Australia. Department of External Affairs

“ It burns well, and the burning enriches the soil. The settler starting in to clear his farm has ever the future picture in mind of when the work is done, and he has a beautifully-cleared, improved property on which to spend the latter years of his life. And there is no finer picture than an improved wheat farm, with its alternation of park-like paddocks, paddocks carrying a flock of sheep, paddocks of growing crops, and paddocks of fallowing ploughed land ready for the crop next season, or perhaps carrying a rotation crop of oats, rape, or cowpea. ”

“ In the older settled district of Illawarra, comprising the greater portion of the south coast district, dairying has been the main industry for many years, and there is not much first-class land unoccupied. There is, however, in this district ample scope for tenant farmers and for dairying on shares on several large estates where the experienced man of small means with children old enough to help in the work can make a good living, and save with the object of later on obtaining a farm of his own. In the north coast district the strides being made in dairying are phenomenal. ”

“ An Inferior Stock of Milk Cows.—The fact that while in many districts there are to be found dairy herds averaging barely 300 gallons per cow per annum, with a butter fat percentage of little over 3.5, carried on the same class of land as herds which average over 500 gallons per cow, with over 4 per cent. butter fat, will enable any dairy farmer to realise how much room there is for improvement in this thriving young industry, and what scope there is for the man accustomed to get the best results from his land and his herd. ”

“ There are cases, however, where a progressive owner is anxious to get his land under wheat, and has financed the farmer, finding everything but labour. The landowner has provided a working plant, for which the farmer pays him from the proceeds of the crops, the payments extending over a term of seasons. Under this system men have started without any capital, and in a few years possessed a plant worth several hundred pounds, together with a snug banking account to their credit. Of course, in such cases the landowner knows his man, and knows he is honest, experienced, and capable. ”

“ The majority of young men who have embarked in farming in the Western State during the last decade have favoured the lightly-timbered belts more suitable for wheat and sheep raising in preference to the heavily-timbered land suitable for dairying situated in the coastal districts of the south-west. That there is in the State an enormous area of land which is eminently adaptable to the growing of fodders necessary for successful dairying has been amply demonstrated. ”

“ Where labour is employed one man drives the harvester, but his horses are looked after, fed, groomed, and harnessed for him. This saves time, and enables the crop to be taken off the more quickly. Of course, the farmer in a small way will do his own work, requiring only a little assistance at harvest time, someone to sew up and stack the bags. As there is always a rush at harvest time, the bags of grain are often left lying in the paddocks in small heaps until the crop is all off, when they are carted to the railway or mill. ”

“ In New South Wales, for instance, something like one-sixth of the wheat crop is put in on shares. Under this system the landowner and the worker with limited means co-operate to their mutual benefit. One provides the land and the other the labour, and, under certain conditions, they share the produce. Since it was introduced many years ago, share farming has become popular because it has proved a boon to both parties and to the different States, while providing an exceptionally safe means of giving men the opportunity to ultimately acquire farms of their own. ”

“ These are all matters which from the ordinary farming standpoint have never been gone into thoroughly. That pig raising will pay and does yield handsome returns is admitted, yet when so many avenues of improvement are open, it cannot be said that the industry is receiving the attention it deserves. Up to the present farmers and dairymen have been chiefly concerned with raising the pigs, disposing of them perhaps at two months, or, as more often is the case, of keeping them on till four months, when they are topped off and sent to market to bring what can be realised. ”

“ So rich is the country in succulent natural grasses, and so congenial is the climate, that farmers exhibit a tendency to rely too much on the bounty of the seasons. This is what the Scottish Commission meant when they referred to the friendly climate as being the dairyman's most dangerous enemy. It is true that in normal years milch cows may depasture the whole year long on the natural pastures, and on this food alone yield milk of magnificent flavour, producing butter and cheese of the highest quality. ”

“ The men are responsible, and not the soil or climate. There are thousands of farmers who never have a lower average than 20 to 25 bushels, while in some well-farmed districts a whole locality has averaged nearly 30 bushels to the acre. The whole tendency now is towards more careful methods and higher averages, and this will mean greater prosperity for the farmers. As it is, men have been wonderfully successful in growing wheat in Australia, and if this is the case with the careless, largely happy-go-lucky style of the past, the prospect is extremely promising for the future. ”

