102 



is 

 . is 



The value of ringbarking as the initial work of the selector 

 lauded by Mr. Piesse, who estimates that at least 30 per cent, is 

 saved in the subsequent cost of clearing if it is not necessary to do 

 that work for a couple of years. As a case in point, the experience 

 of Mr. Taylor, of Kechualling, is cited. Mr. Taylor, when he 

 commenced \vork on his holding, paid ^3 and ^3 los. per acre for 

 clearing. He had a lot of his trees ringed, and this season he 

 called for tenders for removing the dead trees, when there was 

 competition for the job at 305. to 2 per acre. If Mr. Piesse's 

 advice is followed, selectors near Narrogin, Wagin, or Katanning, 

 will clear only enough trees in the green state to make room for the 

 first year's crop. They will, meanwhile, ringbark all their trees, with 

 the exception of a few shade trees. When the course of decay has 

 made clearing simple and economical, it will be carried out, and one 

 crop of cereals or squash will be taken oft" the land that is intended 

 for an orchard, before fruit trees are planted. Then the trees will 

 have a clean nursery bed to thrive in, instead of one infested with 

 white ants, which find shelter in the dead wood that lies about a 

 paddock until the second season's ploughing and harrowing has 

 enabled them to be removed. So far, owing perhaps to adopting 

 this precaution, the orchards about Wagin and Katanning are very 

 free of disease, the red scale of the citrus family being the only 

 parasite that has made its appearance. 



Mr. Piesse predicts a great future for the land on the Arthur 

 and Beaufort rivers when the Pinjarrah-Marradong railway is 

 carried on to join the Great Southern line somewhere near Wagin. 

 Although this valuable territory has been cut into under the 

 " poison " regulations of a former time, which allowed monopolists 

 to get possession of blocks for 21 years and leave them unimproved, 

 there is, according to our informant, enough left to give new 

 impetus to settlement, whenever this fertile division is brought by 

 the steam engine within reach of market. At present an enormous 

 area of well- watered and superior land is only used as sheep runs, not- 

 withstanding that it has a better rainfall than that which belongs to 

 the Great Southern rojitc. It will be possible for many selectors to get 

 a river frontage, and to be within 130 miles of Perth. To get to 

 Perth by rail now, the traveller has to travel east, instead of west, 

 to Narrogin, Wagin or Katanning, and make almost a circle of 

 his route before he is set down in the city. So it is not surpris- 

 ing that, with all its many recommendations, the tract of territory of 

 winch Mr. Piesse speaks so praisefully is entirely undeveloped by 

 the husbandman who seeks to sell his produce. There are a few 

 fields and orchards devoted to supplying the needs of the households 

 of some of the old identities, but it is not incorrect to say that 

 sheep-raising is the resource of the district. For the growth of soft 

 fruits, the Williams district, lying west of the Williams road, is 

 reputed to be fully equal to the Lower Blackwood. At Wandering 

 Mr. Watts has succeeded in growing a first-class sample of dates. 



