Page:Australian enquiry book of household and general information.djvu/195

 them. The great thing in growing melons, or indeed any farm or garden produce, is to be first in the market. To plant, the instant the season begins, particularly is this the case with melons, the first of the season always command a good price and thus several pounds can be made. One season I remember a neighbour of mine had made £42 before any one else had made a shilling. He had planted very early and looked well after them and directly they were ripe he sent his man into town with a dray load to retail from door to door. Some days he would sell two dray loads, and not one under 1s. 6d., many of them as high as 4s. and 5s. They were certainly very fine melons and he deserved his good fortune for his enterprise. Let my young farmer try the same thing. There is one thing I have omitted to mention, viz. : that if his ground is very hard, as it may be, it will require to be broken first by bullock plough, and this will have to be done by contract. It will be an expense, but it is best to do it or he may run the risk of breaking his lighter horse plough. I would advise him to get a plough and horse if he possibly can, as then when he has the time he can by degrees take in more and more land for cultivation purposes. Another thing he is more independent if ho has a plough of his own; it will not cost very much. The horse will be the heaviest expense. There is no use in my putting down any price or a limit even, as the price of a good horse depends more on the market, the supply and demand, than on the animal itself. However, I should think from £12 to £18 should get a very good horse of the kind required. If he is really unable to buy then he must just do as I have suggested, depend upon his neighbours. On no account should he go into debt for them.

Having all the enclosed land now ready for seed, I am presuming that it has been ploughed, harrowed and rolled,—the last can be done with a bush roller, made of a round log drawn by a horse. Any bushman will show him how to make one better than my pen can describe. He can go over the field and divide it off into sections for the different crops. For instance, one long strip will be for oats, another potatoes, another barley, another he should devote to vegetables of all kinds, and so on till he has marked it all off. I would advise him to put in as many fruit trees as he can. As a beginning he might plant them round the boundry of his fence, and later on he can, perhaps, take in a fresh piece specially for an orchard. No doubt, fruit growing is fast becoming an acknowledged industry in the colonies, so our young farmer must bear it in mind when planting. It will be best to have the fruit trees near or round his house, so when he has decided where he intends to build he can begin and plant them about that portion of his land, always, of course, arranging them in order and line. He