thickly nn some sandy stretches within fifteen miles of the sea, not 

 only near the Swan, but also in many other places further south 

 towards Btmbury. The sandy land about the Swan has one advantage 

 over the heavy loams of the river bottom, which are liable to bake in 

 the height of summer and allow the moisture to rapidly evaporate 

 unless continually cultivated. The lighter soil where the jarrah is 

 found, on the other hand, is always loose when it is worked, and it 

 makes up in this respect for some of its inferior fertility and strength as 

 compared with the tlats. These flats have great stamina ; although 

 there has been very little interval in almost continuous cropping for 

 many years, the ground is to-day very productive. It is only now 

 that fertilisers are being ,used. The flats grew flooded gums ; on 

 the east side of the river there is no jarrah, red gum takes its place 

 on the lighter loams. There are also some white gums on patches 

 of stiff red soil. In this district the white gum country is very good 

 for wheat. The flooded gum is much more difficult to kill by ring- 

 barking than the red gum, owing to its tenacity in throwing out 

 suckers. The ironstone on the ranges hereabout is not of the rich 

 quality that is found about Pinjarrah and Drakesbrook ; it is poor 

 and hungry, and not good for anything. There is no estate on 

 which all the land is of the best kind ; the division of the river 

 frontages was too equally made to allow of that, but some of the 

 freeholds have more of the best country than others. There has 

 been a gradual diminution in the rainfall of the Swan during the last 

 30 years, but still we cannot complain of not having enough. Up 

 to ten years ago floods were of occasional occurrence ; they were 

 caused by heavy rains in the interior ; the local rainfall was never 

 sufficient to cause the Swan to inundate the country. There was a 

 danger of total loss of crop through floods in those days. The 

 crops then, with a larger rainfall, were not as good as those which 

 are reaped now that the rainfall has become less. More moisture 

 is not required for the growing of cereals, but some of the orchards 

 would do much better with irrigation. The citrus family would 

 especially be greatly benefited, but ordinary English fruits can be 

 well matured without an artificial supply of water. The apple does 

 very \vell on the flats, when it is left to depend on the rainfall, and 

 it does fairly well on the uplands without irrigation, as the uplands 

 hold the \vater for a long time longer than the heavy loams 

 on the margin of the stream." 



In the neighborhood of the Swan river five artesian bores 

 have been put down with most successful results at varying depths. 

 The discovery that artesian water was obtainable was first made by 

 the Railway department on the site for the new locomotive work- 

 shops, at the Midland Junction, two miles from Guildford. The 

 water was struck at 490 feet, and a daily supply of 256,000 gallons 

 is obtained from it. Mr. Charles Harper, M.L.A., of Woodbridge, 

 was the next to essay the task of obtaining the benefit of an artesian 

 supply for the irrigation of his extensive vineyard and orchard 



