T 4 I 



as soon as the- first sowing is completed on the cleared portion. 

 (5.) To hire appliances, such as a chaff-cutter, instead of sinking 

 money in buying anything except a plough and horses at the start, 

 when capital is one of the main levers of success. It will, however, 

 be a mistake to depend upon hire for the plough and team, for no one 

 Will lend them until his own work is done, which means that the 

 borrower is late in sowing, which will spoil his first harvest, upon 

 which so much depends. (6.) A careful and skilled oversight of 

 the crop, to determine whether it should be cut for hay or wheat. 

 Not only may the suitableness of a yield for hay be indicated by a 

 high heavy growth of stalk, or for wheat owing to the heads being 

 well filled while the stalk is light and short, but a spot or two of 

 smut which a heedless owner might overlook should be taken into 

 account. The smut will not injure the fodder if the crop is put 

 through the chaff-cutter, but it produces a dirty sample of wheat 

 that. will reduce its market value. (7.) The careful clearing of 

 the ground of sticks or stones, which if left alone would endanger 

 the reaper and binder and add to the bill for repairs. (8.) Special 

 attention to drainage. A well-drained field of inferior soil is better 

 than a rich flat over which a flood may sweep and ruin the young 

 corn. (9.) Recourse to the Land bank, if means are wanted to 

 carry out remunerative improvements. The bank being a State 

 institution that has been specially devised to help settlement, its 

 provisions are necessarily more liberal than private lenders could 

 afford to adopt. If loans are spent on reproductive works, they 

 should have earned their cost within the five years grace before the 

 first instalment of the principal comes due, so that the improve- 

 ments if they have been carried out with discretion cost their 

 owner nothing in the end. (10.) Some struggling men have 

 made a prosperous start by cultivating improved private lands on 

 the shares principle. The advantages of this plan are that there is no 

 risk and the outlay is small. The owner of the land gets no fixed 

 rent, but his reimbursement depends upon the character of the 

 season, while it will be a very bad year indeed in which the tenant 

 is not better paid out of the proceeds of the crop than he could be 

 by working for wages. A good year gives him something to start 

 for himself on a free homestead farm." (54.) " What are the 

 lessons of local experience in the clearing and treatment of the 

 land ?" " (i). That the utmost precautions must be taken against 

 the spread of fire in burning off in the summer time. The provisions 

 of the fires prevention Act are stringently enforced, and there have 

 been several convictions for breaches of the Act. The resident magis- 

 trate has announced that future offenders will be fined ^10, as serious 

 loss through the burning of haystacks, homesteads, and fences, may 

 be the result of careless ignition. In no case must a fire be lighted 

 before the ist of April unless a ploughed line has been made around 

 the place where the fire is made, and notice has been given to 

 neighbors. (2.) Ringbarking assists clearing when the land is not 



