Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/103

 MacLeay river. Dr. Stacey at the Wilson, and Mr. Macleod at Dongai creek, near the MacLeay, reaped crops of wheat averaging upwards of forty bushels to the acre; the weight per bushel being sixty-five pounds. At the same period, most of the crops, in the country nearer Sydney, failed. However, in ordinary moist seasons, wheat does not succeed so well on rich alluvial land in the northern district; the straw grows too rankly and luxuriantly, and the quantity of the grain is diminished in consequence, and of inferior quality, being specifically lighter than wheat grown on forest flats. The best ground for wheat, in the county of Port Macquarie, and at the MacLeay river, would be that of the lightly wooded apple-tree flats.

I have already alluded to the mountain road, which has been rendered practicable for wool-drays, between Port Macquarie and the table land of New England. This elevated district is undoubtedly the best sheep country in Australia, and the squatters there have been much benefited by the diminished land carriage for their wool down this road; for short land carriage will henceforth be an object of greater importance than ever, since the Australian flock-masters have arrived at the conclusion, that the only way of disposing of their surplus sheep, is to boil them down for tallow, with a view of creating a new marketable article of export.

In order to show that my remarks, on the peculiar features and richness of the Macquarie county,