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appointment of a luxurious and well ordered place of residence. 

 There is an orangery and an orchard, which are irrigated whenever 

 water is needed, and by an ingenious and costly arrangement of 

 storage and reticulation, the water can be turned on at will and 

 regulated as to the quantity that is to be allowed to flow. Even 

 the drinking troughs for the cattle are fitted with ball taps, so that 

 the intake from the dams is governed automatically. The catch- 

 ment area of the water is aided in filling the dams by the undulat- 

 ing character of the country, which is not mountainous, but would 

 be described in America as rolling prairie. There is no other 

 piece of country in the Midland like that which is found around 

 Gingin and at Yatheroo and Dandaraga. Outside the confines of 

 their territory there is either sand plain, until the Irwin river is 

 reached, or the heavier, and, in some places, more gravelly soils 

 of Victoria plains. There are. some very good flats at Yatheroo, 

 but the general characteristics of the property are its low hills 

 and broad shallow valleys. The clearing was not costly, owing to 

 what may be called large shrubs taking the place of the forests 

 that are generally found on the fertile parts of Western Australia. 

 The wooly bush has a peculiarity which is worthy of note ; it 

 carries a fibre which would make good rope. Mr. Roberts sent 

 some of the fibre to England and had it spun into lines, w r hich were 

 very strong, but rather heavier than those made of hemp. Another 

 feature of the portion of the Midland district under notice is that it 

 has a monopoly of the bare, or almost naked, limestone patches or 

 crowns of the ridges which have made Yatheroo so favorably known 

 among stock masters. The limestone is found exhibiting the same 

 features at Dandaraga, but Yatheroo and Dandaraga are naturally one 

 belt of country which only a different ownership has divided by fences 

 and nomenclature. Dandaraga has some land that is as good as 

 the best of Yatheroo, but less has been heard in its praise, because 

 it has imt been so highly improved as Mr. Roberts' estate, and it has 

 not quite so large a proportion as the latter station of the superbly 

 high class pasturages. Dandaraga was at one time another pro- 

 perty which belonged to Mr. Padbury, but it is now in the posses- 

 sion of Mr. D. Drummond, a member by marriage of Mr. Padbury's 

 family. The strip of land which includes YutlKToo and Dandaraga 

 is ;:b<>iit six miles wide and thirty long ; it has been describe.'! to 

 the reporter for the Bureau as " an oasis in the desert." About 100 

 acres of Yatheroo are used for growing cereals, mostly for home 

 consumption. The rainfall of the district is not deemed to be very 

 favorable for general farming. The annual avi Yatheroo 



and Dandaraga is 24 inches, which would be sufficient if it were 

 mo iv evenly distributed. July and August are very wet months ; 

 they j^e! a plethora of rain, and there is a shortage which is more 

 or k-ss acutely felt during the remainder of the year. The summer 

 especially is protracted and very dry, but witli plenty of water the 

 cattle do not lose condition appreciably OX) the dry feed. " It is 



