its advocacy benevolent almost to excess, its influence considerable.

2. The Zuid Afrikaan, a highly respectable paper, published every Tuesday and Friday, at 10s. 6d. per quarter.

3. The Government Gazette, principally advertisements and Government intelligence, without being political; every Friday; 13s. 6d. per annum.

4. The Cape Town Mail every Saturday, at 7s. 6d. per quarter; a new and very valuable publication, reporting with great care and fidelity cases before the law courts, proceedings of council, the municipality and public meetings, &c.

5. De Verzamelaar, Dutch and English, published every Tuesday, at 4s. 6d. per quarter, a useful paper for the Dutch. 6. Silberbauer's Price Current, 16s. per annum.

7. Silberbauer's Shipping List, 30s. per annum.

8. De Höning Bij, a religious periodical, 1s. per month. 9. Van Der Sandt's Almanac and Directory, a work of great industry, replete with useful and interesting information, and would do credit to London itself; 6s. 6d.

Published in Graham's Town.

1. The Graham's Town Journal, every Thursday, at 6s. 6d. per quarter; a well written newspaper, on whose information respecting frontier affairs and occurrences beyond the colonial border the utmost reliance can be placed. It is edited by one of the first party of British settlers of 1820.

2. The Cape Frontier Times, every Thursday, at 8s. per quarter; conducted with much spirit, and also a well written periodical, containing much useful intelligence.

3. The Albany Magazine, a monthly journal devoted to literature and science; 1s. A very interesting and respectably conducted work.

I SECTION VI.

AGRICULTURE.

THE Eastern Province of the Cape of Good Hope is particularly well adapted for the production of all descriptions of grain, fruit, vegetables, and farming stock. It is a fact well known that samples of Cape wheat, weighing 65 lbs. and upwards the

bushel, and exhibited in Mark Lane, have been pronounced to be equal, and even superior, to the growth of any other country*. The same reputation attaches to this produce at Mauritius and Calcutta, to which places considerable quantities are annually shipped. For several years after the settlement of the colony, the wheat crops in the frontier counties were severely injured by the occurrence of a disease called the rust, but this has been declining in virulence, and for some time past the harvests have been prosperous, the crops this last season (1841) have been most heavy and abundant. There is no question but the Cape generally, by the introduction of more effective labour, or by rendering that steady which the colony at present possesses, could be made an extensively exporting country for grain; barley, oats, rye, maize or Indian corn, and millet are successfully grown in very large quantities.

In Albany, the Winterberg division is the most fertile grain district. The lofty mountain range which intersects this neighbourhood is frequently capped with snow for several months in the year, and from this source are fed numerous streams, or spruits, as they are here called, which enable the agriculturist,

• The following is from a highly respected house, the fathers of the Corn Exchange. It may, however, be mentioned, that in the commencement of the year, 1842, a parcel of Cape wheat sold at 74s., and the highest Essex that day was 68s:

London, 6th April, 1840. SIR,-In answer to your inquiry, we beg to say that we consider the quality of the finest Cape of Good Hope wheat to be equal, and in some respects superior, to the best English, or any foreign wheat, which we have seen.

It is very rarely that English wheat weighs 64 lbs. per bushel, but we have had Cape of the finest quality which weighed upwards of 65 lbs. per bushel.

In October, 1831, we sold Cape wheat at 75s. and 81s. per quarter, and our highest quotation for the best English white at that time was 74s. per quarter. In May, 1832, fine Cape sold at 80s., and at the same time the top price of English white was 76s.; and in August, 1835, fine Cape sold at 52s., whereas the best English white did not realise more than 48s. Since this last mentioned period, owing to high duties, the English markets not offering a remunerating prospect, scarcely any wheat has arrived in London from the Cape.

We remain, Sir, your obedient servants,

DANIEL AND JOHN BIRKETT, & Co., Corn Factors.

Mr. J. S. Christophers.

by means of irrigation, to counteract the summer's drought. This county, including the sources of the Kat River, on which the Hottentot settlement is formed, is calculated (if the inhabitants be but protected against the incursions of the Kafirs) to be one of the most fertile and valuable districts in the whole colony. Many parts of Somerset county are also well adapted for the production of grain, and in fact a considerable quantity is yearly sent from thence to the Graham's Town market. The next county to the northward, namely, Graf Reinet, as well as the counties of Cradock and Colesberg, produces grain equal in quality to that grown in any part of this country. It is, however, never sown except in situations which will permit of irrigation. No farmer in the interior districts thinks of attending to tillage where he has not a supply of water available for this purpose. Nor can he indeed, without it, cultivate with any degree of success, even a garden for the use of his own family. Along the coast the case is different. Here irrigation is but seldom resorted to; gardens and vineyards flourish, and tillage is extensively carried on in exclusive dependence on the rains and on the humidity of the atmosphere, peculiar to the tracts of country bordering on the sea. The farmer, at the commencement of his operations, has very little labour in clearing. He has seldom to do more than to remove a few mimosa bushes, a work comparatively light and trifling; and it is found invariably that new land, if of average quality, will always produce the best and surest crops. The course of agriculture is extremely simple. Nothing is known of compound manures. The field is generally at a convenient distance from the cattle kraal, from whence he procures a dressing for his land whenever it may be required. Little attention is paid to change of crops. Oats, for instance, are frequently sown upon the same land for many years in succession. Sometimes, when the seasons are favourable, two crops of the same grain are produced the same year, and it is by no means an uncommon procedure immediately a crop of oats or barley has been harvested, to plough up the land for Indian corn. This grain is unquestionably one of the most valuable that the colony produces. It is usually sown about the month of October, and even until Christmas, and the return, under favourable circumstances, is very large. Sixty bushels per acre

