LAND IN VICTORIA.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 147, 18 March 1859, Page 2

LAND IN VICTORIA.

A little time ago, some consternation was?-created in Melbourne-by an announcement that an official . report had been presented by an inspecting surveyor, stating that very little good land in Victoria remained unsold. The fact was vehemently denied at the time, but, after a long delay, this report has been allowed to see the light.-• From this report it appears that Mr. Skene, the survej'or referred to, had formed and expressed an unfavorable opinion of the quality of the unalienated lands. After, visiting all the survey camps, he presented a statistical statement which shewed that at that time there were 2,761,516 acres purchased; that of the vast remainder, 2,040,960 acres were probably auriferous, 2,779,640 agricultural; 3,880,914 acres pastoral lands, of first quality; 11,639,371 acres pastoral land, of second quality ; 7,052,160 acres pastoral lands, of the third quality; and 23,190,080 acres barren, .making 53,344,640 acres in all. According to this statement there would, be about as much good farming land still open for sale'as'had already been' disposed of, and that when that was taken up, agriculturists would have to fall back upon inferior soil. So far asfeeding the present, or even the prospective population for some years to come is concerned, the representation would not be very alarming, for five millions of acres of first-rate land, if all tilled, would yield plenty, and to spare. But the quality of land'is notoriously a matter on which opinions very much differ, and as to which crood judges may often be at fault. What is worth cultivating and what is not is dependent upon the density of population, the demand for produce and its price, and the efficiency of the. agricultural implements that can be 'employed. Land is capable of indefinite improvement by judicious tillage whenever there •is the inducement to go to the outlay. Mr. Skene's classification may be perfectly true—of land of first class fertility,,in its natural state, : there may not be more than he states, and yet the fact contains nothing discouraging to the prospects 'of the colony. The bulk of the prairie land in the Western States of America, on which emigrants settle down by the thousand, is anything but first; class soil, nor is the yield of com very great. But it pays to farm it so long as there is a < market for the produce. Great Britain is now the ■ garden-of the world. Its parks and its pastures, . its highlycultivated'farms and productive orchards, are the admiration of travellers from other conn- i 'tries. But in its wild state it must have been a < most ' unpromising looking country. If Mr. 1 Skene could have reported on it as it was in the i time when Julius Casar thought it worth con- < quering, lib would certainly have condemned it as < consisting ,of little better than barren mountains, < dense forests, hopeless morasses, and wild heath, as < suited in parts for a cattle run, but worthless as to < the remainder. ' Appended to Mr. Skene's report—as the anii- 1 dote to the bane—are two memoranda by the i Surveyor-General and Deputy Surveyor-General < respective^, in- which a far higher estimate'is put 1

upon the,character of the public land. Mr.. Hodgkinson, in refutation of Mi*. Skenesopinion, says that the impression conveyed -to the eye by the indigenous vegetation, is no. true criterion, and would often be corrected by an examination of the geological and chemical structure of the soil. Experience has shewn that land in Australia which looks poor lias, when broken up and cropped, proved more fertile than land which had a more promising appearance. There island, too,' already under cultivation in the-other- colonies of far inferior quality to that which* is. condemned by Mr. Skene. North of the dividing range of and lying between the Loddon and the .Ovens, is .a large area classed by Mr. Skene as pastoral land of second and third quality. Mr. Hodgkinson admits that at present it does not invite the farmer, being too dry in summer and too wet in winter, but with . drainage and irrigation,—for both of which the j Murray offers facilities, —the soil could be made very productive, as its constituents shew that it is , adapted for wheat, vines, lucerne, and the produc- '' tions generally of Southern Europe. In the country of igneous of formation, in the. western district, Mr. Skene has condemned as non-agricul-tural the stony land and the honeycombed land. But Mr. Hodgkinson points to the Keilor Plains, north of Melbourne, originally strewn with boulders, but now under cultivation in many parts, and with the stones utilised by piling them up for fences, and adds, that land that may be too stony for the plough may be well suited for vines. The stiff clay land would require subsoil, drainage and ploughing, but then it will be very fruitful._ In Gipps Land there are" dense forests, intricate ranges, and numerous swamps, but Mr. Hodgkinson shews that clearing and drainage would'-alter" the appearance of the district; and he cites Dr. Muller's testimony to the fact that -its mild and serene climate, its great humidity* and its facilities for irrigation, render it adapted for the growth of rice and other products of sub-tropical countries. Applying, therefore, these corrections to Mr. Skeno's classification, the amended estimate shews that there are at least eighteen millions of acres in Victoria which may be regarded as available for agriculture. Atthe.same time the greater portion of,this is not immediately cultivable without some greater outlay than consists in merely putting in the plough. : There must be preliminary operations in drainage, irrigation, or subsoil ploughing, and therefore Mr. Skene's estimate of agricultural land j if interpreted as applying-only to that which is. at once 'ready for profitable tillage, has not been substantially impeached. A bird's-eye view of the territory of New South Wales would no dohbt result in a very summary co: idemnation of a large portion of it. The County of Cumberland has a particularly unpromising appearance, and, excepting it« alluvial strips and patches, it might be fairly described as either stone, sand, or clay. Yet backward as agricultural and horticultural operations are with us, enough has already been done iv the way of orchards, vineyards, pastures, and gardens ■to shew how productive the soil may become under proper treatment. The deficiency in colonial agriculture certainly 'must not be ascribed to the poverty of the soil. If Australia does not altogether deserve the description given of it by Douglas Jerrokl, as being so fertile "that "if you tickle the soil with-a hoe it laughs with a harvest," it certainly cannot be condemned as failing, except ih unusual seasons, from amply rewarding the industry of the husbandman. — /Sydney Herald. "