HAY.

Considerable quantities of wheat, oats, and barley are grown for the purpose of being converted into hay, but the area cut varies, of course, according to the season. In 1896 the season was very unfavourable to grain, and in point of value the hay crop came second amongst agricultural products. The area cut for hay has largely increased since 1881, as will be seen from the table appended :—

The production for the same periods was as follows:

The average yield of hay per acre will be found in the next table, the period covered being the ten years which closed with 1896 :—

The greater portion of the hay is made from wheat, though large quantities of oaten and lucerne hay are produced in Victoria, New South Wales, and New Zealand. For the most part, hay is grown in each province in quantities sufficient for its own requirements, New South Wales and Western Australia ordinarily being the only colonies which import to any extent, although in 1896 they were joined by Queensland.

The net import or export of hay and chaff by each colony during the year 1896 was as follows:

The total value of the hay crop and the average return per acre for the season 1896-7 will be found below :—

GREEN FORAGE AND SOWN GRASSES.

The cultivation of maize, sorghum, barley, oats, and other cereals for the purpose of green food, and the laying-down of lands under lucerne and grass, engage attention in the districts where dairy-farming is carried on. The agricultural returns of some of the colonies do not. admit of a distribution being made between these forms of cultivation prior to 1887. The following table shows the area under such green food in 1887, 1891, and 1896, and it will be seen that there have been large developments in most of the colonies, especially in New Zealand. After a consideration of the figures relating to the last-mentioned

province, little difficulty will be experienced in accounting for its superiority in the dairy-farming industry :—

In Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand large quantities of grassseeds, chiefly rye-grass and cocksfoot, are produced, the quantities in 1896 being given as 32,433 bushels, 25,000 bushels, and 800,000 bushels respectively, valued at £5,270 in Victoria, £3,750 in Tasmania, and £120,000 in New Zealand, or a total of £129,020. The acreage on which this grass-seed was produced in New Zealand is included in the total given for sown grasses, while for Victoria and Tasmania it is not so included, and was 2,906 and 2,302 acres respectively.

THE VINE.

The history of the vine in Australia dates from the year 1828, when cuttings from the celebrated vineyards of France, Spain, and the Rhine Valley were planted in the Hunter River District of New South Wales, forming the nursery for the principal vineyards of that colony. Years afterwards the vine was planted in the Murray River District and other parts of New South Wales, and was afterwards introduced into Victoria and South Australia, and is now cultivated in all the provinces of the Australian continent. In South Australia a large proportion of Germans are employed in the industry of wine-making.

The climate and soil of Australia are peculiarly adapted to the successful cultivation of the vine, and with an increasing local demand, and the opening up of a market in England, where Australian wines have obtained due appreciation, the future expansion of wine-growing appears fairly assured. The depreciation which some of the foreign wines have suffered, both in quantity and quality, owing to the devastation of the vineyards by phylloxera, is an additional reason why the vine-growers of this continent should look forward to largely-increased operations for their industry.

The progress of vine cultivation since the year 1861 is illustrated by the table subjoined. The areas given include the vines producing

table-fruit, as well as those cultivated for wine-making, also the young vines not yet in bearing :—

At present the area devoted to vines is much larger in Victoria and South Australia than in the other colonies. Of recent years great attention has been paid to the industry in Victoria, and that province now produces more than half the wine made in Australia. The following tables show the progress made in wine-growing during the last thirty-five years :

The production of table-grapes during the same period is shown

Among other produce of the vineyards may be mentioned 7,134 gallons of brandy in New South Wales, and 767 gallons in Queensland; while Victoria and South Australia produced respectively 12,038 cwt. and 7,097 cwt. of raisins and currants.

It is impossible to tabulate the average wine-yield of all the colonies, as in many instances the acreage under cultivation for wine-making purposes cannot be separated from young unproductive vineyards or areas cultivated for table varieties of the grape only. Making due allowance for this fact, it would appear that the average production for the season 1896-7 was about 81 gallons in Western Australia, 140 gallons in Victoria, 172 gallons in New South Wales, and 180 gallons in Queensland. Taking an average year, the production for Australia may be set down at 190 gallons. The average production in gallons per acre for other countries is shown by the following figures, which are for the latest available periods:

Compared with the wine production of other countries, as given hereunder, that of Australia is certainly trifling, but the prospects of the industry are sufficiently promising to encourage a hope that the coming years will witness important developments; indeed, the production in 1896-7 was 55 per cent. greater than in 1894-5. The table is based on figures taken from the Moniteur Vinicole, and refers to the vintage of 1897: