The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1913-05-27
PAINLESS WHEAT
And No Locusts Achieved by
the South African
Farmers.
From the London Chronicle

From the London Chronicle
And the desert shall rejoice and bios
som rs the rose In the wilder
ness shall waters break out, and streams
in the desert. And the parched ground
shall become a pool and the thirsty
lands springs of water Isaiah XXXV.
lsaiah's many prophecies concerning
the fertility of the desert places of
the earth are having some measure of
fulfllment ia South Africa, according
to Dr.. Macdonald of the union depart
ment of agriculture.
DIR. Macdonald, who gave an address
on agriculture and land settlement in
| South Africa at the ROYAL Colonial
institute, Ia best Known as the en-
thusiastic exponent Of the pioneer Of
the dry farming movement, which has
revo~lutionized agriculture in that
country.
In an interview with Reuters rep
resentative DIR. Macdonald says:
Before the government started ex
peIimental dry land stations il was
widely believed that farming was only
possible beside the water furrow. This
meart a few irrigated patches of land
and the rest of the country a desert.
But we have changed MI that. In each
of the four provinces and in Rhodesia
thousands of acres Of dry land, once
considered ~valueles5, are now being
plowed up and planted and are yield.
ing excellent crops.
America had grown wheat on an
| eight-inch rainfall. Australia has
gown wheat on q ve-inch rainfall,
but we. in South Africa, have grown
a rainless wheat. That is to say that
during the past season at L~ichtenburg,
which is in the dry one of the
Transvaal, we have grown a wheat
without a single drop of rain falling
This is the durum wheat, ApLlia,
which we origi, ally introduced from
he dry bslt of it ,ly. Our nc s
has been due 81 tho use CT what we
term Moisture Saving Fallows. Tue
great problem Of South African agri
culture is not the problem Of fertility.
1t is the problem OF the conservation Ct
moisture We have now solved that
problem, and made possible the in
mediate settlement of orr dry or arid
lands.
again, by systematic dipping and
fencing, cattle disease is now we'll nm
der control.
But perhaps the most dramatic sue
cess 10 the campaign against insect
pests is to be seen ia the conquest Of
the locust by means of arsenical
3 rays. The flight of every swarm of
locusts is registered aud photographed to
the headquarters Of the Onion Depart.
ment of Agriculture at Pretoria, and
when the young locusts emerge, the
weld is ringed with poisoned grass,
over which they cannot pass. A short
time ago the government OF Peru sent
an ex cert into the Trausvaal to study
our methods of locust destruction, but
the only locust which the chronological
could show him was TO be found ia the
museum.
Few people in England seem to be
aware of the fact that the richest farm
ers in the British Empire are the
ostrich farmers of Cape Colony. Or,
take the Province of Natal. 1t has
developed large and profitable industl lie
in sugercanc, wattles, and tea. But
these are small in comparison to its
future as a d%airyine country, where
milch cows can remain outside all
she year round, being grazed on the
rich natural pastures of a we'll watered
region, supplemented by 6elis Of
m ile, sugs C NJ, al d Inc me. With
the rise of fruit-farming and dairying
we may look for the coming of the
small holder"