10 THE FARMERS* HANDBOOK. 



county of Rous now practically all under introduced grasses and fodder 

 crops, closely subdivided into dairy farms, and is undoubtedly the richest 

 part of the State. 



The northern part including the Richmond and Tweed has an average 

 annual rainfall varying from 73 inches along the coast to 40 inches inland. 

 The Clarence River portion (the southern part of the district) has an annual 

 coastal rainfall of about 55 inches, varying about 1 inch less for each mile 

 distant from the coast up to 20 miles inland, the western part having a 

 mean rainfall of about 36 inches. 



The climate is sub-tropical, generally hot and humid in summer, but the 

 nights are usually cool and dewy and light frosts are not uncommon in 

 winter. 



The principal crops are maize, sugar cane, and potatoes on the river flats, 

 except on the Tweed where most of the sugar cane is grown on the hillsides. 

 The Tweed, Richmond and Clarence Rivers produce the only sugar cane 

 grown in the State, totalling about 170,000 tons. These rivers also account 

 for one-third of the total amount of maize produced in the State. 



The cultivation of tropical and semi-tropical fruits is a growing industry, 

 especially in the Tweed and Brunswick valleys, where great progress has 

 been made within the past 10 years in the cultivation of bananas. Practi- 

 cally all the bananas consumed in this State are now grown on these rivers, 

 and quantities are also sold in Melbourne. 



Dairying is the principal industry in the district, and good facilities exist 

 for the carriage of cream by road, rail, and boat. Other important industries 

 include the breeding of cattle, pigs and poultry, and the production of maize, 

 sugar, bananas and potatoes. 



There are twenty-eight butter factories and three or four cheese factories 

 in the district. 



The total production of butter is in the region of 35,000,000 lb. per 

 annum, which is approximately one-half the total yield of the State. 



The timber industry is also of great importance. There are large areas 

 reserved for timber containing immense quantities of both hardwoods and 

 softwoods. Hoop-pine, teak, beech, rosewood, cedar, cudgera, silk}' oak, 

 and other useful varieties are included in the latter. The principal hard 

 woods are spotted gum, grey gum, red gum, flooded gum, blood wood, iron- 

 bark, blackbutt, tallow-wood, messmate, turpentine, red mahogany, stringy- 

 bark, and scrub-box. 



There are also large quantities of timber, principally hardwoods, on alienated 

 and other Crown lands throughout the district. 



In the forest country blady and kangaroo grass are the chief natural 

 grasses, with couch and foxtail on the low lying lands, but paspalum is the 

 mainstay of the district. It thrives luxuriantly, especially on the Richmond 

 arid Tweed. Under suitable conditions of soil and rainfall, paspalum will 

 exterminate all other grasses except clover, which is sown with the grass and 

 provides a valuable fodder, more especially in the early spring when the 

 paspalum is short. For this reason other varieties of grasses are seldom 

 cultivated, except as fodder crops. 



The coastal scrub or softwood brush is felled and when sufficiently dry is 

 fired, the remaining logs are then stacked and burnt ; grass seed is sown 

 immediately afterwards. The total cost is about «£5 or £6 per acre. The 

 process of clearing such country for the plough is generally delayed until the 

 stumps have decayed or are sufficiently dry to burn. 



