Page:The Coming Colony Mennell 1892.djvu/170

 should never be planted less than 20 or 30 feet apart. The Corn­ mission ventures no opinion as to the process of treating the land, whether by trenching or by deep ploughing; this question is one regulated entirely by the locality and nature of the formation; but strict attention to manuring, mulching, digging, and weeding is imperative to success.

—The area over which dairying, as an industry, can be followed out with profit, is all the coast line from the Moore River down south as far as Cape Leeuwin, extending as far back as the Darling Range. Taking the belt more particularly from Wanneroo to the Vasse, the profitable production of butter is simply a matter of attention and intelligence; the area is eminently adapted for it all the year round, combined with the production of such commodities as bacon, hams, eggs, poultry, potatoes, onions, &c. The coast system of dairying and farming would differ in some essential respects from that to be followed out on the stiffer lands below the Range. All along the coast, from its general immunity from frost, potatoes should be a staple commodity. This applies more particularly to the large belt of estuary land, and rich formation of vegetable deposit, running more or less all down the line mentioned. The cost of clearing is heavy, ranging from £5 to £20 per acre for heavy ti-tree clearing, but the yield being heavy and fairly certain, the potato crop should at all times be able to compete with importations: there is a very extensive area in every way adapted for this produce, and population on such a rich deposit will cheapen production and increase the supply as well as the demand. The Commission strongly recommend this branch of farn1ing, together with the production of vegetables and dairy produce for the Perth and Fremantle markets, to the attention of intending settlers.

Bunbury, the Vasse, and their surroundings seem the natural locality for dairy farming, and as the colony progresses it will, doubt­ less, form the staple product of these districts. At the present moment individuals are doing as much as individuals can with the means and labour at their command. Something like 1,000 to 1,200 cows are being dairyed; but at present the cost of production, including the heavy cost of transit, cripples the industry. It is a hopeful and cheerful tribute to the intelligence of the dairymen of the south to find how quickly devices in labour- saving- machinery are introduced. The De Laval Separator, butter-workers, and improved churns are now generally used.