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the limestone is reserved for grass. I have about 150 fig trees in 

 bearing ; I planted 50 more the other day. I would sooner be over- 

 done with fig trees than with oranges and lemons, because you can 

 fatten pigs, fowls, in fact, all kinds of stock, on figs, and they are no 

 trouble to grow. I do not use at home one-hundredth part of the 

 fig crop. I shake the fruit down from the trees, and let the pigs in 

 to fatten upon them ; this saves labour in picking and carrying the 

 figs to the pens. Our orchards are fairly successful, that is to say, 

 figs, grapes, oranges and lemons are all that we could wish, but 

 apricots are not of more than second-class quality ; nectarines are 

 superior, and the peaches something great. Apples come to a fair 

 size, but the flavour is not equal to that of the apples that are grown 

 further south. There is a strip of Crown land open for selection, 

 16 miles wide, between Yatheroo and the railway. The company 

 tried to get all the best land, but they were under the restriction 

 that they had to share the railway frontage equally with the Govern- 

 ment. There will be a great deal of selection on Victoria plains. 

 I can recommend a man t go there \vho is looking for a selec- 

 tion ; there has not lately been any land taken up. The co- 

 operation of the Land bank has been availed of by some farmers 

 on the Victoria plains. Personally, I would rather borrow privately if 

 I wanted money, but I am willing to admit that my reason may not 

 be a good one. I hold that if a man should be unable, through some 

 special misfortune or sickness, to meet his obligations to his creditors, 

 he may prevail upon an individual lender to be lenient with him ; 

 but the bank is governed by statute, and if a man does not 

 punctually pay up he must be sold up. The local rainfall is 24 

 inches per annum, and the general character of the seasons is a long, 

 dry summer, and a short winter. Six or seven months in the year, 

 or from the beginning of November to the end of April, there is 

 seldom a single shower. During the past few years \\e have not 

 had rain until the end of May. The rainy season has been getting 

 shorter than it used to be ; the wet weather has been late in 

 commencing and has gone off early. The maturing of the crops 

 has been a very critical time owing to the scarcity of rain. A 

 shower or two that would have been very beneficial to fill the wheat 

 ears has often been withheld. We harvest in November and 

 December ; hay is cut in October. July and October are considered 

 our wettest months. The rain commences about the end of May as 

 a rule. 1 have occasionally known good rains to fall in April, and 

 they have been very welcome ; we cannot get too much rain in 

 April. The land around here is mostly freehold ; it was taken up 

 long enough ago for the improvements to have been made, the 

 purchase money to be paid by deferred payment instalments, and 

 the titles to issue. Some owners have only small blocks of about 

 150 acres ; others as much as 16,000 acres. The settlers are all 

 British subjects. The chief advantages of the district are good soil, 

 fair rainfall, and a railway, although its route is not very close to 



