FIRST CENTURY OF DAIRYING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



And rear thy temple- to the sunny skies: 



Religion, Freedom, mingling in the strain. 



That chaunts they praises and that lauds thy nanie>; 



Then, boastful, tell they children whilst they're young, 



It was from Britain that thy fathers sprung! 



And. .-hould base slander breathe unon her name. 



Rise, Briton-like, and vindicate her fame: 



Tell of her deeds, and show the world by them. 



That Britain's virtues in Australia shine! 



S.P.H., Sydney, November, 1847. 



A succession of deep depressions is a very common arrangement 

 in the structure of the beds of the Australian creeks and rivers. 

 This is obviously the provision of an all-wise Creator, meeting the 

 conditions of a country where the water rapidly run off the sur- 

 face, and which was inhabited by native tribes of little constructive 

 capacity. They act as natural tank or reservoir, retaining a supply 

 of the vital element long after it has disappeared from other parts 

 of the channels, giving them the appearance of a chain of ponds. 

 It was from observations made by Professor Strzlecki, a Polish 

 scientist, on the 'formation of the ponds that led the early set- 

 tlers to adopt the vconstruction of dams for water conservation. 



It would appear that even terrific thunderstorms come around ac- 

 cording to some well-arranged (?) cycle, disappearing for a period 

 cf years, and then returning to us again for a term of years. If. 

 we can trust our memories, there were periods in our lifetime when 

 the visitations of such storms were more numerous, and much more 

 vivid, than of late years. As a writer puts it: "The reoeated flashes 

 cf lightning rendered darkness visible. The coruscation and lurid 

 glare made it appear as if the atmosphere was on fire. The air 

 was tainted with sulphuric smell: the loud and rapid peals of thun- 

 der, reverberated from hill to hill, seemed like the artillery of heaven 

 let loose to accomplish Nature's dissolution. This war among the 

 elements was succeeded by torrents of rain, which continued through- 

 out the night." 



A salubrious and balmy atmosphere, fine skies, fertile fields, are 

 all very well in their way: but as has been seen, serious spell> of 

 drought must be contended with. In order to do this the people 

 must resort to the conservation of fodder for their stock, and as 

 ensilage seems to fit in very well occasionally, why not generally? 



So far as our history can prove anything, it certainly proves 

 that the normal condition of Australia is droughty. Someone has 

 said that "Our Australian dairymen had but two prayers, one for 

 rain, and one for dry weather ; and as they had prayed so often for 

 rain and so seldom for dry weather, that their dry-weather prayer 

 was entirely forgotten/' These constant, continuous seasons of 

 drought as compared to the limited spells o-f wet weather experienced 

 on the South Coast and tablelands, have been the means of induc- 

 incr many to advocate the conservation of fodder bv means of en- 

 silage. During the past thirteen years the dairy farmers directly 

 ':nd the community indirectly, have been greatly the losers through 

 the prevailing indifference to the conservation of fodder in suffi- 

 cient quantities to tide them over long spells of drought. 



Some argue in a mild sort of way that silage, however inferior 

 the quality, i- better than many sorts of hay ; others go so far as 

 t<> state that good silage is better for stock than good hay, inas- 

 much as in silage all the natural juices of the plant is preserved. 

 \\ herca> in the process of curing hay these juices are transformed 

 into >oli(N. and arc thu^ lost to the animal, unle-> other consti- 

 tiu-nts rich in oil are added. Practical experience, on the other 

 hand, no to si;.)\\- that, generally speaking, cn-.ila.nv i> by no means 



310. 



