Frozen Meats.— A rapid increase in live stock in Australia in favorable seasons makes the question of disposing of the surplus material of serious consequence. In 1882 the first ship ment of frozen mutton from Australia to Great Britain was tried. In 1916 f9,116,663 worth of frozen meat, including £1,270,707 worth of frozen mutton and 1724,624 worth of hares and rabbits were exported from Australia over sea.
Queensland exports large quantities of chilled and frozen beef, the total amounting to about 11,000,000 worth annually. Much of this is sent to the other states and is not included in the oversea exports. New South Wales exports chiefly frozen mutton, which varies in value from about £200,000 to £500,000 annually. Vic toria also exports large quantities of frozen mutton and beef, while South Australian lambs are highly prized in the British markets. The export of canned meat was valued at £500,955.
Dairy Farming.— The introduction of the factories system at convenient centres in Aus tralia has caused rapid extension in this indus try. Immense quantities of butter are now exported to Great Britain, in 1916 the export amounting to 11,117,629 sterling. The total amount of the dairy products of Australia for 1916 was valued at f21,562,000.
Forestry.— Australia is chiefly famous for its hardwood timbers, the export of which is now a considerable industry. In 1916 the total exports from Australia amounted to £396,337, of which West Australia exported the greater part. The present annual value of the timber industry of the Commonwealth, that is of the rough tim ber as it leaves the forest saw mills, is about /3,000,000 sterling. In West Australia alone the forests of marketable timbers are estimated to cover about 21,000,000 acres. The governments of all the states have a number of reserves where the young timber is conserved so that the source of supply can be maintained.
Jarrah is the chief timber exported, its prin cipal use being for wood-blocks, piles, railway sleepers, etc. The wattle tree grows well in most parts of Australia, from the bark of which large quantities of tanning material are pro duced. There are various species of eucalyptus from which is distilled the famous eucalyptus oil which has a considerable value for medicinal purposes. Some of the fine-grained woods are also very beautiful and much used for decora tive purposes. The karri is probably the finest
tree of the Australian forests, and sometimes run to over 30 feet in circumference at three feet from the ground and up to 150 feet from the ground to the first branch. Other prime timbers are ironbark, tallow wood, spotted gum, grey box, mahogany, blackbutt, etc. Besides hard woods there are beautiful cabinet woods, viz., cedar, rosewood, redbean, silky oak, black wood, etc.
Agriculture.— Judging by the experience of the past 30years, Australia appears to be on the threshold of vast agricultural developments. Up to 1871 only 2,345,92.2 acres were under crop in the Commonwealth, but in 1916 this had in creased to 15,651,974 acres. Of the cultivated land 90 per cent lies within the borders of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The following table shows the area cultivated in the various states: State Acres. 1915 New South Wales 4.808, 627 Victoria 7,070,000 Queensland 650, 000 South Australia 4,612.274 West Australia 1.867,547 Tasmania 333, 334 Federal Territory 5 ,143 Total 19.346.925 As in most new countries where the pioneer farmer needs a quick return from his land, wheat is the principal crop and nearly 67 per cent of the cultivated land is sown to wheat. The area under wheat for grain in the various states in 1916 was as follows: State Acres New South Wales 2, 758. 024 Victoria 3 . 680, 000 Queensland 93, 703 South Australia 2. 502.630 West Australia 1, 734.117 Tasmania - 48.642 Total 10,817,116 In 1915 the yield of wheat for the Common wealth amounted to 125,000,000 bushels. The other crops of most importance are hay, oats and maize.
The Commonwealth requires about 30,000,000 bushels of wheat annually for home consump tion and seed and a production of 125,000,000 leaves about 95,000,000 bushels annually for export.
The average yield of wheat in Australia may be taken at about 10 bushels per acre. This appears low judging by the standard of many other countries, but a bare statement of average is misleading, as in Australia the cost of pro duction is relatively very low. In ordinary districts the expenses of ploughing, seed and sowing and harvesting the wheat amounts to from 15/ to 20/ per acre, so that a yield of 10 bushels at 3/ a bushel means a return of from 10/ to 15/ an acre out of which to pay the other expenses.