lows : The first year the sandy loam produced only a small crop of 

 wheat. The second year the yield of wheat was much better. 

 After that the light loam went right off ; for three years the harvest 

 (wheat) was hardly worth cutting. Then I tried oats, and with 

 great success. The land that would not grow wheat is still doing 

 well with oats, which I have sown upon it again this year. The 

 heavy black soil, a patch of which is near my house, gave, the first 

 year I cropped it, nearly two tons of wheaten hay to the acre. Next 

 year for the same place I had 18 cwt. It was a very bad 

 year the worst we have had since I have been in the south the 

 year 1893. In 1894 I took ten bushels of wheat off the ground, and 

 1895 the same. I stripped for oats in 1896, and off 18 acres I 

 got 67 bags ; this year I broke np the chocolate ground, 

 the first crop was very disappointing, being no more than three 

 bushels to the acre. The following season it yielded a ton of hay 

 to the acre, and the year after 30 hundredweight, the corn standing 

 over 4 feet high. That was the best yield I have had off my place. 

 The iield is sown with oats this year. We get 43. per bushel for 

 oats delivered at Katanning. The quotation for chaff was 6 per 

 ton until lately. The price is now ^7 53. per ton, so that hay is the 

 more profitable crop if the paddocks do not show a preference for 

 producing oats. In sinking in the best country we often come on 

 granite, which is one of the best indications that water is near at 

 hand ; granite is never found underlaying a poor hungry soil. The 

 granite formation is a likely place to find a soak, which is a great 

 resource for the new settler. I have a soak which only failed me 

 last March, just before the autumn rain began. To save the water a 

 soak is only opened out a little at a time, and as the supply diminishes 

 the water is followed down by scooping out the earth. The con- 

 figuration of the country passed through by the Great Southern 

 railway is undulating enough for the greater part to be 

 well drained. In this division of the colony the ranges do not lie 

 near the arable lands, and the hills are generally sterile." (26.) 

 " The kinds and quantity of the timber ?" " York gum, wando, 

 white gum, red gum (in small patches), manna trees, and jam, are 

 the principal trees. The white gum is met with over a larger area 

 and growing to a greater size than any other variety." (27.) 4( The 

 cost per acre to clear ready for the plough ?" " The clearing of 

 trees, large and small, costs about ^"5 per acre, but many of the 

 paddocks are cultivated while the trunks of the big gums are ringed 

 and left standing. If the ' thick sticks ' are excepted from the 

 contracts for grubbing, ^2 per acre is paid for taking out York 

 gums, manna, and saplings, as well as scrub and undergrowth. 

 Where the small trees grow thickly as much as 3 per acre has 

 been paid for preparing blocks for the reception of vines. An 

 exceptional case is cited where the grubbing of white gums, morrell, 

 and York gums w r as so heavy that j per acre was paid." (28.) 

 " What crops are usually grown ?" " Mostly wheat, cut green for 



