Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1912-11-16

XW " WHEN the settler has chos-
VI AE en- his farm, he will lose
WW no time in proceeding there.
WV SO as to begin the new
round existence at once.
The farm may be of 5000 acres, or
Of 5000 morgen, which is about 5000
acres, and 1t will be readily under
stood that In such a wide area of un-
broken land there is much to do. AS
likely as not the farm will consist Of
an almost unbroken plain with few
undulations, or perhaps 1t may have
few rocky kopjes on its borders, to
vary the monotonous outlook. There
may be watercourse, which very
likely will be dry If the time Of the
year is between April and October.
Most of the water-courses are dry at
that period OF the year. and form drifts
only, which sometimes are terror
to the treklter. For In Rhodesia the
farms adjacent to the railway are
pretty well all taken up, and 1t will
be necessary to trek to some distant
spot, either by bullock or mule wag-
on, SO as to enter into possession Of
an unbroken farm. 1t is to be borne
In mind that while the farms" are
large In size they are cheap enough,
costing only some SIS. per acre for
the freehold, and even then may be
acquired on extended payment terms.
Surely there Is every inducement here
to the farmer who would seek to own
his farm.
Mules and Oxen.
Tho settler must needs start OF
with mules or oxen, and slowly trudge
along from day to day towards his
destination. 1t is a pleasure to trek
on the weld. tits best to start at sun
rise, and get on a good part OF the
way before ten or eleven o'clock.
Then 1t is we'll to outspan your teams
and prepare the forenoon meal. The
outspan must be near water, for that
Is the fret consideration for the mules
and oxen. They win forage for them
selves on the weld, and pick up suf-
ficient to keep them going from the
sweet weld grass. The heat OF, the
day is always trying, and lasts pretty
well till o'clock in the afternoon.
when the teams may be inspanned and
the journey renewed. For the most
part the roads are good, but some
times the drifts are difficult to nego-
tiate, and 1t is just as well to leave the
wagon then and negotiate them on
foot. IT Is characteristic of the roads,
which are merely tracks through the
weld, that near to the river-beds they
are frequently broken up by the heavy
rains which have fallen during the
wet season, and great chasms often
occur on the track. A detour must be
made to avoid these washed away
roads. as. II you travel in buck
board" or covered ambulance wag-
on, you will certainly have hard
time of 1t II you try to negotiate
track that has been partially washed
away The Journey is interesting
enough as you push on In the cool OF
the evening: then you may see game
of all kinds on the weld, such as stem
bok, duiker, reedbuck and all kinds
Of antelopes; and the supply of fresh
meat for the Journey depends upon
being able to stalk some of these sue
cessfully. But there is plenty OF 9TH
er game. not only of animals but
birds, such as bustards, guinea-fowl
and snipe.
But the trek to the farm comes to
an end. and then the real business of
agriculture begins. The oxen, mules.
or donkeys, which have brought you
so far, must now be utilized for break.
ing up the farm, and the sooner the
work is started the better
The clearing has first to be. done,
and stumping will most likely be the
first task. 1t consists OF removing
stumps of trees from the ground. so as
to make continuous field. The
stumps are the relics of the native
method of clearing the weld They
break down the branches OF the trees
and set fire to them at the base, and IL
possible the stump Is then removed.
More often than otherwise It is left
behind. and the native cultivation goes
round about II. There are great ex-
panses of territory where such stumps
exist In large numbers. and the only
thing for the settler to do is to start
and remove them. They may come In
useful for building dam over q
donga so as to conserve the water
supply; but In any case they must
come out.
II the settler is wise he will have
seen that his farm has a large catch
ment area, as during the dry months
from April to October he will want all
the water he can get. Possibly there
is an alluvial valley with black, rich
soil. and alongside may be a portion
of 'red formation" soil. or granite for
nation. These are the three princi-
pal soils in Rhodesia. and It Is usual
to have them mingled on most farms.
They all have their uses, but the red