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COLONIZATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

and incapable in the sub-continent—the Garden Colony does not lend itself to any extensive settlement schemes, such as could be financed and directed from England. The colonist stands to gain more in Rhodesia, for example, than in Natal, and so long as that is the case, all the chances in fruit and sugar which here offer, so to speak, from Nature itself, will not attract men who seek to do the best for themselves and their families.

It is worth noting, though, how extremely well one settlement in Natal turned out. Unfortunately, these immigrant farmers were not British, and foreigners can live in circumstances which do not commend themselves to English people. Economy was, however, in this case its own reward. Every penny gained in sale of produce was re-expended in the land—increasing its extent, fertilizing and renewing the soil, until many of the individual farmers started on their own, to become rich and prosperous agriculturists. The children of these German settlers have risen to be among the most influential men in Natal, and they are all loyal to the British Crown. When similar settlements have been attempted by English farmers they have usually proved abortive, because men have drifted away into town and commercial life, where money may, with luck, be more quickly made.

Individual settlers selecting Natal for their South African venture would be well advised to take up sugar cultivation, should their farm be within the sugar zone; while fruit farming is of excellent promise in almost every part. Bananas, pine-apples, and oranges can be grown in abundance, with comparatively little trouble, and a market exists in the neighbouring towns—especially of the Transvaal—while the export trade could be very readily built up, given more skilful packing and lower freights. The recent discovery in California of the remunerative by-industry connected with orange cultivation ought to give some impetus to the development of orange farming. Of every crop, a considerable proportion is generally waste from one