Anyone who 118.8 been in Australia, or has read much of the immense scale on which wool-growing is carried on there

where a hundred thousand sheep owned and managed by one man is not uncommon, and where ten thousand is held

to be the smallest number that can be profitably worked, and then compares the Oape, where ten thousand is a rarity

, and a man with three thousand is looked upon as well to dOt would

think that the soil and climate of Australia are superior

«فروشگاه اینترنتی». Hilt it is 02 Digitised by the University of Pretoria, Library Services 20 OSTIUCH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRIOA. not so.

They are very similar, the difference being in favour of the Cape, which, taking it all through, will carry a heavier stock to

a given area than Australia. The difference is partially caused by the farmer having to purchase hisland~ because at the

Cape a large proportion of his capital is sunk in land; whilst in Alistralia, the sheep industry being mainly carried on on government

ground, the squatter merely paying a grazing licence of 8d. a head per annum for the stock the land is supposed to be capable of

carrying, his whole capital goes into stock. But the great cause of difference is in the labour supply. In Australia labour is dear,

but it is White, and does not require close supervision; therefore, large flocks, extending to a radius of twenty miles from the

homestead, Bre practicable; and the fewer homesteads the less expense and more profits; whilst at the Cape the labour is very cheap,

but very untrustworthy, great supervision being absolutely necessary; cOllseqnently, not more than one or two out-stations are practica

~le, and in most cases all the sheep are kept at the home.. stead, where they can be counted morning and evening and guarded from thieves

, without which care they would

soon melt away; the greater number of homesteads, therefore, up to a certain limit, the greater profit at the Cape

and this applies equally when comparing the size .of the herds of cattle and horses in Australia with the Cape herds.

Digitised by the University of Pretoria, Library Services SOUTH AFRICA IN A FARMING LIGHT. 21 The same cause

works in the agricultural districts, where everything is comparathlely on a small scale, and things are done in a primitive

style; but this is all in favour of the young emigrant of little or no capjtal. The Romans held that the sheep was·shod with gold

, i.e., tIlat it brought wealth wherever it went, in that it enriched the land. This is so where they are enclosed, and leave their dung

on the land; but it is the very reverse where they are herded in flocks. Then they trample and loosen the best of the soil,

wbicb gets blown in heaps and washed away; whilst the under-soil gets hardened down, and the rain runs off instead of soaking in

. The manure which should be re-fertilising it gets deposited in enormous heaps where the sheep are kraaled at night,

and where it is utterly lost to the soil.

«روغن شترمرغ» The sheep feeding year in and year out over the same ground, the best of the herbs are eaten down and prevented frQm seeding, till they

die out and their place is taken by inferior kinds. This is what has gone on all over the Cape Colony, till many parts have ceased to support

sheep at all. Very great injury was done to the sheep industry by over-stocking, and allowing old, sickly, and inferior sheep to breed

. This was partly done in error, and partly because, previous to the discovery of diamonds, there was no mal"ket for surplus stock;

but the illevit- Digitised by the University of Pretoria, Library Services 22 OSTRICH-FARMING IK SOUTH AFRICA. able result followed.

The limit which Nature appears to put to the amount of anyone kind of stock on a given area was passed, and she sent diseases

and swept them off. That tllis law is inevitable has been proved over and over again in England, where game has been attempted to

be increased to an inordinate extent; but,. in spite of all care and artificial feeding, after a certain point is reached diseases come on

and sweep them off_ And 80 with poultry; as long as a farmer keeps a few, what can be healthier? But let him get an excessivanumber,

and how quickly diseases break out and reducethem down! We have written thus much about the sheep, because unless Ostrich-farmers

are careful not to crowd the birds on the land, the same results will inevitably follow wi~h them. The land should not be stocked to the

extent that it is at first capable of carrying. If it is, the best herbs will be destroyed; whilst if it is only partially stocked, in good seasons these

get a chance to seed and reproduce themselves. Even greater care is required with the Ostrich than with the sheep, from the habit the birds

have of selecting one particular plant to feed on, and, as long as they can get that, neglecting all others.. The only thoroughly effective way

to prevent this is to let half the farm lie idle six months, and then the other half the next six months. The man of Digitised by the University

of Pretoria, Library Services SOUTH AFRICA IN A FARMING LIGHT. 23 means, and owning his own farm, should always have two large camps

for each troop of birds, if he would keep an eye to the future as well as· the present; whilst the needy man on a hired farm can move to another

ftlrm when his lease is ont, and thus save himself from the inevitable consequences of overstocking. Digitised by the University of Pretoria,

Library Services CHAPTER IV. THE CAPITAL REQUIRED. BEFORE going into this question it will be necessary to answer the question, What is capital

Most young men will exclaim, "The money my father has given me to start with;" or, "The money I have inherited, or expect to inherit.""

But this is a most deceptive idea of capital, as excepting in the rare cases of the young man inheriting large estates, where he has nothing to

do but live off the rent-roll, or where it is 80 tied up that he has only to take the interest without having anything to do with managing the

principal, the money inherited, unless accompanied by a thorough knowledge of the business in which it is to be employed, will soon be lost.

There is an old Birmingham saying, "The man that begins business in his shirt-sleeves will end in his carriage. The man that begins in his

carriage will end in his shirt-sleeves." This is the case all the world over, but doubly 80 in the case of a man emigrating from England

to the Cape, where everything is so different. So that we see capital in its useful sense consists Digitised by the University of Pretoria, Library

Services THE CAPITAL REQUIRED. 25 of other things besides a sum of money. The labourer"s capital consists ill his strong sinews and

early training to manual labour. The mechanic"s capital consists in the skill he has acquired at his trade. The professional man"s capital, in the

money spent on his early education, and durin~ the time of his articles or college training; it is large or small, according to his natural

the use he bas made of them«روغن شترمرغ».

The merchant"s capital, in a sum of money, and general knowledge of business, and business habits.

The Ostrich-farmer"s capital, in the money invested in his stock, and knowledge of Cape farming generally,

and the management of birds; the two latter being the most important.