Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/407

Rh pricking of the sharp points. Sheep cannot live in this region, but the seeds do not affect cattle, which thrive on the grass. In the interior the obnoxious grass does not exist, and consequently it may be roundly stated that all parts of Queensland are suitable for grazing cattle, but only the interior is adapted to sheep.

Cattle-raising is less profitable than raising sheep, but it does not require as much capital, and is less risky. A cattle-run may be made to pay from the start, while a sheep-station requires a heavy outlay before any returns can be received.

Mr. Watson said that five thousand cattle could be put on an unimproved run for about one hundred thousand dollars; the necessary buildings, yards, weaning-paddock, horse-paddock, and other enclosures would cost three thousand dollars, while two thousand dollars would pay all the wages of employés, and for the food and equipment of everybody attached to the place, for a year. For the first five years only fat cattle should be sold, and these would be enough to pay working expenses, in addition to improvements in the way of boundary and other fences.

At the end of five years there would be ten thousand cattle on the run, and after making liberal allowances for expenses from that time, the annual increase would be two thousand five hundred, of which fully eight hundred would be fat cattle. The sale of the increase would return from twenty-eight to thirty thousand dollars annually; and after deducting liberally for working expenses, the yearly profit could be put