of the good lands of the colony, and especially of the southern dis- 

 trict, it occurs in small patches. To begin at the northern end, we 

 have- some tirst-ratc swamp land in the Harvey area, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Sampson's Brook, and the north Harvey, and between 

 the Harvey and Coolup areas and the coast there are a number of 

 splendid swamps seldom more than 100 acres in extent, and more 

 often much smaller, but unfortunately difficult to drain. From 

 thence south to Quindalup the coast country is practically all held 

 m tee simple, the great locations, Wellington I and 41 and Sussex 

 location 125, tilling up the whole of that stretch of country. Im- 

 mediately to the south of this the western spur of the coast runs to the 

 sea at Cape Naturaliste, and practically no potato land is found on 

 the northern slope. On the southern slope, bogs, swamps and 

 running streamlets are numerous, but the first patch of any extent 

 is to the north of Coweramup Bay, Miamup. Here there are many 

 hundred acres of rich boes suitable for the growth of the 

 summer crop. A little further south the Margaret river runs for 

 several miles through a splendid patch of uplands, equally suitable 

 for either grain or root crops. Thence south to the Blackwood 

 river there are a few line patches, notably on the Boodjijup and 

 Calgadup creeks, where there are many hundreds of acres of both 

 uplands and swamps. From the Blackwood to the Warren I am 

 personally not much acquainted with coast country, but I have 

 gathered information from many reliable sources, and I am assured 

 that from Donnelly river westward there is a large tract of rich 

 boggy flats lying parallel to the coast and immediately behind the 

 coast ridges, of surpassing richness and of many thousand acres in 

 extent, which only require to be brought into notice. As this will 

 probably require some general scheme of drainage (though I am 

 assured no work of a costly character will be necessary) it should 

 be dealt with by some scheme of subdivision before selection, and 

 I recommend that a reliable man (an officer of the department, if 

 possible) should be sent to make a careful inspection, and report 

 upon the locality and the best method of dealing with it. From 

 the Warren river easterly the country contains large tracts of good 

 soils, but at present these are beyond possible access, as there are 

 no ports along the coast. Roughly, I think the whole of the 

 available lands may probably be estimated at 20,000 acres, in about 

 equal proportions of uplands and lowlands, which should be cap- 

 able of producing 50,000 tons of potatoes per annum, worth at least 

 ^150,000 on the ground, at present values." 



The area mentioned by Mr. Brockman does not nearly represent 

 the total area of potato land in the colony. The localities referred 

 to in the report are those where the potato can be made a staple 

 and re-current crop, but there are thousands of acres in other 

 localities where at least one crop of pototoes can be grown between 

 frost and heat in the year. The soils best suited to this crop, and 

 the manuring of them, is dealt with by the agricultural chemist in 



