Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1915-01-23

iAS tuiOuSu OIluSueSo EttSt AlTlCd
Two-thirds at least of southern
Rhodesia lie three thousand feet and
more above sea level, about quarter
of this being over four thousand feet
the highest ground being well suited
from Chronological point of view,
for European settlement.
Generally speaking, Rhodesia Is not
country for the man without cap
ital; the white population is at pres.
ent inconsiderable in numbers and Is,
In great measure, scattered over the
country on farms and In small mining
centers. There are, in consequence,
no communities sufficiently large to
offer regular work to more than very
limited number of artisans, or city Ia
borers. 1t is generally accepted that
imum capital of $4,000 to $4,000. I'm
improved land sells at about $175 per
acre and upwards.
Laborers Live on Farms.
The labor problem is got over by
allowing a number of Kafirs to live
on the farm. They have permission
to cultivate certain amount Of land
and to Craze their cattle and goats.
In return they must give the farm.
er certain amount of their time for
cultivating his land, and look after his
cattle.
If Kafirs are scarce the farmer
will probably induce some poor white
families to locate on his farm, who
give their labor In exchange for the
privilege of living on the farm.
They build their own houses and
cultivate enough land to give them
living, but very seldom grow any
thing to sell. The vrow or wife looks
after the garden and fowls, the eggs
generally going to the nearest store
in exchange for such necessaries of
life as sugar and tea.
The high veldt farmer can, by Judi
cious burning of the grass on certain
sections. keep supply of green grass
all winter, and thereby keep his cat
tie in good condition. Some follow an.
other course. They hire farm on
the low veldt where the grass is bet
ter In winter. and bring the stock
by slow marches from the highlands
to the hired farm, grazing them by
the road over which they travel AS
there are practically no fences, ex.
cepting around cultivated land, there
is no difficulty in feeding on the way.
The low veldt farms, excepting in
the winter months, are very deadly
| to cattle and sheep. No farmer would
think of bringing his stock down there
until after the first frost. It is Just
as deadly q locality for white men,
owing to the prevalence of malarial
| fever
Is a Tropical Country.
1t must not be forgotten Rhodesia
is entirely within the tropics, which
extend to the twenty-third degree of
latitude on either side of the Equator,
and that, generally speaking, it is in
this area that a uniformly high tenn
perature prevails, the mean annual
figures being at from 73 degrees to 80
degrees Fahrenheit. The average for
the whole of Rhodesia is, however,
considerably less than this, owing to
the difference in altitude.
Fruits are abundant and large ex-
port trade may yet be done in them,
despite the fact that the country has
no seaport of its own. Insect pests
are troublesome, being chiefly of the
scale variety.
The South American tree, the paw
paw, which has been introduced to
most Of the British tropical depen-
denotes, grows we'll in Rhodesia, and
has most probably a future before 1t.
The property possessed by the juice
of dissolving fibrin renders 1t a pow.
erful digestive, and already there is
considerable demand for the extract,
especially in the United States Of
| America.
The squashes which grow so abun-
dainty in many parts of Rhodesia per.
form an important point In taking
the place of water for drinking pur
poses, vixen the latter is not aysn
| able