THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



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do this, will the State take action, and 

 cause this momentous uialter to be en- 

 quired into ? In this hope, and to this 

 eiui, 1 have ventured to reopen the (pu's- 

 tion— one tJiat had ni}- attention thirty- 

 tour years ago, when 1 addressed a letter 

 through the Sydney Press, to an old' 

 friend, the late T. S. Mort, on this sub- 

 ject. Nothing, however, came ot it 

 lhat letter 1 have still, and shouhl vou 

 consider its publication bkely to attract 

 attention, 1 now forward it. 



Following is the letter referred to. 

 (Urigmally written about the beginnino- 

 ot 1808) My dear Mort,— In a late 

 number of my "Sydney Mail," I found a 

 letter under your signature on the sub- 

 ject of the meat supi,ly of Xc\v South 

 Wales, and suggesting a means for mak- 

 ing butchers- meat cheap. '1 his is a sub- 

 ject that has occupied my attention also 

 tiiough from a different point of view 

 to yours, and one that may perhaps be 

 looked on at present as impracticabk' and 

 even visionary. In this letter 1 shall 

 not advert to your views furthei' than to 

 say, I do not think your sug<;cs lions re- 

 lative to the manner runs sholiM l,c dealt 

 with by the Government would l)e suc- 

 cesstul in the purely squatting districts, 

 lor the climate there is too uncertain to 

 give small holders — of 1,500 sheei, on a 

 limited area — as you propos,., a cliaiicx' 

 of success. AVater may be found by sink- 

 ing, or even stored by dams, but during 

 drought vegetation is all but extinct, and 

 on small areas, which are sure to be 

 heavdy stocked, there would be no out- 

 let and rum would fall on the holders 

 JJut your suggestion would be a good one 

 It the craze," as some of mv own friends 

 call it. T now entertain could be realised, 

 that IS to sa.y, if our climate could be 

 moflified. On this subject I have written 

 several letters to the Press, in the hoi)e of 

 attracting the attention of scientists, men 

 more capable than I am of studv- 

 mg this question, and forming 

 a valuable opinion. The (luestion 

 asked was, can the rain - char-ed 

 clouds be compelled to give down their 

 nioistures under the followino- conditions. 

 (Here I give you a copv of one paragraph 

 of V oiil)li=ho,! letfpr of mine.) "One of 

 t y i^ocuhar-'tios and ac-oTavatious of this 

 climate is the frequent threatenings of 

 rams and storms, and the infrequency bf 



either. Only last night the heavens were 

 covered with a thick pall of clouds, just 

 such a sky as one sees in 'I'oussin's' 

 painting of the Deluge, and we all ex- 

 pected a grand rain. Im'cii the working 

 hands, not usually demonstrative on 

 the subject of weather, rublied their 

 hands and expressed satisfaction at the 

 threatened discharge. Bareheaded I sat, 

 out in the darkness, hoping to cool my 

 head with a rain bath, and treat myself 

 to the unaccustome I luxury of the feel of 

 moisture. I sat waiting in vain. Instead 

 of the pleasing rain a blinding storm of 

 dust arose, filling eyes and ears, penetrat- 

 ing everywhere, and irritating my 

 epidermis greatly. The great mass of 

 cloud seemed to divide just overhead, and 

 to be drawn asunder as one would 

 draw aside a great curtain, giving one 

 the idea of the 'Prince of the ])owers of 

 the air' taking a malicious pleasure in 

 ottering us the cu]> and then dashing it 

 from our lips. We jioor devils must 

 surely be the descendants from, and in- 

 heritors of, the i)unishinent accorded to 

 Tantalus." Besides the letters to the 

 I'ress I wrote fully to Mr. W. H. Walsh, 

 one of our Ministiy, treating ihis matter 

 of our rainfall and of our meat supply, 

 from a national point of view. I suggested 

 that the Ministry should instruct our 

 Agent-General, Mr. Daintree, to try and 

 obtain the opinion of one or more scien- 

 tific men, who are sure to be gathered at 

 the coming Vienna Exhiliition, as to the 

 "possibility of making the clouds drop 

 their moisture." I thought Mr. Dain- 

 tree would enjoy peculiar facilities for 

 mooting such a question at the Exhibi- 

 tion, for one of the great divisions of 

 exhibits is "food products," and in the 

 present day much attention is alwavs dir- 

 ected to this subject. I have dwelt on 

 the disinclination of capitalists to in- 

 vest money in our western lands on ac- 

 count of the arid and uncertain climate, 

 and so forth, but my appeal to Mr. W^alsh 

 was in vain, and I received a hint not 

 to bother him with any visionarv ideas. 

 So I turn to you, for you have a far larger 

 circle of acquaintances, and more in- 

 fluence than I have, and you mav find an 

 opportunity of putting this question of 

 "modifying climate" before those who 

 could give a weighty reply. The data to 

 submit for consideration are, briefly, as 



