THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



391 



eat, especially gold-diggers with money burning in their 

 pockets, and the consumption of animal food in Victoria is 

 consequently becoming enormous. A vicious land system 

 and a comparatively limited territory render it impossible, 

 probably, to keep pace with the wants of a population which 

 advances at the rate of 30,000 or 40,000 a year; and hence 

 the eyes of the hungry multitude have, since 1852, been 

 turned in the direction of New South Wales and South 

 Australia. The result has been that, so far as the former 

 colony is concerned, her stores of sheep and cattle are being 

 drawn upon to a greater extent than they are recruited. 

 To show this we proceed to adduce a number of official 

 statistics. In 1857 there were 2,148,700 horned tattle 

 depasturing? in New South Wales, while in 1858 the num- 

 ber was only 2,110,600. Strenuous eiforts increased the 

 number in Victoria from Gl 4,537 to 090,330; but the total 

 net increase for the two colonies in the year was only 40,733 

 head, an advance not equal to the growth of population. 

 But it is in sheep that the most remarkable falling off has 

 taken place. In 1854 there were 8,144,000 sheep in New 

 South Wales; in 1 855, 8,C02,000 ; in 1850,7,736,000; in 

 1857, 8,139.000; and in 1858,7,582,000. The great de- 

 crease in 1858 is probably accounted for by a large transfer- 

 ence to Victoria, where the total swelled up from 4,700,022 

 to 5,578,413 ; but the net increase of the year in both colo- 

 nies was very small, being only 254,9.01 head. As regards 

 pigs, there was a decrease both in Victoria and New South 

 Wales, the total number in the two colonies being 152,798 

 in 1857, and only 130,599 in 1858; and, reduced to general 

 results, the per-centage increase and decrease in the latter 

 year for both colonies was as follows :^ 



Increase. Decrease. 



Cattle 1.7 — 



Sheep 1.9 — 



Pigs — 14.5 



In New South Wales there was a decrease in all three 

 classes, viz., of 1.8 per cent, in cattle, 0.8 per cent, in sheep, 

 and 14.9 per cent, in pigs; and that the amount of live 

 stock in the two colonies did not keep pace with the strides 

 made in population is shown by the following illustration of 

 the number of cattle, sheep, and pigs to each 1,000 persons : — 



Cattle 

 Sheep 

 Pigs.. 



General average .... 2,032 



1,959 



73 



That the conclusions to which these figures point are not 

 considered unimportant by the colonists will be seen in the 

 fact that Sir William Denison, Governor of New South 

 Wales, has not thought it inconsistent with his viceregal 

 dignity to read a paper before the Colonial Horticultural 

 and Agricultural Society '' On the supply of animal food for 

 the inhabitants of New South Wales and Victoria." In 

 this paper we find the following important passage: — "I 

 believe that the whole of the pasturage within any reason- 

 able distance of the great markets of Sydney and Melbourne 

 is fully stocked ; when I say fully stocked, I mean up to the 

 raeasure of its present grazing capabilities. How then is 

 the evil to be met? It is evident that if the stock of all 

 kinds is killed faster than it can increase, the deficit will 

 become more pressing day by day; and that even if it be 

 allowed to carry out its ordinary rate of increase, the de- 

 mand for meat will get more and more urgent, so long as 

 the population adds to its numbers in a ratio in excess of 

 that at which the stock increases. The only mode iu which 

 there appears a prospect of overcoming the difficulty, which 

 is becoming every day of greater and greater importance, is 

 by adding to the weight of the stock, by providing better 

 and more abundant food, by changing the breed of 

 sheep, substituting, as in England, an animal with a coarser 

 ileeca and a heavier carcase, for the present ffine-wooUed 

 varieties, making up for the depreciation in the quality of 

 the wool by its quantity, and by increased value of the car- 

 case. In the same way by paying attention to the breed 

 of cattle it might be easy to add 50 per cent, to the weight 

 of the carcase. But the first step must be to improve the 

 paying capabilities of the ground," 



These observations possess some interest for the home- 

 reader. The Crovernor- General, it will be seen, tells the- 

 colonists that they must in future endeavour to make more 

 of their mutton and less of their wool; and if his advice 

 should be at all acted on, or the numbers of sheep in Vic- 

 toria and New South Wales should remain stationary, the 

 circumstances cannot be wholly without effect on the 

 British wool market. Those colonies have hitherto been- 

 two of the main sources from which we have drawn our- 

 wool supplies; and although South Australia, Western 

 Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand will probably ex- 

 port an increased quantity in future, still it is something 

 if the deliveries from the leading communities do not 

 materially advance. Since 1844 the importations of wool 

 into the United Kingdom have advanced nearly 100 per 

 cent., viz.,from 05,713,7011bs. in 1844 to 12G,738,7231bs. 

 in 1858; and from Bradford— indefatigable, untiring Brad- 

 ford!— the "■ cry is still for more." Of the total supplies, 

 the British settlements in Australia have been the largest 

 contributors ; but it will be seen that of late years they 

 have scarcely kept pace with the general increase : 



TOTAL 



FROM 



Thus it appears that since the gold discoveries in 1851, 

 the supplies of wool have increased from Australia in no- 

 thing like the ratio in which they advanced from 1844 to 

 1850. 



As the stock of sheep is at present barely holding its 

 own, the proportion is not likely to increase, but, on the 

 contrary, will probably still further diminish. The only 

 circumstance which may tend to check the proportional 

 falling off, will be the enforced dispersion of the Victorian 

 population on the eastern, western, and northern shores of 

 the great island-continent, in consequence of the diminish- 

 ing produce of the gold fields, in which case they would 

 betake themselves, in the first instance, to pastoral pursuits. 



Considerations such as we have recited, have no doubt 

 occurred to the shrewd Yorkshiremen, who last year 

 organized a wool supply association, with the view of ob- 

 taining their raw material from other districts. But mean- 

 while the practical result will be that the British wool 

 grower will, at any rate, be enabled to maintain his posi- 

 tion in the home market, if, indeed, he does not make more 

 money by the sale of his wool. Our colonial friends call 

 these "Anglo-Australian," questions, and so they are. 



A SHEEP-FEEDER FOR MANY YEARS says, "I 

 have taken a great ■interest in sheep and the management of 

 them iu feeding. I have heard of many losses of sheep that 

 have been fed on corn and cake. Many farmers give corn with 

 chaff, and after that, hay, swedes, and other roots ; those who 

 have done so have had losses, and cannot account for them. 

 Now, I believe that if they gave the sheep corn and cake the 

 very first thing in the morning, without anything with thero, 

 and all the corn at one-time in the day, they would not have 

 many losses, and their sheep wonld improve very fast." 



SHEEP-SHEARING.— An old farmer writes : " Farmers 

 who keep sheep should put young men to learn to shear. 

 Shearers are very scarce, and not so good rs half-a- century 

 ago." 



