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admirably adapted for, where one beast is now kept the pastures 

 would support a hundred, and this is what the country must come 

 to. The natural herbage of the country dies out in time when ted 

 down by stock, and nothing good for stock grows in its place. On 

 the best land indigenous grasses still grow. Re-plying to your 

 enquiry as to what extent of arable laud can be found in one piece 

 in the Nelson district, we should say that the average of the 

 locality would be fifty out of every hundred acres lit lor 

 the plough. The other fifty acres would be suitable for vines or 

 fruit growing. The country is well watered, as a rule, but some 

 seasons have much less rainfall than others, notably the last two or 

 three years. The cost of conserving water by means of tanks, 

 dams, and wells, need not be taken into account, as these devices 

 are not necessary in the boundaries of the Nelson. In only the 

 very driest season is there anything like a water difficulty, and then 

 only the back blocks are affected. Back country' is to be under- 

 stood to mean away from the larger brooks and rivers. In well 

 sinking water can be struck at from six to seventy feet, but this is 

 very seldom resorted to. Many small areas near the rivers 

 Blackwood and Capel. The general character of the soil is patchy 

 in many places ; there are large stretches of ironstone gravel that 

 are very good for vines. The configuration of this part of the 

 country is hilly. The timber comprises magnificent forests of 

 jarrah, red gum, blackbutt, karri, and blue gum. The cost of clear- 

 ing per acre to put in a crop is from 2 to i$- The 

 crops usually grown are fruit of all kinds, potatoes, hay, wheat, 

 oats, barley, vegetables, green fodders of all kinds, and roots, such as 

 beets, mangolds, turnips, etc. The average yield per acre is as 

 follows : Apple (matured trees), four tons ; grapes, four tons ; 

 stone fruits, four tons ; potatoes, five tons ; wheat, 16 bushels ; 

 oats, 25 bushels ; barley, 16 bushels ; hay, 25 cwt. ; green fodder, 

 13 tons ; root crops, ten tons. The facilities for the transport of 

 produce to market are the railway that is now being made from 

 Donnybrook to Bridgetown, and good trunk roads. The fruits 

 grown are : Apples, pears, quinces, medlars, persimons, plums of 

 all kinds, peaches, apricots, nectarines, passion fruit, tomatoes, 

 gooseberries, and Cape gooseberries, raspberries, currants, straw- 

 berries, rhubarb, grapes, oranges, lemons, citrons, walnuts, mul- 

 berries, blackberries, almonds, hazel nuts, cherries, loquats, and 

 melons of all sorts. The climate is a little too cold and frosty for 

 oranges and lemons to be cultivated to perfection. All the other 

 fruits are grown with the greatest success. As an estimate of the 

 quantity of Crown land open for selection, we may say that about 

 three-fourths of the territory on either side of the Bridgetown 

 railway station is still available, notwithstanding that settlement 

 has been progressing steadily. The co-operation of the land bank 

 has been availed of. The general character of the seasons is that 

 the autumn rainfall starts in May and lasts till August, with fre- 



