PART VI. 



THE WEST AUSTRALIAN SETTLER'S GUIDE 

 << AND FARMER'S HANDBOOK. <> 



DAIRYING. 



BY ALEX. CRAWFORD, 

 (Consulting Dairy Expert to the Bureau of Agriculture.) 



INTRODUCTION. 



Western Australia there is probably no branch of 

 agricultural industry offering so good an open- 

 ing to the investment of capital, nor one promising 

 such immediate success, as dairying. 



At the present time, and for some years to come, 

 the bulk of the butter consumed here comes, and 

 will come, from the Eastern colonies ; but before it can reach here 

 and be put on the retail market it has to undergo the many vicissi- 

 tudes of climate and carriage, and is generally three weeks old at 

 the least. By this time the delicate aromatic flavor so desirable 

 in fresh butter is nearly always gone, and although the butter may 

 be sound and sweet, it is almost flavorless and fails to tempt the 

 appetite in the way that freshly made butter does. The result is 

 that really first class dairy butter made in the colony commands 

 almost double the price that the imported article brings, and the 

 demand is far beyond the supply, and still growing. 



At the present time there are very few dairy farms in Western 

 Australia, and still fewer where really good butter is made. This 

 is not the fault of either the climate, the land, or the cattle. In many 

 districts of the colony no one need ask nor seek for better soil to 



