Clearing a selection for dairy farming is a very different operation from the clearing required for fruit-growing. Where the land is to be laid down in pasture, no ploughing has to be done, consequently the cost is very much less. In clearing land for grass it is the best plan to first of all "ring" all the eucalyptus trees. This consists in cutting a ring round the tree with axes through the bark and sapwood, or alburnum, into the brown wood beneath. The crude sap, bearing in solution the various organic matters which the roots have extracted from the soil, ascends by the outer layer of wood immediately beneath the bark to the leaves, where it is elaborated into plant food. When this layer is cut through, the food supply is immediately stopped, and the tree dies. The operation of ringing is best done during the winter, when the sap is down, and if properly performed at the right time the tree always dies very soon. If possible, the ringing should be done a year or two before the general clearing is commenced, as all the dead leaves, small branches, and dead bark have time to fall, and are then burned off with the rest of the scrub. The next operation is to cut down all the brushwood and smaller growths with bill-hooks, and then the rest of the scrub is felled with axes, and allowed to lie until quite dry, when it is burned off. A good burn should leave very little to be cleared up, but sometimes, where there is such vegetation as sassafras or fallen tree-ferns, a good deal of "picking-up" has to be done. This means that all the unburnt timber on the ground has to be rolled together and burnt. Tree-ferns should not be felled, as they do not burn well. The best way of killing them is to cut off the fronds just below where they spring from the stem. Some knack is required to cut in just the right place, but it is easily acquired. There are certain precautions to be observed in burning-off, which the settler should make himself acquainted with. Information on this point and in regard to any matters of practical interest to the beginner will be furnished gladly and without charge by experienced officers of the Department of Agriculture.
Clearing the Land.
As soon as the land is burnt off the grass may be sown upon it. No cultivation is usually given, the grass-seed being sown upon the ashes remaining from the burnt scrub, which forms very effective manure. Cocksfoot is the grass par excellence for this work, as it is very hardy and nutritious, and not attacked by insect pests to the same extent as others. Sometimes a mixture of cocksfoot, English rye-grass, and white clover is used, or the two grasses alone are planted. Local information is the best guide obtainable as to what it is best to plant. Dairying thus becomes practicable in a year or two, and returns are received much sooner than from any other branch of agriculture. It will, of course, be necessary to clear a certain amount of the selection for cultivation, so that crops may be grown, and it is often better and cheaper in the end to devote the poorer and less heavily timbered parts of the holding to this purpose, and buy manure. Some selectors clean up a part of the ground of roots and logs, leaving all the big ringed timber standing, and plough it up. It requires some skill to steer a plough under these conditions, but very good crops can be grown in this way.
Butter Factories.
Properly equipped butter factories are situated at Launceston (2), Deloraine, Burnie, Emu Bay, Wynyard, Stanley, Smithton, Wilmot, Ringarooma, Derby, and Pyengana. In the south there are only two of any magnitude, one in Hobart, and the other at Bream Creek. A well-equipped factory has been established on King Island, in Bass Straits, a locality that has been found very suitable for dairying.
Dairy Herds.
The dairy herds of the State until a few years ago were of a somewhat nondescript type, very few farmers having realised the necessity of improving the butter-yielding capacity of their stock. Recently, however, great improvements have taken place, as the dairying industry has advanced, until now many Tasmanian dairymen own herds of the highest standard. The work of improving the milking strains of cattle is in the hands of the farmers themselves, but advice and assistance are always obtainable from the Government Dairy Expert.