Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/211

 The Jubilee ADELAIDE AND VICINITY '85 The farm, which is about 470 acres in extent, and whose soil varies from a stiff clay to a sandy loam, is divided into paddocks. The broad irrigation princi[)le is adopted, and the filter-beds are thoroughly under-drained, the eftluent being clear and pure. The production of the land has been extraordinary. Cows, horses, sheep, and pigs are depastured, while luxuriant crops have been obtained of lucern, Italian rye-grass, mangolds, sorghum, wheat (for hay), barley, vines, and wattles. It has been justly claimed that by means of this system Adelaide is the cleanest and healthiest city in Australia, and the best drained in the Southern Hemisphere. Experts from various parts of the world have reported upon it, and agree in their praise. In the early part of the ' period considerable activity was shown in tramway construction. The public works policy pursued for the Province generally was copied in the metropolitan area, and tramways were laid into all the principal suburbs. Indeed, the desire to build tramways became a fever, and lines were proposed which could never have paid. But a system of horse trams was established, and ran north, south, east, and west. Without entering into i)articulars ccjncerning the general improvements of the city, special reference must be made to the Torrens Lake. In 1881, a weir was completed in the Torrens near the site of the old dam, anil soon there was a magnificent stretch of water thrown back from near Thebarton t(j the Botanic Park, making a beautiful lake