AGRICULTURE. Both by the quality of its soil and its climatic conditions, Cape Colony is better adapted for grazing than for the raising of grain. Wheat. oats, barley, corn, and other grains are raised in quantities hardly sufficient to meet the domestic demand. The rearing of cattle, sheep, and goats is carried on very extensively, many of the sheep-farms ranging in size from 3000 to 13,000 acres. In 1899 the live stock of the colony comprised nearly 1,100,000 bead of cattle, about 390.000 horses, over 90,000 mules and asses, over 1,260,000 sheep, nearly 5,000,000 An gora and other goats, and over 260,000 ostriches. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION. Owing to the deficiency of navigable waterways, the transportation problem very early attracted the attention of the colonial administration, with the result that in regard to transportation facilities Cape Colony may compare favorably with many of the British colonies and some parts of Europe. The roads have a total length of over 8000 miles. and the railway lines (December 31, 1900) of nearly 3000 miles. The first railway line was
constructed in 1S59, 58 miles long, connecting Cape Town with Wellington. The main object was to connect the most important ports with the interior, and lines were started from East Lon don, Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town in a north ern direction. The opening of the diamond-fields of the colony and the gold-fields of the Transvaal gave a new impetus to railway-building. Cape Town has been connected with Kimberley since 1S85 and with Johannesburg since 1S92. In 1894 the Cape Town line was extended to nifelting, and since then through Bechuanaland and Mata beleland as far as Salisbury in Rhodesia. Of the total mileage in operation at the end of 1900 the Government operated nearly 2100 miles of its own lines and about 600 miles owned by private companies. The total cost of the State lines up to the end of 1900 was nearly $106,400.000. The telegraph lines, owned by the Government, had a total length of about 7500 miles.