Australia : The Dairy Country. 45 



the east coast, where there is natural grass, have largely passed into 

 private hands, and later selectors have had to take up, clear, and 

 lay down in pasture the more heavily-timbered portions. This, 

 however, is not altogether the handicap it appears at first sight, 

 as the returns from the very rich scrub lands are by far the highest. 

 It is easy to judge of the quality of land by the indigenous timber 

 upon it. Rich land, suitable for laying down in grass, is covered 

 with a dense growth of sassafras, tree-fern, musk, and pear tree, 

 with large blue or swamp gums, and an underbush of what are 

 known as cathead ferns. Stringy-bark trees mean a poorer soil, 

 and any land bearing them should be avoided if possible. 



Any person of eighteen years of age and upwards may select 

 an area not exceeding 200 acres of first-class land, provided he 

 does not hold land on credit under any previous Act. He is re- 

 quired to pay a cash deposit of $0.04 an acre at the time of sale, an 

 instalment of $0.06 an acre for each of the two following years, $0.24 

 an acre annually for the next four years, $0.36 an acre for the next 

 tour years, and $0.48 per acre for the next eight years. The survey fee 

 is paid, one-fifth in cash and the balance by four equal annual pay- 

 ments, with interest added, unless the selector elects to pay it off 

 at once, when interest is remitted. Every encouragement short of 

 giving the fee simple of the land away for nothing is afforded the 

 intending settler, and he can acquire a freehold on easier terms in 

 Tasmania than anywhere else. 



Ayrshire Herd, New South Wales. 



Clearing the Land. 



Clearing a selection for dairy farming is a very different opera- 

 tion from the clearing required for fruit-growing. Where the land 

 is to be laid down in pasture, no ploughing has to be done, conse- 



