kinds;
so that the value of the flock has already increased to 350l.. Before
the close of the third year, the lambs will have begun to breed, and
before the close of the fourth, the number of the flock will be over
2,000, the value being 700/., and the income from 1,000 fleeces, we;ghing
2,500 lbs., 1257. The reader can go on with his calculation; but by
this time he would be ready for a station of his own, with abundant
experience wherewith to conduct it, and instead of halves he would now get the whole proceeds.
What these would amount to he can calculate for himself. It is somewhat
questionable wdiether gold-finding would have paid him better, or more
satisfactorily.
We might go on with the subject of sheep-farming ad infinitum, but
enough has been said for all practical purposes which the intending
emigrant can require. We will now proceed to the cognate subject of
cattle-farming.
The
occupation of a cattle-grazier is no child's play. That of a
sheep-farmer is easy in comparison. the must be a first-rate
equestrian, or trust to those who are so. A New South Wales stockman
would astonish an^English steeple-chaser, and surpass in feats of
horsemanship anything which an English rider would attempt; for in
addition to the objects under foot to be leaped over, as trees, great
chasms in the earth, apparently without bottom, and similar obstacles
without end, all previously unknown, and suddenly come upon, the rider
his to keep an equally sharp look-out for the safety of his brains,
which are often iu momentary risk of being dashel out by the projecting
branches of trees. This double danger renders the New South Wales
stockmen the finest horsemen in the world, exceeding in reality all
that we read of the feats of Arab horsemen in the romances of
travellers. As in a cattle chase the horseman has no time for thought,
he usually trusts to his horse to avoid the dangers beneath his feet,
whilst he looks out for those over his own head. If he thwart his
horse, or otherwise confuse him, woe be to both horse and rider. But if
the horse be not thwarted, and understand his business, in which he
delights as much as does an English
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