THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 87 



of course very different to Victoria, and at first I did not feel at 

 home with the prickly undergrowth and twining creepers which 

 were everywhere in evidence. But that same day I was enabled 

 to see such glorious birds as the Rifle and the Regent in their true 

 home. The " Big Scrub " grows in a rich red soil, the main tract 

 extending from Lismore on the south to the Macpherson Range 

 on the north, and the whole of the country is a delightful series 

 of hills and hollows, with creeks and watercourses in abundance. 

 But the scrub is now falling fast before the selector's axe, and 

 dairy cattle in great numbers are thriving upon the rich pastures 

 which take its place. The scrub-clearing is necessarily very 

 heavy work, for the vegetation is so dense and luxuriant. The 

 cutting of the undergrowth and the tree-felling are usually done 

 during the early winter months, and then about December or 

 January, if a good fire is sent through, all except the larger logs 

 are burnt. There is no anxiety about bush fires in this country ; 

 the scrub is so moist that even the fiercest of the clearing fires 

 will not penetrate more than six or eight yards into the green 

 vegetation. After clearing the land the next operation is to 

 form the pasture, and while in this embryo state every care is 

 taken to keep down undesirable grasses. A grass the farmers of 

 the Richmond have found most valuable for dairy stock is 

 Paspalum dilitatum, the seed of which is sown profusely. Some 

 have a bed of this grass set apart for seed purposes alone. 



Dairy farming is one of the foremost of the thriving industries of 

 New South Wales. Certainly the Richmond district attests the 

 fact, for herds of 75 and 100 milking cattle are not uncommon. 

 Throughout the district are the necessary adjuncts to the industry, 

 the separating stations or " creameries," which in their turn feed 

 the central butter factory at Lismore. Good grass and therefore 

 good feed for cattle are available all the year round. Really the 

 dry season is in winter time, for the tropical rains coming about 

 the end of January create a deluge for three months, while in 

 the spring and early summer previous to the downfalls extremely 

 heavy dews settle every night. I was unfortunate during my 

 trip, for the rains came very early — on Christmas Day — and I 

 was treated to four solid weeks of wet weather out of the seven I 

 spent in the district. The tropical shower is no joke, for the 

 water comes down in bulk, and after each is over the pasture, 

 the scrub, the road, everything is water striving to get away, 

 racing down the hillsides and along the depressions at tip-top 

 speed, forming watercourses in places previously dry, and filling 

 creeks, even the river itself, to overflowing. The showers, some- 

 times accompanied by thunder, follow one another in quick 

 succession. All may look bright, with a few scudding clouds, 

 when lo ! up comes a black bank to deluge the face of the land. 

 Each shower as it approaches makes a great noise and is heard 



