GENERAL SMUTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 13

GENERAL SMUTS.

ENTERPRISING FARMER. G«S‘*lw earS , l,av f . el! *P sed since ereneiaj Emuts entered into, posession ot h, 6 estate at Doornkloof .ansvaal, .says the Cape Argus Ten miles from Pretoria, it is B s iVuated aimd a nest of hills on the sour&Tof £ e R »ers, with the Srden hamlet o. Irene just apposite When 5 n^rhmT 1 ” 11 aence at the farm, rejoicing in the !“ K ,‘ h »f bring him E close k bul, « al< >"' residence which ° ‘ by an a , venue f £ D 1 trees is comfortable, but has no Ppretensions to architectural beauty The wooden steep (verandah) opens on a ball giving access on one side to the r°°- m and on the ot ber to a ter L dln +f ng r °° m simpl y furnished. In the sitting room are several pictures, chiefly of South African s££ery, painted by Hugo Naude. Numerous .signed portraits of famous men and women, including their Majesties the King and Queen, indicate the wide range and eminence of the general’s career. &

I ! 1 £ he la nds are the signs of General Smuts enterprise as a farmer, though there are many wealthier and more prosperous landowners the Transraa-1 with wider fields and larger herds, few farm more intelligently Evidence of his “up-to-dateness” is found m the roaring of machinery, the song of the Ohio blower eating up green mealie stover a.t the rate of five tons an hour. General Smuts sets a good example by dipping his cattle once a week. At first-, after the dipping tank was built, the animals were dipped ouce a- fortnight, but the tiea-t-ment proving highly beneficial both in respect of the health of the cattle and in keeping away flies, the "’as- given for weekly dipping. Tiie trees more than anything else on his farm are emblematic of General Smuts’ character. |“Almost,'’ he remarked on one occasion, “I would sacrifice one of my beautiful trees rather than this should happen.” Apropos of what loss the remark was made does not matter; that it was uttered reveals the general’s sentiment. and the truth' that to him, “No. tree in all the grove but has its charms.” That sentiment is expressed in a plantation of 500,000 gums and in. manv ornamental trees about the homestead, willows and planes and oaks. Drives and paths stretch for miles between the stems of cairns that - have grown tall since the first plantings began twelve years ago. The plantation is kept dear of laterals, and the trees tower straight and well proportioned. General Smut's is not very free with advice to farmers; perhaps he thinks they get. a superabundance of advice; but always he helps them when it is humanly and departmentally possible. At Doornkloof he .shows how even or. a. modest scale the demands of five national needs mav be satisfied: water storage, afforeetation, destruction of ticks by dipping, the growing of fodder crons, -and the making of ensilage. The possession of Doornkloof is not General Smuts’ only claim to be a farmer, for be owns a. small ranch (Barbersoan) in the Western Transvaal. General Smuts himself can. of course, exercise only a, general supervision over hk farms, and thou s>. long intervals. These agricultural affairs are entrusted to a competent manager.