are thousands who think and do as he does. No doubt Mr. Dodds is quite correct, and yet strange to add, Mr. Dodds advises his sons to avoid bills and discount as they would the sure road to ruin; without, indeed, they become bill doers themselves, when, of course, it is a matter of business and nothing further need be said. NOTES UPON AUSTRALIA. SHEEP FARMING. Aries and Taurus are, figuratively speaking, the signs of the Australian zodiac. Like the patriarchs of Scripture the wealth of the settlers consists in their flocks and herds. The country is admirably adapted for this primitive calling. Vast alluvial plains, covered with rich verdure and succulent herbs, are spread over the interior to a boundless extent. The traveller who crosses these magnificent pastures is forcibly reminded of Virgil's description of the Dardan plains:— Those ample plains, Where oft the flocks without a leader stray; Of wilds unknown and of untasted grass. The extent to which sheep farming has been carried is surprizing. In 1851, 146,710 bales were sent to this country which, valued at £20 a bale, gives a total of £2,934,200. It is hardly necessary to point out the benefits this pastoral property confers on us. Australia furnishes double the quantity of wool imported from other quarters of the globe, and should there be a diminution in the supply the operation of one of the most important branches of manufacture will be checked and the comforts of the public considerably abridged. The number of sheep pastured in Australia may, at a rough calculation, be estimated at 15,000,000; this important interest is well worthy of consideration, almost every class deriving vigour therefrom. According to the recent depasturing regulations the Government is empowered to grant leases for pastoral purposes not exceeding fourteen years in duration, and permission is granted to cultivate what is necessary for the use of the occupier. Commissioners determine boundaries of runs and decide disputes; the rent of land, first quality, is £1, second ditto 15s., third ditto 10s. per square mile (640 acres). The discoverers of pastures may claim a lease on defining the limits of such runs and stating the quantity of stock to be depastured thereupon. When land is proclaimed as part of a "hundred" leases cease, but when surrendered, compensation is allowed for substantial improvements that may have been made. On the non-payment of rent or conviction of felony, leases become forfeited and land is re-let. The province having become more thickly populated, and land, hitherto used for pastoral purposes being required for purchase, the settled districts have been lately portioned into counties. Isolation is the essence of pastoral life; on this account squatters annually penetrate farther into the wild interior. These pioneers are generally the older colonists, but those who prefer living in the vicinity of civilization can have transferred to them runs already occupied, which underletting is done for a pecuniary compensation. Runs vary from three to fifteen miles in length and breadth, the larger ones contain about 5,000 to 12,000 sheep, and at the main station, where the owner resides, there are usually wool-sheds, barns, mills, and other premises, with cultivated grounds attached. The out-stations are on the verge of the run, each shepherd having in charge a flock of 700 or 1,000 sheep. Those who intend sheep farming ought to be cautious in the selection of a run and the purchase of stock. Sales by auction are often of a deceptive nature, cattle being sometimes disposed of, which, on account of their wildness, cannot be collected, and sheep are knocked down which are infected with catarrh or foot-rot beyond remedy. It is not necessary that the sheepowner should be a squatter, for it often happens that capitalists agree to go halves with stockholders. Supposing that 800 ewes are entrusted to a grazier, he, perhaps, sends at the expiration of twelve months 400 fleeces and a table of increase, probably the 800 ewes may have dropped 700 lambs, the 350 would be carried to account, making a total of 750; at the end of the third year the first increase commences breeding, and the subsequent multiplication of stock gives an increasing per centage on the original investment. Sheep being uncertain property it is difficult to form an estimate of their cost, or their pro bable returns; we may, however, presume that for the purchase of 500 ewes, and outlay on station, a capital of about £700 would be required, and taking the loss as 5 per cent., and increase at 80 per cent., allowing the wool to cover the expenses of station, at the end of seven years the 500 sheep would have increased to 1,477 ewes, 1,182 lamus, and 1,602 wethers, giving a total of 3,081 sheep and 1,182 lambs. We are not aware that sheep management in Australia presents any novel features; the two lambing seasons are in March and October, and shearing occurs in November. The wool is then collected, pressed into bags, each capable of holding 250 lbs., which are branded and sent by dray to the nearest port for shipment. The rot and the scab, which often decimate flocks, we have not taken into consideration in our calculations; but though fortunes cannot be made so easily as hitherto, yet sheep properly managed cannot be otherwise than profitable, for if it be as we believe it is generally admitted, that the wool ought to defray the expense of the station, the annual increase must be a clear profit, affording a handsome per centage on the original outlay. Having premised the probable outlay and return that might be expected, we turn from the proprietors of stock to that somewhat homogeneous class of men, the employed, in colonial lingo called "crawlers." Shepherding appears to be the usual alternative of the luckless adventurer, while those in legal difficulties commonly seek solace in bucolic pursuits. Such a pursuit might be pleasing to an admirer of nature, or to one ascetically disposed, though, on this account, it must not be imagined that Australian shepherds are in the least sentimental. Instead of Ovid's gentle Corydon, one usually encounters a sturdy, barge-built fellow, dressed in a blue. serge shirt, untanned leather nethers, a tobacco, and not a pandean, pipe is in his