THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



20E 



tlioso who were dependent on fixed salaries, Tho 

 luxury of a cab at £G a clay or lO.s. a drive svas pro- 

 verbially abandoned to the labourer and the yold- 

 digger. Oats brought a -luinea a bushel, cabbages as- 

 sumed a new dignity at 2s. Gd. each, and in a great 

 pastoral country fresh butter sold for 5s. a pound. 

 These were town prices, those of a seaport, with a large 

 external trade ; what then were the prices of the far 

 interior, now alive with mining population, in addition 

 to its previous pastoral occupants ? The interior indeed 

 was well nigh inaccessible under this state of things. 

 When the price of flour was £25 a ton at Melbourne, 

 it was £''200 at the great gold field of Bendigo, one 

 hundred miles inland, where in 1852 no less than 

 50jOOO mouths had to find sustenance. Long lines of 

 heavily-laden drays were dragged by teams of oxen 

 through the winter's rain and mud at a charge of 203. 

 per ton per mile. The country hotels left a very un- 

 favourable impression in more respects than one upo" 

 the traveller's finances. 40s. a night for a horse gave 

 to the animal even a greater account than his master 

 in the morning's bill of fare. If our countrymen will 

 boast, as they sometimes will, that a bottle of English 

 porter is equal to the best champagne, they enjoyed in 

 Victoria the pleasure at least of being charged an equal 

 price. All these difficulties are now comparatively 

 only in the past. Bendigo has now a large incorporate 

 town (Sandhurst), with churches and schools, banks 

 and hotels, theatres and racecourses, and a mac- 

 adamized road has long bridged the space that sepa- 

 rated Melbourne, while a substantial railway makes 

 rapid approaches between the same points ; but the 

 difficulties that followed the gold discoveries were 

 serious, and long felt by some of the established in- 

 terests of the country. The pastoral settlers, who had 

 already overspread all available tracts within the 

 colonial boundary, were crossing, the Murray, and 

 ascending far up tho Darling with their flocks and 

 herds, when the disorders of the new era suddenly 

 overtook them. The pioneers halted or retraced their 

 steps from regions that had become practically isolated 

 from every market. The labouring class deserted in 

 large numbers, and the sheep everywhere caught in- 

 fectious dis( ases, owing to the continual movement of 

 the flocks indiscriminately, healthy or otherwise, to 

 meet tho urgent wants of the large mining population. 

 From other causes, therefore, of a less satisfactory cha- 

 racter than the increased consumption of animal food, 

 there was a serious diminution in the quantity of sheep 

 and in the production of wool, and that too in the face 

 of a large importation which had commenced from 

 New South Wales, But now, with past difficulties in 

 great measure overcome, and a more promising future 

 in view, we recall an incident in colonial enterprize 

 that has had no small share in this promise of the 

 future. The river Murray debouches within the South 

 Australian territory ; and that colony, taking posses- 

 sion, as it were, of the noble stream, adopted the first 

 measures for its inland navigation. In 1853 the first 

 steamboat made its way to a point 150 miles above 

 Swan Hill in Victoria, and not less than 1,000 miles 



from the sea mouth. Subsequent attempts were still 

 more successful ; and a small fleet of steamer.^ and 

 lighters now periodically receives from more than 

 twenty townships the wool and other produce of the 

 adjacent parts of the three colonies. 



The area of land under crop has been rapidly extend- 

 ing, especially in the younger colonies. The crops in- 

 clude artificial hay. The extent under crop for 1858 

 was, in Acres, 



New South Wales 217,443 



Victoria (taken March, 1859) 208,960 



South Australia 204,462 



Tasmania 229,480 



New Zealand ■140,965 



Total'. 1,151,319 



The cultivation of the vino is already considerable ; 

 the number of acres for 1858 being, in New South 

 Wales, 1,180; in South Australia, 1,626; and in Vic- 

 toria, 547, Several of the wines of New South Wales 

 took a distinguished place at the Great Paris Industrial 

 Exhibition of all Nations, when brought into competi- 

 tion with the choicest growths of European vineyards. 

 The cultivation of maize, an article of increasing im- 

 portance in commerce, is now very large, and attended 

 with great success in New South Wales. 



One fact of interest is the large proportion of wheat 

 lands ascompared with that of other countries; arising,no 

 doubt, chiefly from the fact of the great extent to which 

 the native grasses are made use of for the live stock, as 

 yet almost to the exclusion of cultivated food. The 

 wheat of the Australian colonies obtained first-class 

 medals at the Paris Exhibition, and was most favour- 

 ably reported upon. For South Australia the wheat 

 acreage is 71 per cent, of the whole area of land under 

 crop; while in Ireland it is 11 per cent., and in Scot- 

 land only 6 per cent. The yield of wheat is remark- 

 ably small; as, for instance, 12 bushels per acre in 

 South Australia in 1857. The previous year, however, 

 which was more favourable as to moisture, gave 18 

 bushels. New South Wales ranges between these 

 quantities, Victoria illustrates the importance of 

 genial seasons. The following yield per acre of wheat 

 for four years shows a gradual annual diminution, 

 caused by diminished or less seasonable supplies of 

 rain : 



Year ,... 1856. 1857, 1858, 1859. 



Bushels, per acre .. 26.9 23.2 20.7 19.9 



The average in Scotland in 1856-7 was 27^ bushels 

 per acre. 



A striking peculiarity of Australia is the large area 

 of its naturally-grassed country. Most of the waste 

 lands therefore are, in their unimproved state, avail- 

 able for pasturage, and are leased to the pastoral or 

 squatting interest, yielding now a considerable rental. 

 Suitability of climate and country have increased the 

 live stock of these colonies from a few imported spe- 

 cimens at the commencement, to 350,000 horses, 3^ 

 millions of cattle, and 19 millions of sheep ; and the 

 produce of the Australian wool has become of vital im- 

 portance to commerce and manufactures, the quantity 

 exported annually to the United Kingdom and other 



