Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/532

508 miles; it covers twenty-seven degrees of latitude and twelve of longitude, and is more than fifteen times as large as England and Wales combined. Its greatest length is 1850 miles, and its greatest width 650 miles.

"We delivered some letters of introduction, and were hospitably received, our entertainers doing their best to give us a good opinion of the city and colony. One of them told us that Adelaide had been called the 'City of Churches,' on account of the number and beauty of its religious edifices; and also the 'Farinaceous City,' owing to its great shipments of wheat and flour. South Australia is largely devoted to wheat culture, and some of the farms will rival the great wheat-farms of the North-western States of America. They have all the improved machinery for raising wheat on a grand scale, and their owners are liberal buyers of American ploughs, mowers, reapers, and other apparatus intended for economy of labor in producing the 'staff of life.'

"We visited one of these large wheat-farms, and were greatly impressed with what we saw there. It employs ordinarily about seventy hands, and in the busy season the number often exceeds two hundred. Everything is reduced to a system, and the manager is autocratic in his power; there is a set of printed rules to govern the conduct of the men, and they are required to sign them when engaged. All hands are called when a bell rings at 5 ; horses are cleaned and fed before 6, when breakfast is served; the teams are in the field by seven o'clock; an hour is allowed at noon for dinner, and then work continues till 6 in summer and 5  in winter. Supper is served at seven; horses are fed and watered at half-past eight, and the diningroom is cleared and locked up at ten o'clock.

"First-class hands receive twenty shillings (five dollars) weekly, second-class eighteen shillings, and third-class sixteen shillings. Any one in charge of horses who abuses them, or neglects to feed and care for them properly, is discharged at once, and forfeits all wages due him. Varying penalties are affixed for other offences, and the inducement is held out that any laborer can raise himself to a first-class position by good and industrious conduct.

"The product of wheat in the colony varies in different seasons; in 1884–85 it was nearly fifteen million bushels, but since then it has been much less, owing to severe droughts. There are nearly seven millions of sheep in South Australia, and the wool crop is the next in importance to the bread-stuffs. The colony produces great quantities of grapes, and the export of wine is steadily increasing. Grapes, peaches,