Australia : The Dairy Country. 47 



off, which the settler should make himself acquainted with. Infor- 

 mation on this point and in regard to any matters of practical 

 interest to the beginner will be furnished gladly and without charge 

 by experienced officers of the Department of Agriculture. 



As soon as the land is burnt off the grass may be sown upon it. 

 No cultivation is usually given, the grass-seed being sown upon 

 the ashes remaining from the burnt scrub, which forms very effec- 

 tive manure. Cocksfoot is the grass par excellence for this work, 

 as it is very hardy and nutritious, and not attacked by insect pests 

 to the same extent as others. Sometimes a mixture of cocksfoot, 

 English rye-grass, and white clover is used, or the two grasses 

 alone are planted. Local information is the best guide obtainable 

 as to what it is best to plant. Dairying thus becomes 

 practicable in a year or two, and returns are received 

 much sooner than from any other branch of agriculture. 

 It will, of course, be necessary to clear a certain amount 

 of the selection for cultivation, so that crops may be grown, 

 and it is often better and cheaper in the end to devote the poorer 

 and less heavily timbered parts of the holding to this purpose, 

 and buy manure. Some selectors clean up a part of the ground 

 of roots and logs, leaving all the big ringed timber standing, and 

 plough it up. It requires some skill to steer a plough under these 

 conditions, but very good crops can be grown in this way. 



Butter Factories. 



Properly equipped butter factories are situated at Launceston 

 (2), Deloraine, Burnie, Emu Bay, Wynyard, Stanley, Smithton, 

 Wilmot, Ringarooma, Derby, and Pyengana. In the south there 

 are only two of any magnitude, one in Hobart, and the other at 

 Bream Creek. A well-equipped factory has been established on 

 King Island, in Bass Straits, a locality that has been found very 

 suitable for dairying. 



Dairy Herds. 



The dairy herds of the State until a few years ago were of a 

 somewhat nondescript type, very few farmers having realised the 

 necessity of improving the butter-yielding capacity of their stock. 

 Recently, however, great improvements have taken place, as the 

 dairying industry has advanced, until now many Tasmanian dairy- 

 men own herds of the highest standard. The work of improving 

 the milking strains of cattle is in the hands of the farmers them- 

 selves, but advice and assistance are always obtainable from the 

 Government Dairy Expert. 



Cheese-making. 



This is a highly profitable branch of dairy-farming, and the 

 product is so small in bulk compared with its value that it is 

 eminently portable. Cheese-making can therefore be carried on 

 under conditions where other forms of production would be difficult. 



