Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/317

 AGEICtTLTUBE. 269 incapable of cultivation. In the latter part of 1794 agri- ^''^ culture had been established on a firm foundation.* There could be no question that the colony, as regarded the culti- vation of the land, had entered upon a season of prosperity. If its condition from a social point of view had been equally satisfactory, there would have been little ground for com- plaint. assured, that it had been industrioualj' circulated in England that there was not in this country either grass for graminivorous animals, or vegetables for the use of man. This report was, bowevei^ rather forcibly contradicted by the abundant increase of all descriptions of live slock at this time in the colony, and by the plenty which was to be found in every garden, whether cultivated by the oflicer or by the convict. A. striking instaDce of this plenty occurred at Parramatta a few days before the arrival of the storeship, when six tons and two hundredweight of potatoes were gathered as theproduce of only three-quarters of an acre of ground." — Collins, p. 360. " The ships which had lately arrived from England were fraught with the dismal and ill- founded accounts, which through some evil design continued to be insidiously propagated, of the wretched unprofitable soil of New South Wales. It wsa hoped, however, that when the present appearance and state of the colony should reach England, every attempt to mislead the public would cease ; and such encouragement be held out as would induce individuals to settle in the country The supercargo of the Halcyon, Mr. W. Megee, " on seeing the Toongabbe hills covered with a most promising crop of wheat, declared that he had never seen better in America, even at Rhode Island, the Garden of America ; and on being shown some Indian com of last year's growth, gave it as his opinion, that we wanted nothing but large herds of grazing cattle to be a thriving, prosperous, and great colony, possessing within itself all the essential articles of life." — lb., p. S75.
 * " Among other articles of information receired bv the William we were '