Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/249

 The state of New South Wales may be roughly divided, geographically, into three areas. A coastal district; plateaux or tablelands, of which the Blue Mountains form part; and the western or inland plains. Agricultural and pastoral production varies according to the character of these different areas.

Dairying is making rapid progress in the coastal districts of the north; the tablelands afford admirable conditions for mixed farming, in which the raising of sheep and cattle is combined with the growth of cereals; the western slopes are the centre of the wheat industry; while the vast area of level grass land in the far west give pasturage to 40,000,000 merino sheep.

For the chief contributing factor to the pastoral wealth of Australia has been wool. By far the greater part is exported, for though local woollen mills have been started they do not absorb much more than 1-1/4% of the whole clip. It was the introduction of the merino sheep from South Africa, through the agency of a Captain Mac-*Arthur in 1797, that laid the foundation of the Australian wool trade, for the merino unites the faculty of producing the finest wool with the capacity of seeking its food over the most extended areas, and of resisting drought.