ABSTRACT
BULAWAYO, 29TH SEPTEMBER, 1903. In January last, in the middle of the wet season, the addition to the Matopo Dam, the Malema Canal, or furrow, was completed. is was, of course, too late to allow the dam to reap much bene t from the rains of last season, which I may add showed a shortage of 13 inches, when compared with the average of the past ten years. A er the completion of the furrow, there was really only one storm that a ected the catchment drained by the Canal, yet this brought upwards of two hundred million gallons into the dam, and with about a hundred and twenty million gallons, caught in the catchment area of the reservoir itself, we found that we had conserved some three hundred and twenty million gallons at the end of the rainy season, despite its abnormal dryness. With this supply, Mr. Hull commenced irrigating some 350 acres of wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, lucerne, etc., with the most satisfactory results, his crops, especially the wheat,
being rst class. Sir Lewis Michell1 was luckily on a visit to this country just as these crops were ripening, and saw for himself how successful the results of the irrigation had been. Summer, or the wet season, / is again approaching, and if we have an ordinary rainfall, there will be far more water in the dam than we caught last year, and consequently there will be ample to irrigate more land than Mr. Hull can manage, and I am of opinion that Mr. Rhodes’ idea of lling up the valley, which contains about two thousand acres, with a number of settlers, should now be considered. Leave Hull with, say, 500 acres, and there will remain some 1,500 to be dealt with. Deduct from this 200 to 300 for roads, kraals, houses, and waste, and we have 12 plots of 100 acres each. Commence next season, and place one settler on plot No. 1; then go on at the rate of two yearly, and in six years the valley will be lled with a sound farming population. Regarding the settlers, I would urge most strongly, that the selection be le to Mr. Hull and myself; there are many reasons for this, but I cannot do better than quote the case of the rst I propose to locate, a Mr. J. Appleby, who, though bringing rst-class references from England, and who was a practical farmer there, is only t now, a er eighteen months under Hull, to take over a plot. I would also recommend that plots be only given to men who are married, or who are about to marry. In connection with the above, I quote the following from a letter from Mr. Hull to me on the subject, a er he had discussed the matter with Sir Lewis Michell and myself: – /
“Re the continuation of the proposed irrigation scheme I suggest that a er the main irrigation furrow has been laid out, a complete survey be taken of all the ground to be brought under irrigation. at the ground be divided as nearly as possible into 100 acre blocks; at the top of each, and as near the main furrow as possible, a small dam be erected to hold from 100 thousand to 200 thousand gallons. Immediately below the dam an orchard of ve or six acres be laid out and planted with trees that have proved themselves to be most suitable to the country. Between every two blocks, a broad roadway be le , fenced on either side to allow easy access to the grazing ground, which, of necessity, must be on the opposite side of the river, where also camps will have to be erected for the grazing of the stock at night. e leases for each tenant to be for a period of two years, with option of renewal for whatever period the Executors may think t, provided the tenant gives satisfaction, and has a certain knowledge of his work. at all buildings and kraals be properly laid out and erected at the expense of the Estate, the sum for such buildings not to exceed One thousand pounds (£1,000), for which the tenant shall pay interest / to the Estate at the rate of 5% per annum. at each tenant shall supervise the stumping of his own block of ground, the Estate paying for the actual labour employed. e conditions of lease under which the ground will be given out to tenants to be as follows: – at the pro ts be equally divided between the Firm “Rhodes & Hull” and the tenant, at the end of every six months. at the water be divided proportionately, according to the amount the dam contains at the
end of each rainy season. I would suggest that men be allowed to take up more than one block if they prove capable workers, and have su cient capital to but the extra stock they would require for properly working the ground”.