“ To-day the industry is prospering and full of promise....
"There is no denying the fact that every State in the Commonwealth has extensive districts where dairying could be carried on very profitably. Indeed there must be very few parts of the world where Nature does so much to help and so little to hinder the provident and industrious producer of milk.
"The most important advantage of all is undoubtedly the climate, and that, like many another thing of value, is a good servant, but a bad master. ”

“ And in no country in the world are those prospects brighter than in the Commonwealth of Australia. The world's surface is gradually filling up, and most of the older countries have reached sight of the limit of cultivation, so the world's millions have to look to newer lands to provide them with food. The great island continent in the southern seas possesses a vast area of proven wheat land, as yet untouched by the plough. It lies dormant, fertile, and responsive, awaiting the union of labour and land to yield abundance of food. ”

“ The men who are neither intelligent nor observant learn little from experience, and their dairy methods leave much to be desired. It is they who breed their cows anyhow, who keep no kind of milk records, who think it economy to bring in their cows to the calving as hard as wood, who depend entirely on pasture for food, who make no provision for drought, who have nothing to learn from anybody, and who are keeping the reputation of the Australian cow at a level much below respectability. ”

“ Working men and their sons frequently rise to the highest positions the States have to offer, and such an occurrence is so common as to fail to arouse any comment. In politics there is a universal suffrage, every man and woman having a voice in the government of the country, therefore the laws are framed for the good of the majority. No land offers better or freer social conditions to the homemaker. Advantages offer not only to the settler himself, but he has every reason to hope for a happy destiny for his children.
As has been stated, the climate is exceptionally healthy and mild. ”

“ Pig raising now, instead of being regarded merely as an adjunct to dairying, is being looked upon much in the same light as is a main line whether connected with dairying or general farming. This is indicated by the fact that where previously any description of boar or sow was good enough to produce a litter, now both farmers and dairymen are using chiefly the pedigree stock, and are giving attention to the different crosses most likely to give the largest litters suitable for bacon production, which can be brought into condition for market in the quickest time. ”

“ The very richness of the soil and the kindliness of the climate has tempted growers to adopt speculative methods of growing wheat. The main idea has been to put a large area under crop on the chance of striking a good year, when a small fortune may be realised. But growers are being educated to the value of more careful methods as paying best in the long run. The average yield in Australia has been about 11 to 13 bushels per acre. ”

“ These institutions are becoming fairly numerous throughout the State, and are all equipped with the most modern machinery and managed by expert men. The farmer nearly always, nowadays, has his cream separator, and all he has to take to the factory is the cream, which does not occupy much space, while the skimmed milk remains on the farm for feeding pigs or calves. Some of the dairy factories in the State are proprietary, but others are on the co-operative system, under which the farmers are the owners, and share in the general profits, as well as being paid for their cream. ”

“ Australia has many rural industries, but of agriculture wheat is the most important, just as it is the most important of the world's crops. Wheat is the king of cereals—the prime essential of civilised life. Nearly half the inhabitants of the globe are wheat-eaters. And the number is growing, for the Eastern races are becoming consumers of wheat, which is significant of a higher standard of living. ”

“ With suitable root and pasture crops there is no reason why pig raising should remain merely as an offshoot of dairying and farming operations. It is sufficiently remunerative even when all food has to be purchased on the open market to justify attention being devoted to raising alone. But such circumstances do not enter into the operation of the industry as managed in Australia. The close proximity of separating factories would in many districts make it possible for a breeder to entirely ignore the dairying side of the question. ”

“ The almost invariable practice in Australia is to combine wheatgrowing and sheepfarming. Sheep are especially profitable in Australia. This is an excellent combination, as the busy periods do not clash, and the sheep help to fertilise the land, clear the stubble paddocks, and are also often useful for the purpose of eating down a crop in the early stages where it may be making an unduly rapid growth.
In most districts 250 acres of wheat is as much as one man can manage without outside help, except at harvest time, although some energetic farmers manage 300 acres. ”