are frequently gathered, and even as high as eighty is not an extraordinary crop. Though by an English palate this grain is not approved in the shape of bread, yet on a farm it is invaluable. When bruised and boiled in milk, which is generally plentiful, it makes a nutritious article of diet, and when made into thin cakes and baked, it is an excellent substitute for wheaten bread, and, with pumpkins, forms the chief vegetable food of the coloured classes in this province*.

Fruit is produced in the greatest profusion in most parts of the colony, at an extremely reasonable rate, and where care is taken, which is but too seldom the case, the choicest descriptions may be grown. Of those peculiarly British, we have plums of every kind, apricots, almonds, peaches, pears of great variety, apples of most sorts†, strawberries, mulberries, nectarines,

The above judicious remarks on this subject are quoted from the editor of the "Graham's Town Journal," who thus counsels the new immigrant-"Having given this brief outline of the state of agriculture in this colony, we may now observe, that to the farmer there is here abundant room for the exercise of all the industry and knowledge which he may possess. Not that we would recommend him to come hither with very high opinions of his own superiority over the old colonist. We have known many who have come amongst us in this temper, who, by following their own long established notions, have, in the end, been grievously disappointed. The method of agriculture must, necessarily, depend greatly upon soil and climate, and a perfect knowledge of these can only be the result of observation and experience. Hence, though the agriculture of this colony is doubtless capable of great improvement, yet, perhaps, the simplicity of the mode of operation, which is so peculiar to this country, but which is calculated to excite a sneer in one who has been used to the finished and complex system at home, may constitute its great excellence. The newly arrived immigrant should be chary of introducing innovations upon established customs; let him take advice from those who, from long residence, are best able to afford it, and he will escape much loss and vexation. In one sentence, we would say, let him improve upon the system in operation as much as he pleases, but do not let him attempt to subvert it. We have known many indulge in fancies of this kind, but we never knew one who did not pay dearly for his experiment, or who was not constrained to confess that he had formed opinions which, in practice, he discovered to be extremely erroneous."

It has hitherto been found impossible to prevail upon the Dutch farmers of the highland estates to attempt the manufacture of cider, a drink in much repute and very highly prized on the frontier, and constantly imported, although the fruit in those places is so abundant as to be allowed to waste. A press was some time ago introduced into the Lange Kloof for this purpose, but not one Dutch farmer would take the trouble of trying the experiment, and it was therefore sent back to

quinces, medlars, figs, raspberries, grapes of every description, cherries, currants, and gooseberries, are raised on some of the highland farms of the colony; I have had all three at once on my own table, but these events, though very rare, still prove what the country is capable of.

Besides these we have the fruits of the warmer climates in great perfection; Chinese and Seville oranges, lemons, pamplemousses, shaddocks, limes and citrons, melons and water-melons of every species, pomegranates, jambos, loquats, guavas, bananas, plantains, pine apples, and that abundant and delicious fruit the Physalis Peruviana, called here the Cape gooseberry, or Appel de Liefde.

The wild fruits, indigenous to the country, are also incredibly numerous, and many of the most excellent kinds might perhaps with culture be capable of much improvement; among these are the wild grape (Vitis Capensis), the brambleberry of several kinds (as Rubris Mundii, R. fructicosus, R. Chrisocarpus, R. Ludwigi), wild plums (Pappea Capensis), cranberries, two kinds (Flacourtia rhamnoides and Protea rotundifolia), olive or wild plum (Evelynia sylvatica), myrtle apple (a new species of Eugenia), wild pomegranate (Hamiltonia Capensis), quarri (Euclea undulata), num num, the Hottentot name, (Ardunia Ferox), duin berries (Mundia spinosa), with a great number of others by far too many to enumerate in the limited space of this work.

Vegetables of all sorts common to Europe, with several tropical kinds, are also raised in considerable quantities and excellent n quality; in many instances they greatly exceed the size of those of colder climates. The want of steady and constant labour, however, renders them somewhat dear in the markets. There are several indigenous kinds, among which the wild asparagus, everywhere common, is the most plentiful, and is much more highly flavoured than the cultivated kind; the edible portion, instead of being short, as in the last named description, is a foot or eighteen inches long, perfectly eatable, quantity and quality are combined.

Cape Town, where it lies packed up in a warehouse. Thus in possession of one of the finest colonies, the old inhabitants have neglected one interest after another, thereby accounting for the slow develop. ment of its great resources.