AGRICULTURE. The agricultural development of Australia has been governed by the remote ness of the continent from the rest of the civilized world. by the recent date of its settlement, and naturally by the peculiarities of its physical and climatic conditions. Its latitude and its contour are such that it is nowhere subject to extremes of cold, and is well adapted to the production of tropical and temperate zone products. But a very small portion of its area is occupied by mountains and thus rendered uncultivable. The absence of mountains, however, is probably more of a loss than a gain, for it is responsible for a light rainfall in a very large portion of the continent, and also for the occasionally destruc tive hot winds. In the western half of Australia, save at favored points along the coast, the rain fall is too scant to justify cultivation. The value of the rainfall is greatly lessened, moreover, by the fact that it falls in torrents, and is mostly carried away at once by the watercourses. But the western desert has lost many of its horrors, as it has become more intimately known and methods of overcoming its disadvantages have been discovered and applied. Surface streams for irrigation are not plentiful, but there are an unusually large number of subterranean cur rents; also many artesian wells have been bored, particularly in South Australia, and . western New South Wales and Queensland, and numerous localities have thus been brought under success ful cultivation. But as yet most of the western half of Australia lies untouched, while most of the eastern half resembles our western plains of half a century ago, being given over entirely to grazing.
This latter region has proved second to none anywhere in adaptability to sheep raising. Even the forest areas afford excellent pasturage; and the winters are so mild as not to interfere with grazing the year round. The only serious draw back is an occasional drought. For several years Australia has led the world as a wool producer, and her sheep have been her greatest source of wealth. The number of her sheep is nearly twice that of the United States, and the colony of New South Wales alone at one time outranked us, having, in 1891, nearly 62,000,000 head, or three fifths of the total in Australia. Sheep increased
steadily until 1891, when over 106,000,000 were reported, since when there has been an equally re markable decrease in three of the States—New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. Sheep are raised mainly for the wool, the total amount of which, in 1899, was 467,800,000 pounds. While the wool crop has been continu ally declining during the last decade, there was no corresponding decrease in value, for the scar city had caused a rise in price. The breed of sheep is steadily improving, as is shown in the increase of the average weight of clip per sheep from less than 4 pounds in 1861 to nearly in 1899, about one-quarter pound less than in the United States. Formerly little or no mutton was exported, due to the breed of sheep and the distance from European markets. But with the improvement of the breed and the dis covery and application of a process of cold storage of the meat for transportation, an export trade is being established which promises to be come of great importance.
Cattle are no less favored by the Australian climate than sheep. Queensland is the great cattle-raising State. There this industry takes precedence of sheep-raising, and is greater than in all the other States combined. The number of cattle in the Commonwealth increased steadily from 3,846,000 in 1861, to 11,029,000 in 1891, since when the number has decreased, being only 9,838,000 in 1899. The exportation of cold storage beef is much greater than of mutton, and is constantly increasing. Dairy farming has been developed almost wholly during the last decade. The State governments, particularly in Victoria, have encouraged the establishment of creamer ies and the exportation of butter with satisfac tory results. An improved method of shipping has been another favorable factor. The raising of swine is very limited, but is developing in connection with dairy farming. Horses are bred mainly for local purposes. The small, yet hardy, breed called 'hush horse' predominates. In 1899 their total number in Australia was 1,670.000. There has long been a small export trade to India, and during the British war with the Boers in South Africa the exportation of horses was greatly stimulated.