The overland mail has brought us some interesting details from South Australia, which seem to mark the growing progress of this important and rising colony. The high position which it has recently taken by the awards conferred by the jurors at the International Exhibition has led to a demand for information on the part of the public respecting its resources and present condition. The statistical details just taken in the colony furnish most apropos all that is required with regard to its land, crops, and live stock.

From these official returns it appears that at the close of 1861 the total quantity of land alienated from the Crown, in South Australia, amounted to 2,379,048 acres, of which 1,393,672 acres were in the occupation of the proprietors themselves. As respects average price per acre, with the exception of 1861, which shows a little advance in price as well as in quantity sold, the sum realised has been gradually falling away for several years. Of late the acquirement of land has outstripped the increase of population, until at the end of 1861 the lands alienated from the Crown in this colony amounted to 18.2 acres for every man, woman, and child in the province. The lands alienated in Victoria amount to but five acres per head of the population; so that the people of South Australia own, in proportion to their numbers, nearly four times as much land as the people of Victoria. The average extent of holdings throughout the colony of Victoria in 1859 was 218 acres, and the average number of acres cultivated by each holder is 26. We have, as yet, no means of comparing these figures with those of South Australia.

We have before us a volume of Victorian statistics from 1835 to 1×60. At the last mentioned date the "holdings" were subdivided into nine classes, viz., under 5 acres; 5 and under 15; 15 and under 30; 30 and under 50; 50 and under 100; 100 and under 200; 200 and under 350; 350 and under 500 acres; and 500 acres and upwards. Of the first class there were 786 holdings; of the second class, 1,674; of the third class, 1,241; of the fourth class, 1,206; of the fifth class, 2,199; of the sixth class, 2,087; of the seventh class, 1,140; of the eighth class, 273; and of the ninth class, 967. It will hence be seen that the largest number of farms in Victoria are those that range from 100 acres to 200 acres each, and the next largest those that range from 50 acres to 100. The holdings of 500 acres and upwards include all the purchased runs, and represent a wider aggregate acreage than all the other eight classes combined. The total number of all the “holdings” in Victoria was 11,573(exclusive of town and village allotments): the total acreage of those holdings being 2,519,156; and the total of acres cultivated 298,959. More recent returns show an increase upon the foregoing figures. On the 31st March, 1861, there were, in Victoria, 2,076,014 acres of enclosed land not cultivated, against 1,388,160 acres in South Australia, enclosed but not cultivated on the 31st March, 1862. On the same dates the land under tillage in Victoria amounted to 419,380 acres, and in South Australia to 486,667 acres ; so that whilst the people of South Australia exceed the people of Victoria as landowners in the proportion of four to one, they surpass them as cultivators of the soil in the proportion of more than five to one. The Victorians, with their recent Land Bill and their permanent provision for immigration, are, however, trying new and important experiments, and we may expect to find the present

AGRICULTURE.

great relative disparity between the agrarian interests of the two colonies gradually decrease.

The land fenced in, but not cultivated, in South Australia, amounted to 1,388,160 acres, and exceeded the enclosed pasturage of the previous year by 236,984 acres. The number of acres under cultivation in the season 1861-62 was 486,667, against 428,816 acres in the previous season, an augmentation of 57,851 acres, or 31.5 per cent. These figures give 3.71 acres to each individual of the population; at the end of 1856 the rate per head was only 2.38 acres. Tillage increases at a greater rate than the alienation of the Crown lands, 20 per cent, of the land sold being under cultivation, against 19 per cent. in 1861, and 13 per cent. in 1856. Of the total land cultivated 310,636 acres or 64 per cent. was under wheat. The yield amounted to only 3,410,756 bush. against 3,576,593 bushels in the previous season. This shows a deficiency of 2 bush. 5lbs. per acre, or over 400,000 bushels, had the yield been equal to the average of the year previous, although 36,964 acres additional were sown with wheat. The average yield throughout the province was but 10 bushels 59 lbs., against 13 bushels 141bs. in the previous year. This decreased production arose from gales and heavy rains in December, which shook out much of the grain, and laid the straw.

