Book I. AGRICULTURE IN AUSTRALIA. 



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the sheep of New South Wales is equal to the best of that produced in Saxony, and can 

 be sent to the British market for about the same expense of transport. This wool forms the 

 grand article of agricultural export from New Holland. According to a calculation made 

 by Mr. Kingdom in 1820 ' BritishColonies, p. 282.), "making the most liberal allowance for 

 all kind of expenses, casualties, and deteriorations, money sunk in the rearing of sheep 

 in tliis colony will, in the course of three years, double itself besides paying an interest of 

 ~5 per cent." 



*1042. As a country for an agriculturist to emigrate to, New South Wales is perhaps 

 one of the best in the world, and its advantages are yearly increasing by the great num- 

 ber of independent settlers who arrive there from Britain. Settlers, on arrival at New 

 South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, have a grant of land allotted to them pro- 

 portionate to their powers of making proper use of it, with a certain number of convicts 

 as labourers, who with their families are victualed from the public stores for six months. 

 {kingdom, p. 311.) The country seems fully adequate to support itself with every 

 necessary, and almost every luxury, requisite to the present state of human refinement ; 

 in this respect it has the advantage over France, in being able to bring to perfection the 

 cotton plant. < ; As a criterion of the luxuries enjoyed by the inhabitants in fruit, one 

 garden, belonging to a gentleman a few miles from Sydney, contains the following 

 extensive variety : — viz. oranges, citrons, lemons, pomegranates, loquatts, guavas, the 

 olive, grapes of every variety, pine- apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots, apples, pears, 

 plums, figs ; English, Cape, and China mulberries ; walnuts, Spanish chestnuts, almonds, 

 medlars, raspberries, strawberries, melons, quinces and the caper, with others of minor 

 value ; and such is the abundance of peaches, that the swine of the settlers are fed with 

 them." {Kingdom, p. 308. ) In the Gardeners Magazine, vol. v. p. 280., Mr. Fraser, 

 the Colonial botanist, has given a catalogue of upwards of ICO species and varieties of 

 fruit under his care in the open garden at Sydney, including the pine-apple, the date, 

 the plantain, the cocoa, and the mango. 



1043. An Australian Agricultural Society was established, in the year 1823, for " the 

 promotion both of field and garden cultivation ; " and, besides newspapers, there is a 

 quarterly publication entitled the Australasian Magazine of Agricultural and Commercial 

 Information. In June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed creating an " Australian 

 Agricultural Company, for the Cultivation and Improvement of waste Land, in the 

 Colony of New South Wales." This company have an establishment in London, for 

 the purpose of raising a capital of one million of pounds sterling, in shares of 100/. each. 



*1044. Van Diemen's Island is about as large as Ireland, and it enjoys a temperate 

 climate resembling that of England, but less subject to violent changes. According to 

 Evans, the deputy surveyor of the colony, the climate is more congenial to the European 

 constitution than any other on the globe. That of New Holland has been commended 

 for its salubrity, but the north-west winds which prevail there are unknown at Van 

 Diemen's Land. Neither the summers nor winters are subject to any great extremes ot 

 heat or cold ; for though the summits of the mountains are covered during the greater 

 part of the year with snow, yet in the valleys it never remains on the ground more than 

 a few hours. The mean difference of temperature between Van Diemen's Land and 

 New South Wales is ten degrees, the mean temperature of the whole island may be 

 reckoned at about 60°, and the extremes at from 36° to 80°. The spring commences 

 early in September ; the summer in December ; the autumn in April ; and the winter, 

 the severity of which continues about seven weeks, in June. 



1045. The surface of the country is richly variegated, diversified by ranges of moderate 

 hills and broad valleys, and towards the western part of the island there is a rano-e of 

 mountains, in height .S500 feet ; on their summit is a large lake, the source of several 

 rivers. But though there are hills in various other parts of the island, there are not above 

 three or four of them that can be considered mountains. The hills, the ridges or sky 

 outlines of which form irregular curves, are for the greater part wooded ; and from their 

 summits are to be seen levels of good pasture land, thinly interspersed with trees, below 

 which is a luxuriant grassy surface. These beautiful plains are generally of the extent 

 of 8000 or 10,000 acres, and, Evans observes, are common throughout the whole island. 



1046. The soil, as in New Holland, is greatly diversified ; but in proportion to the 

 surface of the two countries, this one contains comparatively much less of an indifferent 

 quality. Many fine tracts of land are found upon the very borders of the sea ; and the 

 plains and valleys in the interior are composed of rich loamy clay and vegetable mould. 



1047. The animal and vegetable kingdoms are the same as those of New Holland. 

 The native dog, the agriculturist's great enemy in that country, is unknown here ; but 

 there is an animal of the panther family in its stead, which commits as great havoc among 

 the flocks, as the wolf did formerly in Britain. It is very cowardly, and by no means 

 formidable to man. The native savages are, if possible, more uncivilised than those of 

 New Holland ; they subsist entirely by hunting, and though the country has the finest 

 rivers, they have no knowledge whatever of the art of fishing, lliev bear great animosity 



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