Dairying. Australian butter already has a good market in Europe, but there is infinite room for expansion. Producing butter and cheese for export is a special branch not yet greatly developed in West Australia, but attention is being largely attracted to the question, and indeed some of the “Midland” applicants are experts in this branch, and will no doubt develop the industry and become purchasers of the smaller output of their neighbours. Dairying and sheep-raising should undoubtedly be carried out to a greater or lesser extent by every Midland farmer, for, apart from the profits on wool, mutton, beef and dairy produce, the land improves vastly in fertility when animals have had the run of it.

Sheep and Cattle. The natural grasses on the Midland Company’s lands are eminently sustaining and suitable for raising sheep and cattle. We reproduce a picture of a small flock of sheep owned by Messrs. Stanley and Hunter on land which without improvement, carried a sheep to the acre. “Midland” farmers who want more space for raising sheep and cattle can acquire suitable land on lease at the low rental of £2 per 1,000 acres.

Markets. A very pertinent question is what to do with your produce when you have raised it. Let us say you have got a farm at the first settlement, Winchester, and at the end of the first year you have got 2,000 bushels of wheat, a ton of potatoes, 20 tons of chaff and 50 head of cattle to dispose of. Before you find your market the market will find you; but what you want to know is where the market is. Well, from Winchester your markets will be either at Geraldton, Fremantle or Perth. From Geraldton buyers will distribute your produce either round by sea to Fremantle, or if for export, further afield, or along the Murchison Goldfields line; here there is a good market for chaff, vegetables, fruit and livestock. Your wheat probably will go to Fremantle by the Company’s line, and then be exported. Your cattle, also your root crops, will go to Perth, and either be consumed in the metropolis or distributed throughout the Eastern Goldfields line. Perth, too, unless you specialise in export trade, will be your market for butter, eggs and vegetables. At the present time Western Australia itself depends a great deal for its food supplies upon imports from the Eastern states and from the Old Country. Probably nowhere in the world is there a better local market for farm produce. You will have to pay occasional visits to buyers in Perth,  .....  Next Page >>