Another cause of the low average of the aggregate yield is, that much land was sown with wheat which was not of the description best suited for the suc cessful cultivation in ordinary seasons of that cereal, a state of things doubtless owing to numerous small freeholders and tenant farmers being compelled, whatever the situation or the nature of the soil, to cultivate the crop, raised with the least labour, and capable of being gathered by machine. More than two-thirds of the crops are reaped by machine in the colony.

Proceeding from the subject of the culture of wheat, which is at present almost the sole reliance of South Australian farmers, forming as it does twothirds of the whole cultivation, the next important crop to be noticed is that of hay, forming 13 per cent. of the total tillage. 62,874 acres, principally wheaten or oaten hay, were grown, against 55,818 acres in the previous season-an addition of one-tenth, the produce amounting to 78,886 tons and 71,241 tons in the respective years. The average yield of the hay crop was the same in both seasons, or twenty-five hundredweight to the acre.

About one-tenth more land was planted with potatoes than in the previous year, 2,612 acres producing 7,726 tons in 1861-2, against 2,348 acres yielding 7,112 tons, the average produce being 59 cwt., or a hundredweight and a-half less than in the year before. The above supply was insufficient for the local consumption; 2,450 tons, or nearly one-third more, having been imported at a cost of £13,419 for an article that could have been produced in the colony of equal quality to that imported.

The live stock returns show an addition to the num ber of all kinds of stock except horned cattle. There is an increase of 3,198 horses, making a total of 52,597 of which 47,434 are returned in the counties, and 5,163 in the pastoral districts. The shipment of South Australian horses to India and other ports during the past three years has attained some importance, about 500 being the average number exported in each year. The decrease in the number of horned cattle is

12,831, a large falling off appearing in the number de- | pasturing in counties; of which, however, there is difficulty in arriving at a correct enumeration. The total number in the colony is stated to be 265,434 head. Sheep and lambs together number 3,038,356 against 2,824,811 in the previous year, showing an increase of 213,545, or but eight per cent. in the year. The increase occurs chiefly in the more distant counties and in the outer pastoral districts. The number of pigs has increased by 9,539, there now being 69,286 in the colony; notwithstanding, the imports of bacon, hams, &c., amounted during the past year to over seven thousand pounds value. Poultry of all kinds number 327,709. During the past four years the export of eggs alone has brought to the colony no less a sum than twenty-one thousand pounds.

Vine culture has attained such considerable importance in South Australia as to demand particular attention to the statistical facts elicited as to its position at the present time. The quantity of land planted with vines has increased rapidly. At the close of 1850 there were 282 acres ; in 1854, 409; 1856, 753; 1857, 1,055; 1858, 1,626; 1859, 2,201; 1860, 3,180; 1861, 3,918 acres. The number of vines were-in 1860, in bearing, 1,874,751; not in bearing, 1,948,510; total, 3,823,261. In 1861-in bearing, 2,361,574; not in bearing, 2,386,141; total, 4,747,715. The quantity of wine manufactured was in 1859, 182,087, and in 1860,

312,021 gallons. In comparing the quantity of wine made with the number of vines in bearing, it will be seen that only one gallon of wine has been obtained for each six vines. When the whole of the vines now planted will be in full bearing it is reasonable to expect that after deducting for the fruit, both fresh and dried, each vine will furnish a quart of wine, or a total of 1,186,404 gallons, being equal to 11,864 pipes of 100 gallons. Since 1856 the area of the vineyards has increased more than five-fold; and as during the last three seasons the number of vines planted has nearly doubled, those in bearing can form but a moiety, being the proportion shown above. The wine returned as made, is that produced in the season 1860..1, amounting to 312,021 gallons, an increase of no less than 129,934 gallons, or 70 per cent. on the quantity made in the previous year, viz., 182,087 gallons, and more than three times the quantity produced four seasons ago.

The weight of grapes sold or otherwise disposed of by the grower than in the manufacture of wine, was 23,229 cwt., against 23,398 cwt. in 1860-1; but it is probable that a large proportion of the grapes so returned eventually reach the winemaker, the purchase of small proprietors' crops by neighbouring vinegrowers possessed of better appliances for the manufacture of wine, being now carried on to some extent, to the manifest improvement in the quality of this article of colonial produce.

