146 Australian Life 



kind, have retarded the development of many of 

 these primary industries. The latter difficulty 

 has now been partially overcome, with the result 

 that a fresh stimulus has been given to a number 

 of these special enterprises. 



In every state are wide areas of land suitable 

 for the growth of cereals, some of it and notably 

 the Queensland uplands, known as the Darling 

 Downs, and the wheat belt of South Australia 

 requiring little or no clearing. Much of the best 

 wheat land in the south-east of the continent is 

 covered with a growth of mallee {Eucalyptus 

 dumosa) a shrub growing from ten to fifteen feet in 

 height, and with stems set so closely together 

 that it is impossible for a man to force his way be- 

 tween them. The clearing of this land is accom- 

 plished by hitching teams of bullocks or horses to 

 a large tree trunk, and dragging it over the 

 thickets after the fashion of a roller. In this 

 way, the mallee is thrown down and uprooted, 

 and the cleared ground is roughly broken with 

 an agricultural implement known as a stump- 

 jumping plough. Land that carries heavy timber 

 must be cleared by the painfully slow process of 

 chopping down each tree, and then ' ' grubbing ' ' 

 out the stump. The fallen timber is burned in 

 order to dispose of it, although much of it is of 

 considerable value. 



The yield of the continent for the season of 

 1902-3 was twelve million bushels of wheat, and 

 for 1903-4 sixty million bushels, showing a differ- 



