Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/164

 derivable from sheep; due deduction being of course made to counterbalance the loss from disease and depredations, both among the original flock and the increase.

I will suppose that the 3500 ewes will at any rate drop 2800 lambs, which is considerably less than the yearly increase that Captain Sturt and other writers have assumed, I will also deduct ten per cent, both from the purchased ewes, and the lambs, to allow for losses incurred through disease, depredations, &c.

At the expiration of the first year we should therefore have, (rams not included).

At the expiration of the second year, at the same rate of increase, we should have, (ten per cent, being deducted for loss from disease, &c.)

Retaining a sufficient number of ewes to keep the breeding flocks at their original number of 3500, there would remain 1603 surplus sheep to dispose of, or convert into tallow, at the end of the second year, which at five shillings each, would realize in round numbers £400; we should then have at the commencement of the third year 3500 ewes, and 2268 yearling lambs.