While the public prints are teeming with proposed substitutes for cotton, and about the nature, quality, and applicability of which, the greatest ignorance prevails even among practical men, who ought to be much better informed, it seems not an inopportune moment to direct attention once more to the importance of promoting extended supplies of flax. This subject has just been brought very prominently forward by one who is looked up to, and justly so, by men both in and out of the trade, as one of the best informed on all that relates to flax cultivation and the linen manufacture, in an excellent little work that cannot fail to be referred to, in future, by all desirous of looking into the matter. With the history of the rise and progress of the linen trade in Ireland, the manufacturing processes, statistics of mills, and foreign tariffs, all fully treated upon by Mr. Charley, we need not trouble our readers. But we hall certainly be doing some service by placing before tem a digest of the valuable statistical details, and Pactical information furnished, as to cultivation in Irland, referring them to the book itself for more full paticulars.

Ireland the amount of flax sown varies as much as 2,000 or 80,000 acres within a few years. For instuce, in 1857 it was 91,000 acres, and in 1853 fully175,000 acres. The difference in value within threeyears being probably £1,000,000. In 1859, the acres were 136,282, and in 1860 only 128,444. When grain brings a high price, the breadth of crop underlax is diminished; while if it remains at a low rate, te farmer is naturally induced to sow more flaxseed. But there is another influence working against an incrise of flax cultivation in Ireland, namely, the gradualntroduction of the Scotch and English system of tillag farming on a large scale. As farms increase

* "Fla and its Products in Ireland;" by W. Charley, J.P. Bell and Lidy.

in size, and labour becomes dearer, it is probable that flax will be even less grown. It is essentially the small farmer's crop, sown by himself, and cleaned, pulled, steeped, even scutched by his wife and children, for whom these occupations form a light and agreeable kind of hand labour.

In growing grain crops the farmer has a very wide competition, and the profit is consequently at a minimum point; in flax he has fewer competitors, and for fibre. for many years past there has been a brisk demand So that with fair success, he makes fully a double profit compared with a grain crop. In France and Belgium they work the ground for flax as carefully as we prepare it for onions, and use every means to have the soil as nearly as possible of uniform texture, both as to tilth and the chemical compounds of the land, using such manures as science points out, to neutralize the excess of one ingredient and to supply the deficiency of another, so as to have all the soil of equal quality. In Ireland, on the contrary, in some of the fields we find four or five different kinds of soil, and consequently four or five different qualities of fibre are produced from the same seed sown on even the best-cultivated farms.

A correspondent quoted by Mr. Charley observes: "Unless we improve our land by a better and more scientific system of cultivation, we can never successfully compete with them in the production of fine fibre for the cambric manufacture. Again, many farmers attempt to grow too much flax in one year, and are therefore obliged to sow too often on the same ground. As the result of my observations abroad, as well as of my own experience at home, I would say that flax should come in the course of a long rotation, and only be sown in the same field at an interval of eight or nine years." The growth and after-management of flax require considerable skill and experience; but it is a very interesting crop, and Mr. Charley thinks it worthy

of more consideration than it has yet received in Great Britain.

The exports of linen fabrics from the United Kingdom are about four and a-half millions sterling per annum, and the home trade is probably equal; to this must be added the value of yarns exported, nearly two millions, making a total of eleven millions sterling. About two-thirds of this large sum are represented by the Irish linen trade, and the other third by the productions of Scotland and Yorkshire. It is evident a very great quantity of flax is needed for the production of so large an amount of fabrics, and the demand would certainly much increase if more moderate rates prevailed.

Since the early part of the century cotton and other raw material have undergone a gradual reduction in cost, and the price of the manufactured goods has been much lowered, so as to place the articles within reach of a larger number of consumers. The price of late, however, has remained very much the same, and though linen goods are certainly cheaper than formerly, almost the entire saving has been effected by introducing improved means of manufacture-a saving of course not peculiar to the linen trade, but equally enjoyed by all others.

