The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-05-14

be, and mean to study this question as
/ can.
My time has been spent mostly in
South Australia and have not had occa-
sion to go to the other colonies much,
but | can judge somewhat from the pa
pers as to the products of Australia.
The number of sheep i'll 1889 was over
100000. Many horses, cattle and hogs
are raised, and wheat, oats, barley and
rye, both for hay and cereal products. |
see by reports that this year there are
l ,25O, 600 acres in grain in Victoria. Po-
tatOes and vegetable of all kinds are
raised, and also fruits. Back from the
civilized centres land is rented by the
''gOOt' very cheap, and aside from
drouths there is nothing to prevent the
realization of big money from grazing
and herding. There is q great future
here for men who will 90 into new parts
and live. In some places land is cheap
and it only needs pluck and some money
and sacrifice to make one rich in time.
Then the mining-gold, silver, tin, anti
mOny, ETC., is developing all the time.
1t only needs money, and still there is
lots of money here-English capital.
The cream is skinned and returned to
English banks and landlords, leaving the
people here needy.
Hotels are numerous. There are 200
in this town of from 10000 to 10000 in
habitants, and along the roads there is
one about every half-mile. Nearly all of
them are kept by Irishmen. Baliarat is
one of the great gold fields of the world.
1t has hundreds of old mines, most of
them worked out, yet some are being
sunk and worked all the time. Here
from 1919 to 1A5 was mining fever of the
most foverish kind. Here were found
nuggets of solid gold large as a horses
head, and many smaller ones weighing
from 10 to 125 pounds. Now there is
only deep mining here and the gold does
not come out in such chunks as those.
Ballarat's history would make an inter
esting book. North of here a few hun
dred miles are the Broken Hill silver
mines, the largest in the world There
is enough silver in sight for 20 years
mining. South 20 miles, at Lal Lal is a
new gold finding and in Tasmania are
gold and silver findings. In fact, one
hears almost constantly of new findings
in different parts of the country.
The weather since have been here has
been pleasant and comfortably cool.
Generally from December to March it is
very hot, l am told, but never expert
enced cooler or pleasanter weather at
home in summer than | have here. In
fact, there have been good many cold,
raw, windy days and nights, and within
two weeks severe frosts. The weather
now is much like that of October at
home. The harvests are about gathered
and the threshing has begun. Potatoes
have had a severe setback by frosts, but
| Nl,.., a1I g.Fgr = 4 l. L.
never saw better crops than in some
places here. Wheat stands from five to
seven feet high and oats from five to
eight feet 1t tries the binders, | tell
you. There are no less than thirteen
harvesters on the market here. The
Hornsby and Howard are OF English
come from Canada, and the United
States representatives are the Wood, Nc
Cormick, Deering, Buckeye, Osborne,
Esterlie, Buckeye inw-down and Adri
ance Platt low-dOwn. Besides these
are strippers and side rake reapers, SC
you will see that competition is keen
All are seen at shows and trials, and it is
not here as in the United States. Here
it is prove yourself and let the public
see what you have got" | was at Il
shows and trials. The Wood leads in
, some parts, and in others it does not, al
though the last one-single-apron is tax
ing well generally. The English ma
chine, HOrnsby, is the leader in many
places. The company has expert drivers
, and it is pushed" But | think the
/, Wood will have good show next year
, In this town our agent has sold 32 bind
ers this season. The price is 1920 fol
the same machine that is sold in tht
, United States for Sl2j, often for Sl0I
cash. Our mowers sell here for $40, a
|, home, S55; side-rake reaper here, Sl60
! at home, about so; horse rake here, ,S57
home, S25 to $50 So you see tits "busi
ness" here. think Australia is gooC
! country and has a great future. l an
! well satisfied in so pleasant a position
| and, except occasional longings for home
! happy.