. ;,S 4 A USTR. 1 1. . I SI A ILL USTR. I 77: D. 



decidedly beneficial effect upon the wool, and many millions sterling have been spent by 

 the sheep-farmers in thus fencing-in land of which they are only tenants. When sheep arc 

 shepherded, it is necessarily in large flocks, owing to the high price of labour. They 

 consequently feed in the cloud of dust that they raise, and this is more particularly so 

 when they are closely packed in going from, or returning to, their folds. This dust 

 strikes into the fleece, and eventually finds its way to the skin, thus preventing the 

 yolk, or natural secretion, from rising' and nourishing the wool, which consequently 

 becomes dry and perished, and deteriorates in quality. 



In Victoria, especially in the central and south-western portions, the climate and soil are 

 particularly favourable to wool-growing, and the stud-stock of the most careful breeders is 

 eagerly sought after at high prices. Tasmania, too, has great natural advantages, and the 

 rams of the best breeders of this Island are briskly competed for. In South Australia the 

 original sheep-farmers, who occupied the country a hundred miles north of Adelaide, have 

 been dispossessed by the advancing army of agriculturalists, and have had to move off to the 

 north and north-west into a drier climate, similar to that of the extreme west of New South 

 Wales. The rain-fall in these districts is sometimes less than five inches in the year. Water 

 has to be artificially provided, and in the absence of grass the sheep feed on salsolaceous 

 bushes, which, however, are nutritjve and healthy. In extreme seasons there is often great 

 destruction amongst the flocks, and these heavy losses check the enterprise of sheep- 

 farmers. Western Australia has not been very favourable to wool-growing, as so much of 

 the soil is light and sandy, but the northern half of the colony promises much better, and 

 is now being occupied by settlers who have had practice and gained experience in the 

 eastern settlements. The sea-board of New South Wales is found by experience to be 

 somewhat too moist for fine-woolled sheep, and more suitable for long wool. In the main, 

 however, this part of the colony is mostly devoted to cattle. In Queensland the climate is 

 warmer, but the southern and south-western half is well adapted for wool, especially in the 

 downs country ; in the far North the wool has a tendency to become hairy, and this part 

 of the country seems better suited to cattle. New Zealand, though containing large arras 

 admirably adapted to sheep-farming, has a moister climate than Australia, and has made 

 a greater success in growing long and lustrous wool, as well as in producing sheep of 

 larger carcase, while keeping a fine quality of meat. For this reason, it has succeeded 

 better than any other colony has done in meeting the taste of the English market for 

 frozen mutton. Notwithstanding the severe droughts that have from time to time afflicted all 

 the colonies, and wrought great havoc now and then among the pastoralists, the flocks have 

 continued to increase, and at one time, before the gold discovery, they so outgrew the 

 population that the carcase was of little value. In 1843, Mr. James O'Brien, of Yass, 

 saw that it would pay him better to boil his flocks down for tallow than to sell them at 

 the rates then obtaining in that particular season, with the result that his sheep were 

 in this condition worth from five to eight shillings per head, where they were formerly 

 worth only half-a-crown. This was the beginning of the export of tallow. Some idea of 

 the rate of increase may be gathered from the following figures: In 1859, Queensland 

 separated from New South Wales, and in 1861, for which year complete returns are 

 available for the mother-colony, the number of sheep within its boundaries numbered 

 5,615,054; ten years later, in 1871, the number had increased to 16,278,697; in 1881, 



