sheepfarming. Sheep are especially profitable in Australia. This is an excellent combination, as the busy periods do not clash, and the sheep help to fertilise the land, clear the stubble paddocks, and are also often useful for the purpose of eating down a crop in the early stages where it may be making an unduly rapid growth.

In most districts 250 acres of wheat is as much as one man can manage without outside help, except at harvest time, although some energetic farmers manage 300 acres. In the more settled districts wheat farms usually range from 300 to 600 acres, but larger farms, up to four and five thousand acres, are common. They are either worked on shares (see p. 38), or with hired labour, and are usually owned by men who have started on a small area, and increased it by subsequent purchase with money made from wheatgrowing. On many large properties hitherto devoted to sheepraising the practice is growing of putting down a large area under wheat.

It is not practical to definitely state the amount of capital required to purchase and prepare an area of land for a wheat farm. Much will depend upon the capacity and experience, business acumen, and resourcefulness of the settler, as is the case in all callings, but the detailed information given in these pages should enable the intending settler to work out the amount approximately required by his condition and the lines he intends adopting.

WORKING PLANT REQUIRED.

The intending settler has to consider not only the capital required to secure his farm, whatever its nature, but also the expenditure necessary in obtaining a working farm plant. Prices of machinery cover a wide range, according to size, &c. In working 200 to 250 acres of wheat crop, the following plant would be required, and the prices given are approximately correct:—

A chaffcutter ($67.00) might be added to the above list, and in some localities a roller, costing about $19.00, is required. The price of horses varies. In the above list they have been placed at $144.00, but suitable animals may be secured for $96.00 to $120.00 per head. As soon as he can manage it the new farmer will want to get a waggon ($168.00). He will soon want a vehicle to move about in, a sulky ($72.00 to $96.00), a light horse and harness, saddle, &c. Minor implements and tools for fencing, carpentering, building, and so on will be wanted, and altogether it would be well to reckon that working plant generally will cost about $2400.00. To work a large area would not cost more proportionately by any means; it is reckoned that an area of 600 acres of cultivation costs about $3360.00 for working plant.

All the above parts of the plant would not be required at once, and the above amounts can be greatly reduced by obtaining smaller implements, lighter horses, and so on. Furthermore, it is not necessary that the full amount should be paid down for the plant. Cash would have to be paid for the horses, but machinery and most of the balance of the plant can be acquired on terms, part payment being in cash, while the balance runs over till after harvest, or even over two seasons. Usually one-third is paid in cash, and the balance about February or March, after the farmer has received the money for his crop. It is to the interest of the machinery firms, storekeepers, and others who do business with the wheatfarmer to help him as far as possible, especially in the early years, and in Australia, when a man shows he is honest and hard-working, he will receive every consideration in this direction.

The wheatgrower has also to allow for the keep of himself and his family while waiting for his crop to ripen.

In the above plant a stripper-harvester has been allowed for, but if a stripper and winnower be used instead, the cost for implements would be about $120.00 less. On the other hand, more labour would be required to work them. The utilisation of the stripper-harvester is the most popular method of taking off a wheat crop.

The stripper is an Australian invention. It is a machine drawn through the ripe standing crop by three or four horses attached to its side. The horses walk in the stubble of the harvested portion. The ripe ears coming within reach of the machine, which has a 5-ft. cut, are gathered by a comb, and directed to a cutting plate, where the beater drum cuts them from the straw and threshes the grain out. At the same time the grain, with the chaff and some straw, is thrown into a receptacle at the back of the machine. When this is full the stripper is driven to a picked place in the paddock and emptied. Here a winnower has been placed, and the mixture of grain and rubbish out of the stripper is put through this winnower, which cleans and bags the wheat ready for market. In fair crops one winnower, with four men to work it, will keep two strippers going.

The stripper-harvester is another Australian invention. It is an improvement on the stripper, and is now in more general use. It is really a combined stripper and winnower. It takes off the heads of wheat, and also threshes and cleans them as it goes along, and delivers the grain into bags at the side of the machine. This reduces the cost of harvesting, as less labour is required. Two men can work a harvester, one driving the machine while the other removes and sews up the bags. The machines cut 5 to 6 ft., but 8-ft. machines have proved successful of late, and with them a good area can be handled in a day. The smaller machine will strip about 10 acres of a fair crop in a working day.