Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/80

 duty instead of being just sufficient to give him a little interesting employment each day, while he is enjoying all the pleasures and comforts of home. These objections do not apply with the same force to a distant cattle station.

If a man be discouraged by the foregoing considerations from embarking in sheep farming, he may turn his attention to agriculture; for engaging in which there at present exist great facilities. Many sections of land, with cottages and out-buildings, and with gardens stocked with vines, fig-trees, peaches, &c. may be at present purchased within ten or twelve miles of Melbourne, on very low terms, probably not more than half what was expended in making those improvements in the dear times; and land still better for the purposes of cultivation, within twenty miles of Geelong, and on the banks of the Barwan [sic] river, may be purchased in its unimproved state, from private individuals, for about twelve shillings per acre. In this part of the country there is already a considerable quantity of cultivation, and the crops seem certain; about twenty-five bushels of wheat per acre is, I am told, an average crop, and as much as forty bushels is sometimes yielded. It seems to be the opinion of persons, the best informed, that, when wages come down to twelve pounds per annum, it will pay very well to grow wheat, barley, and potatoes for the Sydney and Melbourne markets—some idea of the value of which may be formed from the following tables: