THE VALUE OF IRRIGATION. 
standard of living of the irrigationists will find no counterpart of these 
things on the Yanco settlement. The medium through which they 
may be obtained, however, is there. Nothing which the Californian 
settlers originally possessed is lacking to the man who takes up land 
at Yanco. Therefore, with a knowledge of what has been achieved in 
other parts of the world, it requires little imagination to visualize the 
conditions which should ‘obtain in the not far-distant future. At the 
present time, however, it is a matter of hard work and self-establish- 
ment. Orchards must be brought to maturity, dairying herds must be 
bred, and field crops must be grown. Incidentally the practice of 
irrigation must be learned. The mechanical effect upon the soil of 
the application of water and of the various cultural operations must 
be appreciated. There are one hundred and one little difficulties to 
be faced and problems to be solved before the community can devote 
time to the beautification and transformation of the public roads, the 
recreation grounds, and the township. Irrigation, and all the desir- 
able social and economic advances it connotes, must, therefore, not be 
judged by the Leeton of to-day. But even in its raw state, what a 
contrast this area presents to most of our inland country. In the first 
place, there is fairly compact settlement. Blocks of from 20 to 50 
acres mean homes almost within a stone-throw of one another, and 
isolation disappears. Furthermore, schools are within easy reach of 
the children, and public halls and reading rooms are accessible to all. 
Postal and trade conveniences are much the same as those of a suburb 
of a large city. In the summer months, the face of the country, in- 
stead of being parched and burnt up, is mantled with green. There 
is an ample supply of water for domestic uses, and there is an abund- 
ance of fruit, vegetables, and milk. Visitors making their first 
acquaintance with the Yanco area have inquired, as they have viewed 
from the township the numerous homes dotting the landscape, “ What 
do all these people do for a living?” It does not at first oceur to 
them that these small holdings can be made in the course of a few 
years to yield larger returns to the owners than areas forty or fifty 
times their size produce when left to take their chance with nature. 
Already many of the longer established settlers are beginning to 
earn the reward of their early struggles. Some of the individual 
returns obtained indicate what the land is capable of. Gross average 
returns ‘per cow have reached as high as £2 per month, and many others 
have ranged from £1 10s. to £1 17s. per month. The growth of the 
dairy industry is revealed by the operations of the butter factory. In 
the year ended June, 1916, 175,487 lbs. of butter were made. In 
1917 the output was 310,186 lbs., and in 1918, 449,938 Ibs. For the 
last half-year the output was 285,568 Ibs. Similarly the bacon factory 
shows a progressive record, and in two years the number of pigs 
slaughtered jumped from 558, in 1916, to 7,194, in 1918. It is esti- 
mated that the yield of deciduous fruit this year will reach 2,500 tons, ° 
while the citrus returns for the present season amounted to about 
10,000 cases. 
(To be continued.) 
347 
