take up ?" "Certainly not more than a free homestead farm of 

 160 acres on ;ioo, and 100 conditional purchase, in addition, on 

 ;200." (7.) " Is not the produce competed for by buyers' travel- 

 lers ?" " A great deal of it is purchased by the Messrs. 1'iesse at 

 market rates. Their roller mill, fitted with the latest machinery, 

 renders it unnecessary for any other market to be sought for 

 wheat, the supply of which has become so short since the 

 price of chaff and hay went up that the mill does not get 

 grain enough to grind for more than three or four months 

 in the year." (8.) "Are not railway freights forproduce especially 1< >\v?" 

 "The freights for produce are on the lowest scale of the Railway 

 department, with the exception of minerals and manures, and there is 

 no reason to complain of them." (9.) "Has the farmer in any part of 

 the world as good a market as that of Western Australia ?" " As far 

 as our knowledge goes, prices for produce are higher in this colony than 

 anywhere else, and there is no difficulty in getting a sale for anything 

 we grow. On the other hand the cost of clearing has to be set 

 against the advantage possessed by some of the farmers in other parts 

 of Australia, who were fortunate in finding locations that grew no timber 

 and into which the plough could be put as soon as the ground was 

 fenced." (10.) " What will your district grow to the best advantage?" 

 " In the majority of cases wheat, whether cut for hay or grain, pays 

 best. Oats have been successfully grown, especially by Mr. F. T. F. 

 Crosby, the secretary of the Katanning Farmers' association. He 

 has grown heavy crops of oats on land that had become wheat sick. 

 The district is a first-class one for fruit, as the orchards of the Hon. 

 F. H. Piesse, Commissioner of Railways and Minister of Public 

 Works, and also of the West Australian Land company, are bearing 

 heavily for their age. Oranges and lemons are inclined to run thick 

 in the rind, but stone fruits and apples produced here are of the 

 best. Cherries, which run only to leaf in some parts of the colony, 

 come to perfection around Katanning. Vegetables do well enough 

 as long as the ground is moist, but there are no local swamp lands 

 to carry summer crops. An attempt has been made to irrigate a 

 small vegetable garden belonging to Mr. M. Cronin, who chiefly 

 supplies Katanning with culinary plants during the dry weather. 

 This experiment has only been tried upon a small scale, and it has 

 been found to be satisfactory and profitable. The south is not a 

 good place for root crops, but greenstuff, such as barley, does well 

 with the aid of the winter rains." (n.) " What crops should be 

 avoided ? " " Those which are injured by frosts, such as potatoes, 

 and those which require moisture when it is not to be had, such as 

 summer vegetables." (12.) u Does the land quickly exhaust itself ? " 

 " Not the better class of chocolate loam if it is occasionally fallowed. 

 The poorer flats, on which white gum chiefly grows, will not stand 

 cropping for more than two or three seasons without manure, 

 which, so far, it has not been the rule to apply. The Messrs. Piesse 

 are setting an example in this respect by using bonedust and 



