THE SOUTH-EAST REGION, with its summer rainfall and some what higher temperature, is more suitable for the cultivation of maize than of wheat, and some of the chief maize-growing districts in the province lie within it. Kaffir corn is also extensively grown, and other crops include oathay, tobacco, and fruit. Sheep and cattle are reared in large numbers throughout the region. There are considerable areas of fertile soil, of which the best use is not always made, as much of the land in the Transkei territories is in the hands of natives, whose standard of cultivation is not high.
THE KARR00.—On the Karroo the rainfall is meagre, while the heat of summer is often great. Graaf Reinet, for example, has a mean monthly temperature ranging from 56° F. in June to 74° F. in February. The region is, in the main, a pastoral one ; but, as the vegetation chiefly consists of dwarfed shrubs, the carry ing capacity of the land is low, though, where irrigation is possible, matters are somewhat better. On the Little Karroo, where lucerne
can be grown to feed the young chicks, large numbers of ostriches are reared. This industry, which is carried on in many places, but notably round Oudtshoorn, has assumed considerable impor tance within recent years, and the export of ostrich feathers has quadrupled in value since 1890. Large quantities of tobacco are also grown in irrigated districts on the Little Karroo, but elsewhere stock-raising is the chief occupation of the farmer. Cattle were formerly reared for transport, but, with the development of the railway system, they are now less required for that purpose, and more attention is being paid to dairying. Sheep and goats are both raised for the sake of their fleece.