April i, 1882.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
843 
— 1 
Irawn parage 
horses ; a stor 
necessary for 
Sratdoor r qui 
aiDtoKt t [h i ; 1 
WHO I. II rllllivl 
Presbyterian cl 
m to il.r we 11 
beef or muHo 
requirements ; 
^are run in, si 
been mem ionei 
in the southo 
that horses arc 
to bo " sociab 
From a hill 
looker a flat i 
of drought t< 
gladden eyes i 
there riso rid; 
stones— not foi 
surface At 0 
>e house thero lies before tho on- 
ely stretching olain, in this year 
and parched along its snrface to 
to a pastoral occupation, tiere and 
closely-growing belts and trees, and 
the plain — cropping thickly to the 
.wo points on the horizon hills, more 
Or less elevated, mark the boundary of tho prospect thero 
more thoroughly defined than at other point - where the 
plain itself, uubrokenly, is lost to sight in hazy dimness 
as tho sun from an unclouded sky beats hotly down. Solid 
human flesh exposed in open air is then anything- but 
I aisy"! 
Daring .shearing time on a station visitors must be very 
muc h de trop. How much therefore had such an one to 
bo thankful for when not only the shearing operations 
Could bo soon but when also those fellows in charge of 
the out -door arrangements went out of their wny, in their 
busiest time, to show a " new chum ' as mucli as possible 
of 1 heir department ! Riding round part of the station, 
as opportunities wore made or aroso, gave the stranger 
an idea of its size. It occupies tho greattr part of 200,000 
acres ; more exactly it is about 27-'i square miles in extent 
and if in ono square block would have sides 10 miles in, 
length. It is ol a somewhat irregular shape, as it hap- 
pens, however. It is fenced and divided into paddocks, 
some of which are thousands of acres broad. As was 
mentioned previously, Ibis \ear ;iii'l 1L0 lurinn ' al-o 
have been vory dry, and tho downs do not appear to ad- 
vantage. Where at present the grass is only inches high, 
it would bo numbered by feet in nn ordinary season, as 
authorities tell, and as tho rich-looking soil would also 
declare. The country is all volcanic, thereabout, and tho 
soil sometimes black, sometimes red, has been formed, 
according to geologic lore, of tho now decomposed lava, 
which had .spread all over the plain in its molten state. 
No stones aro to be seen there on tho plain, the soil is pure 
and unmixed. How for the best soil goos down is generally 
a matter of conjecture. It* depth is in mar:y places 
counted in hundreds of feet. I have seen tho statement made 
in print, in reference to some coloured photographs of such 
country on view in the Brisbane Musuem, that" tho no 
plus ultra ft' a 'ran,' climate apart, is volcanic soil for tbo 
open country, with r alt-bush ridges running through it." 
The salt-bush ridges are liked on account of the salino 
plants which find nourishment there from the salt known 
to be presont in soil decomposed from carboniferous rocks. 
60 goes tho theoretical explanation, and, where nature fails 
in supphing tho amount of salino plants necessary to tho 
health of thousands of sheep — which, perhaps, sho had 
not calculated on — art steps in and supplies the salt in tho 
form by which it is known in commerce. It is carted out 
mid 1 read on the plains, and the sheep take it greedily. 
Qaei 11 iland, on the whole, is, naturally, unsatisfactorily sup- 
plied with water. Uero again art steps in. Dams are eon- 
Rnclad or windmill aud other power is taken advantage 
of to get a required supply. 
Luge d.iiiis aro ntado on the plain to store up the rain- 
water when it comes. At ono placo on the station a dam 
had b H u made at tho corners of four largo paddocks where 
tin s unit. mi, in order to water all four. Even in tho extremity 
of the dry hi 1 mi, there Has a good supply storod-up, though 
only a proportion of what could be stored. That the sheep 
appreciated the plan' was easily evident by tho bare ground 
all round it 1 bonlois mid by tho num'ier, standing, drink- 
ing in tho water, or 101 losing about, having drunk. My 
Hoidoj philosopher ana friend" estimated the gathering 
" Damper," flour baked in tho allies of a fire, when well- 
made is very good bread, and is al-o cut up by each diner 
Tea, boiled over a wood tire in a "billy," or flagon, was 
served to each poi son in small " pints," or tin mugs. 
Hungry men can fall to with a relish to such food. The 
tea has a peculiar '' bush " flavour, which, however, is not 
by any means objectionable- (Generally tin j kites, knives 
and forks are used, but as the men working at the tank 
were only there pro Um. such impedim nta were dispensed 
with. They slept under canvas with low stretchers on which 
to lay their " swag," or blanket.) The water from under- 
ground is generally brackish. The wells may be 100 to 
200 feet deep, partly attained to by excavation, wooden 
planks being fixed at the side and partly by boring ma- 
chinery. As showing the result of the drought on the plain, 
skeletons of sheep wi re numerously lying about. In one 
paddock, thero wore more than an averago number notice- 
ablo: there, several hundreds had been burned to death dur- 
ing a fire. In such a case sheep stand helplessly, and make 
no effort to save themselves. 
Then follows a detailed description of sbeep-shearing, 
accompanied by a plan of the shearing-house. 
A DESTROYER OF WHITE ANTS. 
We have had, in the course of our career, many 
inquiries as to how to get rid of white ants, but we 
have always looked upon these pests ns one of the 
ills which flesh is heir to in this country. But, at the 
last meeting of the Agri-Horticultural Society, we see 
that a supposed antidote to white ants has been 
invented, for Dr. It. P. Thompson submitted a speci- 
men of his antidote with the following letter :— 
"I read a letter from Messrs. Octavius 
in the proceedings of the Society some 
(November 18S0) with advertence to white 
some of the managers of their tea estates much au- 
noyance and uneasiness. I have given the matter 
much aUention, and now beg to submit a sample of 
a specific prepared entirely from vegetable matter, 
which, I trust, will meet with success. The lower 
portion of the plant should be painted with it or 
smeared periodically ; it will gradually dissolve and 
run down, destroy or remove these pests, and tend 
to nourish the plants or trees. 1 should like it 
tried on trees in the immediate vicinity of white ants. 
The Secretary mentioned that he had transferred a 
portion of this material to Messrs. Oo'aviua Steel & 
Co., who had forwarded it to ono of their gardens. 
Where the pest is very rife, and had promised to com- 
municate the result." We shall look Forward with 
some anxiety to see whether it is tuoce sful or not. 
—Asian. 
& Co., 
1 back 
COMMERCE BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND 
THE, EASTERN WORLD 
is thus noticed in tho Sidney Morning Herald of 
January 18th: — 
Although thero ban now boon for m.-.ny years a 
regular steam lervice Intwcon India and Australia, tho 
direct trade between tho t\v > countries ha* not been 
much developed. At ono time Imliatiok oonjid rablfl 
quantities of our gold lor tho purpose of coinage, 
