Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-08-04

leave a track sufficiently wide to drive
car around the entire edge or the con-
dnent
Australia has a range Of climate SUI
fciently varied to enable all forms OF
temperate, tropical and sub-troplcai
fruits to be grown to perfection l's
soils are rich enough and it's resources
great enough to house feed and clothe
az least hundred million people. lti
/ natural wealth lies in its wonderful pas
/ lures. it's immense nOcks and herdi
Of sheep and cattle, its grain fields, ui
+ forests. mines and water resources. II
Is the land Of opportunity and we're u
nearer the crowded centers OF Europe
and tts resources as well iertlsed IS
those of Canada, America aud Argen'
tina, it would be the Mecca OF the Eu-
rouean settler. For Australia needs
sturdy white settlers TO open up its gram
fields. subdue its forests, harness IT'S
rivers and divert the water over the
fertile soil and to help I'LL the vast empt?
spaces that clamor so loudly for devel-
.pment
MILLIONS OF ACRES
FOR WHEAT GROWERS
Australia has millions Of acres to OF
I fer wheat growers, dairymen, orchardists
and live stock and sheepmen. Austraiia
maintains sixteen head of sheep and two
| head of cattle and grows about thirty
bushels Of wheat for every man. woman
/ and child in the country. Every type OF
crop. from pineapples, sugar cane. to
baccO and bananas in tropical Queens
Z land, to wheat. hay, barley, oats, maize
I potatoes. grapes and temperate fruits
Of the south (which is the same as oar
north thrive 10 perfection. The mere
I = . =, hua hpau pWnlOife0
and a mere fraction OF its area cult
waited. yet It probably produces more
actual wealth from the soil per head OF
population than any other country on
+ the globe II Is so rich that 40 per cent
/ living in the country and out on tn
/ land. support 60 per cent In the cities
/ The area Of the continent is about
three million square miles. Tho mail
factor in determining the agriculture oil
a country is the rainfall Let US there
fore examine the distribution of rainfall
/ over the continent One-thiru or Aus
traIis. or approximately one miller
/ square miles, Go 100000 acres. has rain.
/ fan Of over twenty inches. This area il
/ the coastal belt and is the area wher'
/ intensive cultivation may be practiced
/ Next to this is belt Of over one million
| square miles with a rainfall Of ten e
/ twenty inches. while the inner third Of
the country has q rainfall OF less than
/ ten inches or none.
/ With the 200 OOO, 600 acres with RANT
/ fall exceeding ten inches over S00,0OO0V
acres may be regarded. from the point
/ Of view Of soil and climate as highly
/ suitable for wheat culture. This would
/ include no land north Of 25 degrees south
/ of the equator II we assume that only
one fifth OF this wheat belt were ulti
mately cultivated each year. and the yield
we're only ten bushels per acre. this would
give a total production Of 600.000,O00 bush
/ els. which would feed a population equal
I to that of the United States, or 10000, 0O(
/ Australians.
/ WHEAT PRODUCED
AT VERY Low PRICE.
The climate soil and economic condi-
tons of Australia enable It to produce
wheat probably at very low price. The
/ land is relatively fiat or undulating, is
easily titled. and large. labor saving i'm
Elements Of every kind can be used in
/ the production of grain. multiple fur
row pillow, turning over five to ten acres
I day. the drills doing ten to twenty
! I'VE acres day. and the complete harvest
/ or which takes strip Of grain nine feet
wide. enable the man power Of the farm
Z TO be used to the greatest possible advan-
| tage.
/ The climate is highly favorable through
/ out the year. and stock does not erquire
| housing. even in the depth Of winter. The
| greater part of the rainfall in the TEN
/ perature south, where the wheat is grown
( occurs in the growing period of the crop
/ Nav to October-at time when evapOra-
/ ton is slight II never freezes and there
are winter rains.
In Western Australia as much as &c
/ per cent of the annual rainfall falls be-
/ tween May and October, in South Au-
/ stralia so to 50 per cent, and in Victoria
about IS per cent.
! Above all. the climate during the ripen-
I ing period Of the crop-from October to
/ December-is dry and hot, thus enabling
the wheat plant to mature rapidly, to be
free from fungas attacks such as rust, and
enables the labor saving harvesting ma
chinery to he used to the greatest advan-
tage In the wheat belt OF the United
States. save on the Pacific Coast, all
wheat has to be cut with a reaper and
binder and thrashed- The labor in hand
ling the wheat crop under these condi-
tions is very great, as wen as the loss IN
so many landings Of il. But in Au-
STRATA one man with a team of horses
and nine-fOot harvester can take of
comfortably from, fifteen to twenty acres
OF wheat. bag 1t. and have 1t ready for
market in a day.
This wheat is planted In sections about
nve days apart and does not. ripen all