Irrigation Farming in Australia. 31 



has decreased rapidly during recent years, till to-day it is almost 

 nothing at all, and there is no reason why Australian farmers should 

 not step in to take America's place. 



Poultry-raising is also profitable when conducted on a suffi- 

 ciently large scale. A notable experiment is the breeding of 

 ostriches on the irrigation farms. The initial purchase of 

 the birds requires more capital, perhaps, than the $1920.00 farmer 

 could obtain, but the results are wonderfully successful. One man 

 only so far is ostrich-farming on Yanco area, and he cuts his birds' 

 feathers three times in two years, and gets about $33.60 worth of 

 feathers from each bird at each cutting. He keeps eighty birds on 

 60 acres of lucerne. 



OSTRICH RAISING ON LUCERNE. 



In such ways, then, can the irrigation farmer keep the pot boil- 

 ing while his block is maturing and his young fruit trees are grow- 

 ing. Apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, and oranges will bear 

 well in the fourth year, and return a fair crop even in the third. 

 Their best years are after six. Vines will produce in the second year, 

 especially sultanas and currants, and give good crops in the third 

 year. It is not possible to quote fruit yields in the new Government 

 irrigation settlements, for nowhere are they yet three years old, 

 and the areas at Yanco and Rochester are barely two years of age. 

 Most settlers, after getting their lucerne started and their dairy 

 herd going, have gradually been putting in fruit trees during the 



