The record-union., 1894-09-04

r, Young Suckers on Fruit Trees.
1t will yield melancholy entertainment
to our sheep-owners to read accounts OF
the methods and facilities which rule in
Australia which, under our own present
administration of affairs, has the call on
the life of American sheep and the Hvell-
hood of their owners. In the american
Economist Charles r. Buckland of New
York prints an article on wool-growing
in Australia. The chief characteristic OF
sheep-raising in that country is its cheap
ness. The shepherd is cheap man; the
shearer is a cheap man. They travel
from station to station on foot, looking
for job. They have no railroad fares to
pay; take their little stock of provisions
with them, camp out of doors and sleep
under tree. Their requirements are
very small; they have no rent or taxes to
pay. They need strong pair of boots,
blankets, pants, shirt, hat and tin
"billv" in which TO warm their tea. They
do their own washing and can exist on
few shillings a week. their only luxury
or extravaganza being plug tobacco.
One such man would care for as many
as 5000 or 10000 sheep in a single field.
lie will have a dog and horse supplied
him by the owner; he will live in slab
or bark hut, doing his cooking out of
doors. His pay is So per week and 'ra-
tions," which consist of small quantity
OF flour, sugar, tea and meat enough to
keep body and soul together, 1t is true;
but he has to pay for his tobacco, and for
soap, if he indulges in such luxury. He
gets present of a pound of TOBACCO for
every wild dog, or ''dingo," that he may
Kill. His duties, though tedious, per-
haps, are not onerous. One day he Will
ride all around the field Of which he has
charge to see that the wire fences are not
broken down; next day he will pump
water from well that is 500 or 600 feet
deep, his old horse tramping around In a
circle and drawing up huge buckettul
at a time, the water being emptied into a
small lagoon, around which the sheep
cluster at all hours of the day and night.
| Once in while this man Will go into the
| head station, miles away; at other times
| he may receive a visit from an overseer or
| boss, but these are his only chances for
! looking upon human face.
Even all of this expense is now being
! reduced by the Australian Sheepowners,
! who for years and years have been striv-
| ing to tap the underground rivers in
| tropical Australia. The great curse of
| the country has been drought, which has
! caused the loss OF tens of thousands of
/ sheep and cattle in single season. No
! food has to be provided for Australian
| sheep. They feed themselves on the ma
! tive grasses, and, if the season is very
! dry one and they cannot find grass, why
/ they die, and at such times whole sheep
! is worth only % cents in city market. so
| that it has very little cash value hundreds
of miles away i'll the interior.
The natural supply of water has been
stored heretofore by building dams, but
| since 1886 efforts have been made TO pierce
the water bearing strata underneath, the
first artesian well being sunk to depth
of l,080 feet, with the result of getting
only 5000 gallons of water every twenty
| four hours. Other efforts were made, but
| in no case was moro than 5000 gallons
daily secured. In 1880 further expert
ments were made with view to deeper
| sinking. On one sheep station alone
! Thuralgoona-aS much as $3.50, 900 was
| spent in sinking three wells to a depth OF
LILO, !, ,7S5 and =, ,035 feet. This experiment
| was "a success. One OF the wells yields
| 3,0U0,0 0G0 gallons Of water every twenty
four hours; another one yields 3,500,000
gallons, and at the same time the supply
! from those which were sunk a few years
I earlier, at a lesser depth, has increased up
to l75, 900 and 576, coo gallons daily.
This one station referred to covers an
area of 100 square miles. 1t has daily
water supply of about 100000 gallons
from the few wells only that are sunk.
/ Let any person pause and think what this
| means. 1t means an abundance Of water
that can be turned from these and from
| other wells upon the land, rendering the
! grass more nutritious and more abund-
ant. 1t means that where land has been
carrying one sheep to every two acres
there is possibility of its carrying two
| sheep to every one acre. and of increasing
tho wool rrnHi7ct fCnrfnin This 10 ly
one instance on one place. Other similar
| experiments are being made on that vast
| continent, which is larger than the whole
of the United States, and where its pas
toral possibilities are enormous.
Can the American wool-grower COM
pete with such wool raised at such little
cost See how it is hauled TO market. ]
once lived at Gordon Downs, i'll the
northern part of Queensland, 200 miles
inland from the sea port of Rockhamp-
ton. The wool when baled was hauled
down to the shipping port by teams o
bullocks. A couple of men travel with
the load, the men living in the manner
already described. The cattle feed them
selves on the natural grasses. Such
freight is cheaper than hauling wool tc
market from Montana, the Oak otas OF
Texas by railroad TO New York, even
after the ocean freight from Australia tc
our ports has been added.
AuOGu0I 6!0Il6IlJ Oh CH6uDueSS CONSISTS
in the land itself, which is valued at only
So per acre if it will not carry one sheep
at $40 if carrying one sheep; $40 per acre
il the land carries two or more sheep. In
one of the large Australian colonies there
are 100000 acres of land, held by over
l46 persons, or 80, 800 acres to each per.
son. This cheap land is not taxed at al
until its value reaches Sl2, 500. when it i.
subject to tax of II per cent. above tha
amount, its value up to that limit not be-
ing taxable. Let the farmers in our grea
Western sheep-raising States compare
these low values with their own and they
will appreciate another element OF cheap
ness in their competition.
But the endi is not yet. There is more
cheapness. The sheep are shorn by ma.
chinery. The time occupied in clipping
a sheep varies from five to nine minutes
The machine-shorn sheep yield now oyel
six ounces more wool than the hand
shorn sheep. Some of the machine.
make over 5000 cuts in minute. withou
any inconvenience either to the holder o,
to the sheep. 1t is not necessary to OF
into details descriptive of the differen
machines; they are merely shown K
illustrate the cheap methods with which
the American sheep-owners who hav,
very small tiocks, and cannot afford t.
erect expensive machines, are unablet
; compete. one Kind of machine is useC
in as many as 450 different sheds. anf
has been used upon upward of 40, 900, ,O0
sheep. Six ounces of wool extra from