. one way, and 2ft. the other.

Mr Stockil would not liveup to the traditions of his name if he were not keen 011 fruit-growing. A piece of land was selected in the most alluvial portion of the valley, wih-ich had, been planted with gums and syringas. These trees were pulled out of the ground bodily by means OF OXEN AND HOPES, and the soil then thoroughly prepared. Young grafted trees—the apples being grafted on to Northern Spy stocks, which are blight-proof— were then planted in oheek-board fashion,, apples and pears alternating. Many of the trees have borne well this season, although only in their third year. Amongst' the many varieties of apples, Mr Stockil has found the "Cleopatra" to be a most useful and good eating apple. The "Jonathan" apple, too, is especially fine, and bears heavily. All the most common fruits are grown here, but a rather unusual one in Natal is the "Persimmon," the American date-plum. This has been planted by way of experiment, and seems to be doing very well. An original idea, one of sound economical principle, has been put into force in this orchard. The whole orchard is sown with buckwheat, which grows very thickly; but at first sight it would appear that it would monopolise some of the nutriment of the soil. Tliis is not so, the buckwheat having 110 effect whatever on the fr.uit~trees, and the idea is, says Mr Stockil, that if buckwheat were not growing there, something else would, namely, black jacks and other useless weeds, so one might just as well have a weed that is useful.

BUCKWHEAT is, of course, useful in many ways, more especially as a fowl food. I noticed that the orchard was completely surrounded with wire netting, and learned that this was absolutely necessary on account of the depredations of game, principally duikers and stembok. Some of the young trees have been, very seriously damaged by this buck, wlhioh abousd in this neighbourhood and' are able to force their way through the best of wire fences. Mr Stockil has just grown an experimental crop of Russian millet, the result of which has exceeded his expectations. The seed was -grown with a dressing of superphosphlate, and' although the crop has been greatly hindered by the long spell of dry weather, the yield has been 20 times the amount of seed. The grain of this millet appears to be slightly larger than that of the common Japanese, and altogether it is a most satisfactory product. A small FIELD OF LUCERNE fertilised with bone dust and superphosphate, is grown under irrigation, and comes in very useful as a winter feed. It is a refreshing thing to notice that,most of the more progressive farmers in Natal are concentrating their energies more and more on the producing of pure-bred, or nearly pure-bred, cattle, instead of indiscriminately crossing .them. I find .that Mr Stockil has set (his eye on Frieslande, and he is doing his best to improve, the,, quality of the 120 head,he now possesses.