COLONIAL AGRICULTURE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1433, 16 December 1886, Page 2

COLONIAL AGRICULTURE.

An article which recently appeared in BelPs Messenger. an influential English agricultural journal,of nearly one hundred years’ standing* will do much towards enlightening the people at Home, as to the resources of the colonies, and the progress they have made, and indeed the account of what has been accomplished in agriccdtnre in the Australian colonies, and especially in New Zealand, which is given in the paper mentioned for the information and admonition of the British fanner, should go far towards correcting the singularly erroneous impressions which exist amongst only too many of the colonists themselves. It is shown that “ whereas the population of Australasia has increased by one-half during the last twelve years, the area under cultivation has increased during the same period nearly 2% times. Among the seven colonies of Australasia, South Australia stands first in point of area under cultivation, Victoria second, and New Zealand third; but- in point of yield of wheat, barley, and oats, New Zealand tops the lists by an enormous proportion, and in hay and green fodder is only slightly behind Queensland and New South Wales. New South Wales used to bead the list with sheep, having twice as many as New Zealand, which stood second; but the late droughts in Australia have changed that, and New Zealand has now more sheep than any other colony.” It appears that Great Britain imports four times as much mutton from New Zealand than from any other country, the supply from Holland, which used to be the most important, being thrown into utter insignificance by the meat which New Zealand now can, in consequence of the application to practical purposes of refrigerating apparatus, land in England. And it seems the day is not far distant when this colony will be able to supply the Mother Country with dairy produce; The little kingdom of Denmark gets two millions sterling yearly from Great Britain for bu ter, but BelPs Messenger says that old Zealand is destined, ere long, to find a formidable competitor in New Zealand. As a contemporary justly remarks it is curious to note the astonishment and admiration with which the wonderful productiveness of this colony is regarded at Home, and then to listen to the “ croaking ” qf some people here, who say that the country cannot hold its head above water. —Mail