Sheep Breeding i?i New South Wales 



flame tree, with great bunches of crimson, wax-like 

 blossoms. 



A tour by steamer around the port of Sydney re- Sydney 

 vealed the picturesque and complicated ins and outs Harbor 

 of one of the most remarkable of all great harbors. 

 And going about the adjacent country I became inter- 

 ested in the art of breeding merino sheep; at one 

 wool-grading station I was asked to give a lecture on 

 the industry in other lands. There are now no better Fine 

 merinos or other fine wool strains than those of New merinos 

 South Wales. The chief drawback to the business lies 

 in the occasional prolonged lack of rain, when for 

 months not a cloud crosses the steel-blue sky. In the 

 great drought a few years ago large numbers of sheep 

 died but the owners took special pains to preserve the 

 heaviest of fleece. As a result, I was told, the average 

 clip for each animal afterward increased about one 

 third, a piece of convincing evidence of the value of 

 selection. 



During the drought, when the beasts were moan- in time of 

 ing, people began to pray for rain, and a certain cat- drou s ht 

 tleman was asked to add his petition. "If God hears 

 those cattle and isn't moved," he said, "do you sup- 

 pose he would listen to a cuss like me?" 



At the state agricultural school I was told that the 

 Babcock Milk Tester, invented by Dr. Stephen M. 

 Babcock of the University of Wisconsin, had alone 

 made dairying possible in Australia. 



4 



Lectures and other engagements in and about 

 Sydney having come to an end, I accepted an invita- 

 tion to help dedicate the newly established univer- 

 sity at Brisbane. This attractive city lies in the 



C 215 3 



