Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/190

 mother country. The meal into which it is ground is sometimes made into a sort of porridge or pudding called hominy, somewhat similar both in taste and appearance to the preparation of oatmeal so general as an article of food among the lower classes in Scotland. With an equal quantity of wheaten flour, it also makes excellent household bread, the maize meal being in the first instance reduced to the state of hominy. Indeed, maize might in all probability form a profitable article of export to the mother country, especially as it can generally be obtained at Hunter's river, of the very best quality, at from 1s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. a bushel, a price which would enable the merchants to sell it at a rate that would render it a cheap as well as wholesome article of food for the labouring classes in England. This valuable grain is much used as an article of food among the peasants of New England, who prepare it in a great variety of ways."

Now that the land-mania has subsided, and a contrary reaction has taken place, the most fertile tracts of ground, whether improved, or in a state of nature, are quite unsaleable at any price, and many beautiful, well-cultivated farms have been sold by execution at frightful sacrifices. Even when prosperity shall revisit the colony, I do not think that rural lands will ever attain a higher value than that determined by the actual profit, or income that can be derived from them yearly, all fancied value from proximity to village reserves, &c. will never