Among the continental nations of Europe, the

northern have long been celebrated for the production of flax and its manufactures: Flanders being especially distinguished for the beauty of its fine goods, and Russia and Germany for the strength and durability of their heavy and other linens.

The entire of the flax produced in Ireland does not average 30,000 tons a year, while the consumption of flax in our linen manufacture exceeds 100,000. At present, therefore, scarcely one-third of the raw material is grown at home, though great attention has been given to the subject. We should like to see our supply of coarse flax drawn from British India and the colonies instead of Russia, and our medium and fine qualities grown in Ireland instead of Belgium; but we do not anticipate that Indian flax will be a rival of our home production. The cheap labour and fertile soil of the Punjaub may produce a fibre that will compete with Russian produce; and if it does so, it will be a great blessing to India and a source of increased prosperity to the linen manufacturers of Ireland and Great Britain. In Russia and the rest of Europe we have no power or influence over the supply of flax, except the offer of tempting prices. In Ireland and India there is a large field open, and Belfast, almost unaided, is honourably striving to increase in both countries the cultivation of this highly useful plant.

Were such statistics easily accessible, it would be interesting to see how the Societies of Agriculture have increased and multiplied amongst us during the last twenty years. But it is not merely numerically that these institutions would have to be tested. Their effectual development has been generally proportionate with their gradual extension. It is not so many years since that "the Meeting" implied a good dinner with plenty of speaking, and as fair an allowance of drinking to follow. Many of the members never went to the show, or took any part whatever in the preliminary proceedings; but drove up to "The George" or The White Hart" just half an hour or so before the Chairman was announced. We have now, however, worked round to precisely the reverse of this view of the day's business. Everybody goes to the show-ground; and everybody, who can well avoid it, is very indifferent about going to the dinner. The uses of the one are come to be recognized; whilst the advantages of the other are not so perceptible. The cause of this remarkable change is surely very manifest. The management of the Society itself the framing of the conditions, the organization of classes, the selection of proper autho rities-is in the hands of the farmers themselves; whereas the President, and the M.P.'s, and the Clergy, and other such notabilities have their innings at THE BANQUET, with, may be, a few other toasts, "chiefly of a local nature," to be disposed of.

Still, hit high or hit low, there is no pleasing some people; and an Agricultural Society is even yet about the best abused thing we have. The same senseless jokesthe same worn-out arguments the same absurd assumption of superiority characterize the onslaught which a rural gathering of any importance has yet, as a matter of course, to submit to. But let us reflect for a moment. What did all this wholesale censure ask or order? Simply, as we take it, the utter annihilation of such associations. At one period there was really no good in them. The meetings were becoming little better than the laughing-stock of the country. And what

has been the consequence of all this? The more they have been ridiculed the more have they flourished. Some redoubtable champion fancied that he had knocked one over this year, and lo! it rose hydraheaded the next. Until at length the extraordinary improvement apparent in our breeds of stock-the increasing means for supplying the masses with better food-the inventions for economizing labour and facilitating the business of cultivating the land-all these little matters began gradually to dawn upon the critics as really fraught with some good, and came to be spoken of accordingly. The merits of certain meetings have actually been written of with some fairness, and men who twenty years since would have rooted out such agencies from amongst us, have at length confessed to the progress that agricultural societies have accomplished.

3

The farmer, however, was still sinning, although after a somewhat curious fashion. Instead of selfishly confining the aim and end of these institutions to him self and his landlord, he would give the labourer share in the proceedings. Hence we have had the de encouragement and recognition of skilled labour, u right conduct, and honourable service; and agai these the attacks continue as bitter as ever. Over sch premiums, in fact, the whole strength of the opposion now centres; and we have the old joke about the air of corduroy breeches, and the old story of theinwarrantable interference between master and ma, as regularly "renovated" as ever Michaelmas-day mes round. But, again, we must ask, with what ralt? With some considerable experience for all we are sing, we believe that the premiums for good condu and long service are still increasing with the spad of these agricultural meetings. And why? Thintention was a good one, and the system has been und to work up to its original intent. Does any see man suppose that a labourer will be the worse fo having his good qualities openly appreciated by thoshe lives amongst? Is not our whole life's history coming