396 A FARMER'S YEAR 



in the name of Barley-meal do they manage even to move under 

 such a weight of adipose deposit ? Perhaps they do not move. 

 Perhaps they are carried ; anyhow, the operation had tired them, 

 and they were all asleep. By the way, it is a fact worth recording 

 that the ancients could boast an excellent breed of pig. This I 

 know, because I have an Etruscan vase in my possession on which 

 is painted a picture of what I take to be the hog that, on some 

 occasion before the founding of Rome, secured the cup, or rather 

 the bowl, at a local show in Etruria, a supposition that seems 

 to be borne out by the garlands of oak leaves and acorns with 

 which he is encircled, and the rosettes that are painted above his 

 noble snout. At least, if he did not score the prize, he ought to 

 have done so, for really he is an admirably proportioned animal, 

 in magnificent condition ; short and thick, with a regular Berkshire 

 head, a tail like a corkscrew, and pure white in colour. 



In one of the galleries of the Hall the Queensland Govern- 

 ment has a stall, set there doubtless to attract the intending 

 emigrant. I must say that it attracted me. Such heads of 

 Indian corn, such samples of wheat and barley the latter a little 

 pale coloured perhaps. The gentleman in charge of the stall gave 

 me a bundle of literature, which I perused all the way home, with 

 the result that before I reached Ditchingham I felt inclined to 

 book a passage for Queensland by the next steamer. A country 

 which is twice the size of the German Empire, with a nice warm 

 climate, and a death-rate of only 12-10 per thousand ; where any- 

 thing will grow, from a pine-apple to a cabbage ; where horses, sheep, 

 and cattle flourish ; where, in short, naught is lacking except the 

 many and varied plagues of Africa what could a man want 

 more ? Moreover, there the land is dirt cheap and arranged in 

 lots to suit all purses ; and best of everything the British flag 

 flies over it, with nobody to question its supremacy. 



What says the little book which was presented to me ? ' Foreign 

 competition, high rents, bad seasons, &c., &c., render the cultiva- 

 vator's life here an unending effort to keep his head above water. 

 Why not close the conflict, and go to a land where labour and 



