this purpose.

Similarly, the production shown below prior to 1901

only includes the quantity of grass cut :

The average yield of hay per acre will be found in the next table, the periods covered being the year 1903 and the ten years which closed with 1903 :

:

89,081 67,361 295,581 362,322

The greater portion of the hay is produced from wheat, although in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and New Zealand there are large areas under oaten and lucerne hay, which are in great demand

and readily sell at remunerative prices; in fact, so profitable is the return from oaten hay, that in New South Wales and Queensland the cultivation of oats for threshing is practically neglected for the sake of hay. For the most part, hay is grown in each province in quantities sufficient for its own requirements, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia ordinarily being the only states which import to

any extent.

The net import or export of hay and chaff by each state and New Zealand during the year 1903 was as follows:—

The value of the return from hay in 1903-4 was higher than that of any crop except wheat; the value in each state and the return per acre will be found below:·

GREEN FORAGE AND SOWN GRASSES.

The cultivation of maize, sorghum, barley, oats, and other cereals for green food in addition to lucerne and grass is confined chiefly to the districts where dairy farming is carried on. The following table shows the area under such green food in 1891, 1901, and 1903, and it will be seen that there have been large developments in most of the states especially in New South Wales.

The return from the cultivation of green forage in all the states during the season 1903 is estimated at £589,000, or nearly £2 an acr

Commonwealth 59,822 New Zealand

1

201,604 159,847 755,256 | 1,014,536 1,901,159

118,484 199,508 146,166 7,357,229 11,620,178 11,803,963 Australasia 178,306 401,112 306,013 8,112,485 12,634,714 | 13,705,129

...

In Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand various areas of sown grasses are cut for seed, chiefly rye grass and cocksfoot, the total quantity of grass seed produced in 1903 being 9,824 tons, valued at £275,521. The production in Victoria was 318 tons; in Tasmania, 796 tons; and in New Zealand, 8,710 tons. The acreage on which this grass seed was produced is not included in the total given above for sown grasses, and amounted to 2,749 acres in Victoria, 5,364 acres in Tasmania, and 68,041 acres in New Zealand. The prosperity of New Zealand is largely due to its rich meadow lands, which have been created by human industry and were not the free gift of nature. Last year nearly 12,000,000 acres were under artificial grasses in the colony, or over six times the area devoted to the crop in the Commonwealth. The productiveness of these pastures is very great.

In the Victorian returns "sown grasses" show an increase of some 800,000 acres on the figures for 1901. This is accounted for by the fact that the total now includes bush land on cultivated holdings on which imported grass, clover, &c., has spread without cultivation, also burnt-off scrub land on which grass has been sown without ploughing.

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 state. Years afterwards the vine was planted in the Murray River District and other parts of New South Wales, and was afterwards introduced

nto Victoria and South Australia, and is now cultivated in all the provinces of the Australian continent. In South Australia a large umber of Germans are employed in the industry of wine-making.

The climate and soil of Australia are peculiarly adapted to the sucessful cultivation of the vine, and with an increasing local demand, and he opening up of a market in England, where Australian wines have btained due appreciation, the future expansion of wine-growing appears airly assured. The fact that the vineyards in these States have suffered comparatively little from the ravages of phylloxera, which have had such disastrous effect on immense areas of the European vineyards, is an additional reason why the vine-growers of Australia should look forward o 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 able-fruit, as well as those cultivated for wine-making, also the young ines not yet in bearing :—

At present the area devoted to vines is much larger in Victoria and South Australia than in the other states; in the former state 4,030 and in the latter 10,303 acres have been added to the vineyard area since 1891. This is not great progress compared with Algeria, for example, which has already 419,177 acres under vines, although systematic planting dates only from 1849, or the Argentine with 109,700 acres ; nevertheless it is a hopeful sign in Australia, where patient waiting for the harvest to be gathered years hence is not a characteristic of the agriculturist. The progress of New South Wales has been very slight, the area under vines in 1903 being only 659 acres more than in 1891. The outbreak of phylloxera in the county of Cumberland, where most of the table grapes are grown, greatly retarded the industry; but recently the Government has propagated a large number of phylloxera-resistant stocks, which are being disposed of to vignerons at a nominal price, and better progress may be expected in the near future.

Vine-growing has never been carried on to any extent in Tasmania New Zealand, although there are numerous localities in the latt colony suited for growing vines for the manufacture of both wine a raisins. The area under vines in New Zealand in 1901 was returned 543 acres, and in 1903 at 749 acres.

The following tables show the progress made in wine-growing duri the last thirty-three years:

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

below:

Among other produce of the vineyards may be mentioned 20,101 gallons of brandy in New South Wales, while Victoria and Sout Australia produced respectively 13,063 cwt. and 10,406 cwt. of raisins and currants. Victoria produces much more brandy than any of the other states, but it is not wholly made from grapes, and the figures cannot be ascertained.

It is impossible to tabulate the average wine-yield of all the states, 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