mouth, while a beard of a month's growth, overshadowed by a felt wide-awake, heightens his desperado appearance. Under the assignment system it was not unusual to see a London thief clothed in kangaroo skins, reclining under the shade of an encalyptus, with a crook bent into the shape of a picklock, and a late writer informs us that the following were shepherds in his district:-An apothecary, a lawyer, a clerk, three sailors, a tailor, a Jew, a Cingalese, a barman, a black fiddler, a dancingmaster, and three gentleman's sons. If the above-mentioned discordant characters can discharge the duties of a shepherd, sheep tending cannot be a very difficult occupation. The daily routine is monotonous in the extreme. At sunrise the shepherd leaves the hut and conducts his flock to pasture. During the cool of the morning they feed with avidity; at mid-day they rest for a time under the shade of trees and then resume their wandering, which, toward evening, is directed toward home. The shepherd's abode is commonly constructed of posts driven into the ground, the interstices filled up with mud, the roof being made either of shingles or rolls of bark. The floor is, of course, mud, which becomes as hard as concrete. A rough table and clothes chest is the utmost extent of upholstery, and the crockery is limited to plates, knives, and other absolute feeding requisites. Women rarely dwell in these solitudes; near the settlements they are occasionally to be met with, but instead of industrious matrons they are of dubious stamp. A hut keeper is the sole companion of the shepherd, who is cook by day and watchman by night. The rations allowed are 10 lbs. of mutton, 10 lbs. of flour, 2 lbs. of sugar, and a quarter of a pound of tea weekly. And these edibles being duly prepared on the shepherd's return, the hut-keeper counts over the flock as they enter the fence, and at dusk repairs to a watch-box, where he remains till dawn. This nomadic course of life is pitiable to contemplate. The absence of women to shed refinement and bestow domestic comfort is owing to the long confirmed vitiated practices of this singular class of men; most of them make excursions to the nearest township once a-year, where they hold an orgie at a tavern, till they have spent what is due to them, and then quit the society of their gregarious fellow men. Cattle holding differs totally from sheep farming. There are three methods pursued by cattle owners; first, renting lands and managing stock, either personally or in charge of an overseer; the second is to engage a grazier to look after it, allowing him the residue for the expense of station; the third is to depasture cattle on another's run, paying sevenpence a head for keep. Should one intend squatting, a mixed herd of 300 is sufficent for commencement; in addition to this outlay many others are necessary, and at least £700 or £1,000 would be required for the undertaking. Cattle have a strong attachment to locality, and for several months after arrival they require to be tailed daily by a stockman and driven into a substantial enclosure at night. One stockman is able to superintend several hundred; he ought to be well mounted, his occupation being to keep the herd within bounds, note their condition, and watch that none are missing. In some districts there are cattle, the offspring of those strayed from runs, as wild as the American buffalo, and those not frequently driven in are perilous to capture. On these occasions the stockman requires a sagacious and fast animal, one not mindful of a free-railed fence or bullock's born some horses are said to enjoy the sport. Nothing save potent and repeated lashes of the whip can render cattle the least governable. The rock-hip is a most formidable weapon, the handle is about a foot and a half long, and the thong twelve feet in length; the echo of it sounds like a pistol-shot, and so terrife are the effects of a well applied lash, that one fourish is said to be capable of severing a pewter pot in twain. Stock holding if not quite so profitable as sheep-farming is certainly more animating. At daybreak, after a most substantial breakfast, the horses being got up and saddled, the whole party, often twenty or thirty borsemen and about one hundred dogs, start into the bash. All the cattle they can find are driven into the camping-ground by twelve o'clock. In a good season if the herd is quiet, when feed is plentiful, every head will be swept cff the run by that hour; but when cattle are wild and grass scarce, they must be got in by degrees, some of the parties tailing them all the time; and this will occasionally occupy weeks. All the cattle being on the camp, the tug of war commences. They resist being driven into the yard, knowing by experience how they are knocked about when they get there. The horsemen ride at them with their formidable stockwhips, the dogs bite their heels, and hang on their tails, and, what with the bellowing, barking, holloing, and swearing, the riot may be heard miles off by any stray traveller riding over the silent plains and through the open forests. Every now and then a beast or calf bursts out of the herd, and tries to head back to the bush. One or two horsemen are after them as quick as thought; their dogs follow. Many bullocks are so quick in this country that if they get a little start it will take a good horseman to overtake them. The men ride like madmen, taking the fallen logs and great creeks in the ground in their stride; their hats off, hanging by the string on their backs; their long hair and beards strewn on their shoulders, mixed with the gaudy fluttering handkerchiefs in which a stockman delights. As soon as the beast is pressed, he doubles sharp like a hare, but a good stockman and a good stockhorse doubles just as quick round, like a top. At last, tired out, the bullock is glad to make the best of his way back to the fold, his hide all covered with foam and blood, his eyes glaring, and his tongue hanging out. Some cattle break out like this fifty times between the camp and the yard, and to see a dozen horsemen after half a score of beasts at best pace is a very lively scene. Cattle usually average fair prices. If there is no other alternative but boiling down, a fat animal well producing two hundred weight |