523 



secured. The failure iu this respect is attributed to the speculating 

 character of the laud appropriations. Men are iiurchasiug largely of 

 the best lauds, and awaiting the rise in values iu order to sell again. 

 Only a portion of the new settlements are made by hona-fide cultiva- 

 tors. The liberalized land legislation is thus benefiting a class against 

 whom it was intended to work, the laud-sharks. 



New Zealand statistics. — Late returns do not indicate as rapid 

 progress as in fornier years. The total area under cultivation in Feb- 

 ruary, 1875, was 1,788,797 acres, an increase of 285,415 acres. The 

 wheat-area was 105,073 acres against 132,125 the previous year, and the 

 crop 2,971,339 bushels, a loss of 117,297 bushels. The average yield 

 per acre, 28 bushels and 8 f)onnds, is still uua])proached by any of the 

 Australian colonies. Oats is the only crop showing a decided increase; 

 it has become the leading grain-crop of the island. The acreage was 

 157,513, an increase of 18,071, and the crop 5,518,729 bushels, against 

 2,191,923 bushels the previous year. These figures do not include 21,053 

 acres of oats cut for hay, which, in addition to 11,159 acres of mowu 

 grass, vielded 52,20! tons of hay. The barley acreage declined from 

 22,132 to 10,235, and the yield from 000,192 bushels to 117,102 bushels. 

 Potato-culture, on the contrary, advanced ; the acreage rose from 11,014 

 to 12,152, and the aggregate yield from 51,757 tons to 03,082 tons. Per- 

 manent pastures cover 1,393,855 acres, an iiKirease of 250,207. This one 

 year's increase in New Zealand exceeds the entire breadth of Victoria. 

 The high price of beef and mutton iu New Zealand has induced this ex- 

 tension of grass culture. The agricultural population of the colony is 

 rapidly increasing by immigration, and the railways under coustructiou 

 or iu coutemi^lation wilL soon give access to the markets of the world. 

 The wheat-product is ample for home consumption. Including oats, 

 there will be available, as breadstuffs-export the current year, over 

 20,000 tons. 



SHEEP-ntrsBANDRY IN GEORGIA. — A late "Manual of sheep-hus- 

 baudry iu Georgia," issued by the State comniissiouer of agriculture, 

 gives the following points of information derived from inquiries ad- 

 dressed to correspondents in the differeut counties. Of those who have 

 tested cross-breeds, 98 per cent, consider the cross between merino and 

 native the most profitable. The following averages are deduced from a 

 vast number of individual facts: Annual profit ou capital invested in 

 sheep, 03 per cent. Annual cost of keeping per head, 54 cents. Cost 

 of raising wool, cents per pound, the market-price for unwashed being 

 33i|^ cents per pound gross, and 27^ cents net. Each 100 ewes produce 

 71 lambs. Yield of unwashed wool, 3.11 pounds per head, yielding, at 

 27^ cents, 94 cents per fleece. Price of lambs sold to butchers, $1.87 

 per head; price of stock-sheep, $2.58 per head; price of mutton-sheep, 

 $2.75 per head. 



The census of 1800 reported 512,018 sheep in Georgia ; the census of 

 1870, 419,405; the latest returns of the tax-receivers show but 319,323; 

 decrease from 1800 to 1870,93,153; from 1870 to 1875,100,112; total 

 loss iu fifteen years, 193,295, or 38 per cent., whereas there should have 

 been an increase of 100 per cent. Ninety per cent, of the reports show 

 that dogs are the principal obstacle to sheep-husbandry — iu most of 

 them the only one. Several state that sheep-husbandry has been en- 

 tirely abandoned in consequence of the ravages of curs. That is, a cap- 

 ital which, iu favored localities, in spite of these pests, yields an annual 

 return of 03 per ceut., is crippled and depressed by the presence of 

 99,415 dogs, which killed 28,025 sheep during the year. The losses by 



