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vales are the predominating features of the landscape. The choco- 

 late country is very friable, and works up splendidly beneath the 

 plough and harrow. I grow oranges and lemons upon it admirably. 

 There are springs at the Yatheroo homestead which are used for 

 irrigating the fruit trees. The spring water is collected in a dam, 

 from which it is reticulated through channels cut in the garden. 

 The limestone and ironstone country commences about 15 miles 

 from the coast line. The timber in the Midland territory consists 

 of red gum, white gum, York gum, salmon gum, raspberry jam, 

 wattle and manna trees ; there are also amongst what may be termed 

 the undergrowth, blackboys, wooly and prickly bushes. We have 

 done most of our clearing by contract. This year (1897) there has 

 been less labor available than I ever remember before, in spite of 

 good wages being offered. The rate of pay has increased fivefold, 

 as compared with what men used to get in the early days of the 

 colony. The rate now is i to i 53. per week and rations 

 found. The cost of clearing is never more than ^5 an acre, 

 and sometimes only as many shillings, but in the latter case 

 only shrubs have been dealt with. At Koojan Mr. Padbury 

 has been employing Chinamen to clear land which Europeans 

 would not undertake at the price he offered, namely, 503. per acre. 

 The Chinamen found the job pay well at the price, and 

 one of them went back to his own country with ^90 in his pocket. 

 It is surprising how much hard work Chinese can do, considering 

 their inferior physique; they keep at it longer hours than the whites, 

 if they get a piecework job. The country which Mr. Padbury had 

 grubbed was ringbarked two or three years ago ; every year as the 

 trees decay the land is less trouble to grub, and the price is reduced 

 in consequence. The crops usually grown in our neighborhood 

 are oats, wheat, hay and potatoes, and almost every kind of veget- 

 able. The growers mostly use their produce, or fatten stock with 

 it, as we are so far from the railway the cartage to the line would 

 swallow up most of the profit. The local wheat is grown at 

 Yatheroo ; I have a mill there ; it is the only mill in the district. 

 As to the yield per acre, I have never had less than 15 bushels per 

 acre and as much as 40 bushels; my average yield is about 20 bushels, 

 and a ton of hay to the acre. If I manured the land I should expect two 

 tons of hay to the acre. Self-sown hay crops yield very heavily ; but 

 there are too many burrs in the crop to allow it to be sent in to mar- 

 ket. If we send produce away by rail, we have to cart it from 15 to 30 

 miles; we are fairly well satisfied \vith the facilities for transport. I have 

 omitted from the lists of fruits that grow well with us, the Cape 

 gooseberry, which thrives luxuriantly on all our soils, except the 

 limestone. The squash family are also well suited here ; figs do not 

 flourish anywhere more abundantly than they do in the Midland 

 district. Fruit is grown on the lighter, not the best lands, and 

 melons, pumpkins, etc., on the moist spots near the watercourses ; 

 they go ahead like weeds. The deep red, almost purple, land on 



