Beyond that of most countries in the world of equal extent the flora of South Africa is rich in both genera and species. The neighborhood of Cape Town and the warm, sub-tropical regions of eastern Cape Colony and Natal are specially affluent in beautiful flowers. In the Karoo district, and northeastward over the plateau into Bechuanaland and the Transvaal, vegetation presents but little variety of aspect, owing in part to the general sameness of geological formations and in part to the prevailing dryness of the surface. In general, South Africa is comparatively bare of forests—a fact for which denudation by man cannot account, for it is yet a country new to civilization. Some primitive forests are to be found on the south coast of Cape Colony and in Natal. These have been put under the care of a Forest Department of the government. In the great Knysna forest wild elephants still roam at large. The trees, however, even in the preserved forests, are small, few of them being more than fifty or sixty feet in height. The yellowwood grows the tallest, but the less lofty sneezewood is the most useful to man. Up the hillsides north of Graham’s Town and King William’s Town are immense tracts of scrub from four to eight feet high, with occasional patches of prickly pear—a formidable invader from America, through which both men and cattle make their passage at the cost of much effort and many irritating wounds from the sharp spines. A large part of this region, being suitable for little else, has been utilized for ostrich farming. In the Karoo district and northward through Cape Colony, western Bechuanaland and the German possessions in Namaqualand and Damaraland—a desert region—there are few trees except small and thorny mimosas. Farther east, where there is a greater rainfall, the trees are more numerous and less thorny. The plain around Kimberley, once well wooded, has been stripped of its trees to furnish props for the diamond mines and fuel. The lack of forests is one of the principal drawbacks to the development of South Africa. Timber is everywhere costly; the rainfall is less than it would be if the country were well wooded; and when rains do come the moisture is more rapidly dissipated by absorption, evaporation and sudden freshets because of the absence of shade. Of late energetic measures have been taken to supply nature’s lack by artificial forestry. On the great veldt plateau in the vicinity of Kimberley and of Pretoria and in other localities the people have planted the Australian gum tree, the eucalyptus and several varieties of European trees, including the oak, which, besides being useful, is very beautiful. If the practice be continued the country will reap an incalculable benefit, not only in appearance, but also in climatic conditions.