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homestead farm of 160 acres, and ^350 for 500 acres conditional 

 purchase with the addition of plenty of pluck and energy. The 

 Tweed agricultural area is mostly taken up and occupied. The 

 schools in the Nelson district are situated at the following centres : 

 Bridgetown, Dwalganun, Dingun, Warren, Ballingup, and Green- 

 bushes. The area we should recommend a man of small means 

 (say from .100 to ^200) to take up, would be a homestead farm of 

 1 60 acres, and about 100 acres of conditional purchase for grazing 

 purposes. It \vould be advisable for all small farmers to keep a few 

 sheep and pigs, and a cow or two for milking purposes. Cows 

 would require some artificial food for the first six months in the 

 year, and it would pay to feed them throughout the whole year. 

 The buyers for wholesale houses eagerly seek for supplies of fruit ; 

 chaff is in good local demand, and for fat stock there is the best 

 market possible. There is good sale for vegetables, poultry and pigs. 

 The railway freights for produce are, as a rule, very low. The 

 Western, Australian farmer has one of the best markets in the world 

 at present. TJ^e Nelson district grows fruit and vegetables to the 

 best advantage, more especially what are termed English fruits. A 

 close watch should be kept for the appearance of noxious weeds, 

 such as stinkwort, thistle and sorrel, in order that they may be 

 eradicated before they have time to take hold and spread. If the 

 land is continually cropped with the same cereal it will exhaust 

 itself, but not if it is given a rotation of crops. We have known 

 some land to produce corn for 30 years without manure. This land 

 after one year's fallowing produced the best crop of corn we have 

 seen, and is still producing fine crops of hay. As a general rule, 

 however, good manuring is the great secret of success, when it is 

 combined with thorough cultivation, i.e., fallowed, rolled and well 

 ploughed and pulverised. We are great believers in fallowing. 

 Some local cultivators are also sheep farmers, and the number of 

 settlers who are adding this branch to the earnings of their farms 

 is increasing. The Nelson district is very much troubled 

 by native pests, such as dingoes, boodie rats, opossums, 

 eaglehawks, &c. It is a disputed question whether eagle- 

 hawks do not do more good than harm by destroying ground 

 vermin. There are poison plants of the heart leaf, bloom, York 

 road, and prickly varieties in the district. The zamia palm, which 

 is commonly regarded as the cause of "wobbles" in cattle and sheep. 

 is dispersed generally throughout this part of the colony. Heart- 

 leaf poison is found in patches; York road poison prevails from 

 Scott brook, on the I'pper Hlackwood, in a north and east direc- 

 tion. Prickly poison is found in rocky country only. Small patches 

 of bloom poison are scattered over the south-east of the district. 

 Nelson is a good district for stock, and it would be a much better 

 one if there were fewer tiecs, or ring-barking wci e more largely 

 practised ; the country is too much shaded. It more land could be 

 cleared and laid clown with grass, which the climate makes it 



