CHAPTER XXXII. 



SHEEP LAND VALUES. 



Land values have so increased of late years as to 

 create special demand for skilful management to make 

 the working 1 of a property a success. The layman is apt 

 to overlook some important factors contributing to the 

 increase of land values. It should be realised that the 

 inverse influence of the higher cost of living, of labour, 

 and of all appliances required for the farm, has, to a 

 great extent, appraised values higher, the growing 

 scarcity of country available for settlement helping. As 

 a given sum of money will now purchase less labour, 

 machinery, stores, etc., likewise must that sum purchase 

 a smaller area of land. 



At best it is but an empirical business setting values 

 on sheep country. There are no two properties alike, 

 and values are based primarily upon the carrying capa- 

 city, and the carrying capacity leans upon methods of 

 management, particularly where English-sown grasses 

 and crop cultivation are involved. This turns the ques- 

 tion more into a kind of personal consideration of the 

 adaptability of the individual. While a man of indiffer- 

 ent experience may make only 5% interest on outlying 

 capital the skilful sheepman may make 25%. This in 

 itself indirectly appreciates or depreciates the value of 

 Jand to an important extent. When land is talked 

 about as being worth so much an acre it must always 

 be in more or less indefinite terms, and those only who 

 can regard the matter with any fixity are the ones who 

 are experienced in the methods of dealing with such 

 lands. While A with his skill and experience can easily 

 see his way to give. 20 an acre for land, the best thing 

 that B can perhaps do before giving such a price for 

 similar country is to compare his experience and know- 



