476 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [11 Aug., 1919. 



pioxKER si^:ttlemknt8 in districts of heavy 



RAFiVFALL. 



THE TOLMIE DISTRICT, 



H. A. MuUett. B. Ag. 8c. , Science Field Officer. 



Perlia})s the most striking feature al)uiit tlie setttlement of Victoria in 

 rlie drier areas is the eomparative ease -witli whieli the fanner has been 

 able to clear his land of virgin timber and maintain these improvements 

 over unlimited areas in good condition. As a rule, provided the land is 

 well stocked with sheep, the tendency for the timber to re-establish itself, 

 so pronounced in more humid regions, never gives the owner a moment's 

 anxiety. The tendency is there all the same, as is shown by the growth 

 of young native trees on certain enclosed and unoccupied areas, but on 

 the settled country, grazing, and particularly cultivation, are the silent 

 yet powerful factors which keep l^ature subdued. Both the farmer and 

 the grazier are thus fortunate that where either of these simple rural 

 industrie-i can be profitably carried on they will at the same time keep 

 land free from timber and undergrowth. 



Tn Moist Hill Country Active Measures are Necessary to 

 Maintain Pastures Productive. 



On the other hand how different is the lot of the settler in districts 

 where the rainfall is 35 inches and over annually — more especially in the 

 heavily timbered hill country. Flere con-tant attention is necessary to 

 keep the land free from undergrowth, and to raaintan the pas ur^s in 

 anything like a productive stite. Indeed, far frcm merely turning 

 stock loose on the cleared land, the systematic mowing d:wn and the 

 grazing of some good artificial grass is a fundamental necessity for the 

 provision of feed and the suppression of undergrowth which springs up 

 quickly after the original timber has been ringed or fired. Even when 

 this is done constant renovation of the pastures is necessary; the best 

 method where the slopes of the land and other circumstances will permit 

 it, is the growth of some annual crop in systematic rotation over the farm, 

 involving the occasional use of the plough and the re-sowing of succes- 

 sive portions of the i)astnre at intervals of five or six years. 



Apart altogether frcm the general disabi ities under whicli the 

 settlements in these districts have laboured, such as bad roads, ravages 

 of vermin, losses from bu^h fires, high cost of clearing, &c. — all of which 

 have been most serious — it cannot be denied that failure to recognise 

 these cardinal agricultural differences between the mcist and the 

 dry districts is partially responsible for the non-productive con- 

 dition of many of the holdings in question. Thus the settler who 

 ringed a wider timber area than he could sow down to artificial 

 grasses or could bring under the ])lough, merely succeeded in encouraging 

 a tangled growth of saplings and bracken much moi'e barren of feed and 

 difficult to reclaim than the original timber. The man who leased the 

 block abandoned by his neighbour and threw over the plough in an 

 attempt to make an easy living by grazing both of the blocks with cattle 

 was soon forced out of the business by the rapid deterioration of the 

 pa.stures. 



