852 Professor Henry E. Armstrong [Feb. 19, 



It is impossible in the time at my disposal to deal with sheep and 

 cattle farming. Our visit was made in the winter and during a 

 period of drought. The pasture land bore a strange aspect when we 

 saw it, as there was practically nothing growing on much of it and 

 we had difficulty in understanding how the poor beasts could keep 

 body and soul together but they clearly did. We were told that, in 

 some districts, the sheep had learnt to grub up the wild carrot. 

 Land in the interior may carry only a sheep to ten acres, owing to the 

 small amount of pasture it affords but at times it has great fattening 

 power. The characteristic of the vegetation is that it is sparse and 

 stemmy, only near the sea is there what a grazier calls a sole of 

 grass. Large areas have been ruined by the introduction of weeds — 

 stink weed (an Inula), from Central Europe, tulip grass and sour 

 sod (an Oxalis), from the Cape. The Globe Artichoke, which 

 follows all the stream courses in S. Australia, provides passable fodder 

 in droughts. In the very dry interior, the grazing is chiefly salt 

 bush. A feature of the plains within the dry area is the marvellous 

 rapidity with which recovery is made from a drought. During a 

 dry period, the black soil plains especially may become reduced to 

 dust with not a vestige of herbage for miles, though shrubs and trees, 

 many species of which are valuable as fodder, may remain alive. 

 AVithin a week after rain has fallen all this is changed and the 

 country becomes covered with a green mantle which in a few weeks 

 furnishes luxuriant pasture. 



The great sheep runs of the past within the areas of moderate 

 rainfall are now being cut up into farms on which mixed farming 

 prevails, each carrying only a small number of sheep. 



We had the opportunity in Queensland of seeing sugar grown 

 and manufactured. The industry has flourished in the past with the 

 aid of cheap coloured labour but it is difficult to believe that its 

 prosperity can be maintained now that such labour is not available. 

 Judging from what I have seen of the industry in Java and in the 

 southern region of the United States, I am definitely of opinion that 

 successful competition with such regions and the West Indies is 

 scarcely to be contemplated and that it is undesirable to attempt to 

 produce sugar if the land can be used otherwise with advantage. 

 The public money spent in subsidizing the Australian industry may 

 probably be better used in other ways — for instance, in promoting 

 the clearing of land for occupation by new settlers. 



One other agricultural product of Australia should be mentioned 

 — its wine. Here we are acquainted only with a cheap variety used 

 by invalids and Australian wine does not rank among experts. Our 

 visits to vineyards in West and South Australia convinced some of us, 

 however, that wines of high quality, both red and white, are being pro- 

 duced which compare favourably with those met with in the course 

 of travel in Europe ; it was a revelation to us that it was possible to 

 obtain at moderate cost good wine of British orig-in on British soil. 



