1 Sepr., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 269 
Espartinna. 
Area: 40,000 acres. 
Stock: 54,000 sheep, 8,000 cattle. 1,900 horses. 
Equal to 2°50 sheep per acre. 
Dos Hrruwanos. 
Area: 22,724 acres. 
Stock: 45,000 sheep, 5,000 cattle, 500 horses. 
Equal to 3°24 sheep per acre. 
The sheep consist of 30,000 Rambouillet merinos and 15,000 Lincoln 
crosses. ‘I'he average wool return is 4°84 Ib. on 45,000 sheep. 
La Isazet. 
Area: 15,067 acres. 
Stock: 20,000 sheep, 3,400 cattle, 750 horses. 
Equal to 2°80 sheep per acre. 
The average wool yield on 13,000 Lincolns is 5:64 Ib. 
The average wool yield on 7,000 Rambouillets is 5:21 Tb. 
MANANTIALES. 
Area: 14,178 acres. 
Stock: 10,600 sheep, 4,200 cattle, 800 horses. 
Equal to 2°62 sheep per acre. 
TRECE DE ABRIL. 
Area: 40,014 acres. 
Stock: 5,000 sheep, 10,500 cattle, 1,600 horses. 
Equal to 1:71 sheep per acre. 
N. Casrenua. 
Area: 49,400 acres. 
Stock: 10,000 sheep, 4,400 cattle, 1,200 horses. 
Taking the above four properties, we find that— : 
La Isabel, with 20,000 sheep, gives an average of 5:40 Ib. of wool. 
Manantiales, with 10,600 sheep, gives an average of 4°82 Ib. of wool. 
Trece de Abril, with 5,000 sheep, gives an average of 5:97 Ib. of wool. 
N. Castella, with 40,000 sheep, gives an average of 4°51 Ib. of wool. 
The wool fetches, all round, 53d. per Ib. in the Buenos Ayres market. 
A gentleman now resident in Brisbane was, a few years ago, head 
shepherd on an estancia, some 600 miles west of Buenos Ayres city and west 
‘of Rosario. The estate was 150,000 avres in extent. On this were depastured. 
250,000 sheep and 20,000 horses. The sheep were principally crossbred 
Lincolns and Rambouillets. Every year the lambing season was productive of 
100,000 lambs. The fleeces ran from 25 Ib. to 35 lb. The carrying capacity of 
the land was from 23 to 3 sheep per acre. There were no cattle on the estate, 
but the horses were periodically run in, and their manes and tails were eut for 
the sake of the hair, and many of the mares were killed for their skins and 
grease. During the months from October to February, he says it is a marvel 
that the sheep live. There is no grass to be seen anywhere, the only green 
food being the coarse grass and rushes growing on the edges of swamps. At 
the end of the dry season the animals are so poor that a man could carry five or 
six of them at once. As soon as the rains begin, the grass and herbs spring up 
like magic, and sheep, cattle, and horses put on flesh in a very short time. One 
peon can look after from 10,000 to 15,000 sheep, which are not paddocked. At 
night they are run into corrals surrounding the shepherds’ huts. Wild beasts 
do not interfere with them. Water (or rather the want of it) is the great 
trouble. Before irrigation works were established on the ranches, the sheep 
were watered from troughs which were filled by water from wells or from 
canyons. The water was drawn up by means of a whip or a whim; the full 
bucket coming up was emptied automatically into the trough, whilst the empty 
