i6 9 



The result is that store stock is very hard to get. If store sheep can 

 be purchased at a reasonable rate, it is very profitable to fatten them 

 on the Swan. Mr. Lefroy gets them from his own stations in the 

 north. Sheep do very well on the stubble, and also on the scrub 

 country when it has been burned and the first rains fall. The scrub 

 will, however, only burn every second year. 



" The only native pests here are parrots in the orchard ; parrots 

 do so much mischief that if a man can afford it the netting in of 

 vines and fruit trees, to protect them from the birds, will return its 

 cost pretty nearly in the extra returns from the crop the first season 

 after the precaution is taken. I have some ground netted. It is the 

 right thing to do while muscatels for table grapes bring fourpence 

 per Ib. We have to contend with poison plants also on the eastern 

 side of the Swan. The western side is free of this danger. 

 At some distance back from the river, at the foot of the range, there 

 is a considerable amount of poison, of the kind known as black 

 adder poi-son. It is similar to the York road poison, and is the only 

 variety of noxious vegetation known in the Swan district. The plant 

 gets its name through growing along the banks of the Black Adder 

 creek. The infested places are fenced off, and stock cannot be depas- 

 tured there at any time of the year. The creek forms one 

 of the boundaries of Woodbridge, but only for a few chains, 

 when it empties itself into the Swan. The land where the 

 poison grows is private property ; it is poor country, and not of 

 much use even for grazing, supposing it were clean. The locality 

 is hilly. The stock is more likely to eat the poison when it shoots 

 green after a fire has been over it ; but it would be fatal if eaten at 

 any time. Miles of country along the foot of the range is infested. 

 Trie range rises to a maximum height of noo or 1200 feet. On the 

 whole the Swan is a very healthy district for stock ; they do not re- 

 quire a ' coast change ' when they are kept there any length of 

 time. They do not get at the poison, as they are nil kept in clean 

 paddocks ; nothing is being done to eradicate the poison, as the 

 country where it grows is so inferior that it would hardly pay for 

 the work of grubbing. 



" The extent of arable land in one stretch to be found in the 

 Swan district would measure 500 or 600 acres, if the boundary 

 fences of different owners did not intervene. Henley park has 120 

 or 130 acres of first-class arable land in one block. Mr. Lennard also 

 has some fields of about 100 acres, and so has Mr. Paclbury. The 

 country round about the Swan has plenty of water if it is tapped, but 

 not much on the surface. There are springs along the banks of the 

 rivers. As you go back on the west side you get ti-tree swamps. 

 In parenthesis I may say that these swamps, even if they were 

 drained, would not be very good for garden cultivation. The springs 

 are sweet water, fit for human consumption. There is an excellent 

 spring at Henley park from which the household water is drawn. 

 The Swan is a well-watered district with its artesian supply, which 



