LIVE STOCK. 117 



every town or village has its " chaff mills." Some of 

 these do a large business putting up chaff for India. 



The farmers very frequently find it much more 

 profitable to turn the wheat crop into hay than to 

 allow it to ripen. 



It is very remarkable that the English grasses do 

 not thrive in Australia, as a general rule. There is 

 not, however, the same necessity that they should as 

 with us, for the climate is so mild that very little 

 stock, except working horses, are stabled. For these 

 the chaff, as described above, is a more convenient 

 fodder than that of the North, where the horse must 

 be supplied three times a day with grain in addition 

 to his hay supply. The dried native grass is often 

 used for bedding, as there is very little straw, the 

 ripe wheat being largely gathered with " strippers" by 

 which only the heads are taken. 



LIVE STOCK. 



The number of horses possessed by the colonies in 

 1873 was something less than a million ; now there 

 are about one and a half millions; 



In 1873 there were upon the pastures 5,844,000 

 head of cattle. The number, in 1885, had risen to 

 8,260,000. I am told that the rearing of a steer to three 

 or four years old, on Australian pastures, is only a mat- 



