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ings and out-buildings, and many other evidences of a prospering 

 people. A nourishing estate is that of Mr. Andrew, a very old 

 settler, who crops about 100 acres of rich chocolate loam. The 

 paddocks are undulating, converging into a large creek that pro- 

 vides an ample water supply for the watering ot" stock. 'The ground 

 that is under cultivation grew York gums and jam. Near the house, 

 which is of brick, and commands from the eminence on which it 

 stands a line view of the property, there are still standing the trunks 

 of some of the biggest specimens of what was at one time a very 

 heavy forest, but which was well worth clearing. The soil is of a 

 very bright, almost carmine hue. It breaks well under the harrow, 

 and can be relied upon to produce a ton of hay and upwards, season 

 after season, without manure, except. what is removed from the 

 sheep folds and stockyards. Beyond the fences the green timber is 

 so close together as to shut out the sight of the ground, looking at it 

 from a little distance. There is no more fertile spot around Katan- 

 ning. Mr. Andrew had almost the first choice as a pioneer. He 

 was formerly a pastoralist in another part of the colony, and is still 

 the owner of a good many sheep and a few score head of cattle. 

 His preference is decidedly in favour of sheep. The pasturage, he 

 says, suits sheep better than cattle, for, except in the spring, it is not 

 very long, and sheep by feeding close to the ground get a better living 

 than cows or bullocks. There is nothing but merino sheep on the 

 place. As a farmer Mr. Andrew has found the great merit of fallow- 

 ing. It not only sweetens and strengthens the land, but the prac- 

 tice also enables him to get in his seed very early, and this it is one 

 of his main objects to accomplish. The corn should get every 

 shower of the season, is his maxim ; then if the season should prove 

 to be a dry one, the crop is greatly helped to give a fair yield, and if 

 there should be a normal or a plentiful rainfall, the harvest is above 

 the average. In July, 1897, when these notes were collected by the 

 representative of the Bureau, the fields were looking as well as even 

 their owner could desire. 



About two miles further on Mr. Westley Maley has established 

 himself in a few years, with the aid of capital, as firmly as it would 

 take the average settler half a lifetime to accomplish. But although 

 Mr. Maley has smoothed his way by employing a great deal of 

 labor, his place is none the less an object lesson of what may be 

 accomplished on a smaller scale by those who do most or all their 

 own work. Even before an axe or a plough was used on Mr. 

 Maley's location its value was apparent to those who passed over it. 

 A member of the survey party that plotted it was apprised that Mr. 

 Maley, who was then well-known in commercial circles in the city, 

 was willing to renounce the desk for a country life if he could get a 

 very eligible holding. As the result of the special information, the 

 southern district gained a settler who has not been content to move 

 along well-worn ruts according to old fashioned rules of farming. 

 Having got an area that is not better than many others along the 



