Page:Handbook of Western Australia.djvu/125

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Western Australia.
109

which it will appear that 27,206 acres were cultivated in cereals or what might be used for bread to nearly an equal number with the population.

The number of stock in the different districts was:—

Horses. Cattle. Sheep. Goats. Pigs.
In 1849 2340 11741 144033 804 3129
In 1876 83502 54058 899494 5561 18108

They were in the latter year distributed thus:—

District. Horses. Cattle. Sheep. Goats. Pigs.
Albany … 1242 1671 67759 34 377
Champion Bay … 3282 2738 125920 949 736
Greenough … 1861 1840 71928 681 2223
Murray … 1572 3491 11029 457 553
Perth … 1577 8773 4126 785 1489
Sussex … 2029 9681 10127 29 452
Toodyay … 7346 7138 155125 1322 5403
Wellington … 3458 11160 25861 278 1054
York … 3685 2545 148259 332 3425
Williams & Kojonup … 2111 1347 122164 55 1223
North District … 2116 3201 134540 236 14

The average of produce is low, that of wheat being to the acre 14 bushels, barley 17, oats 17, rye 11, maize 22, and of potatoes 2½ tons to the acre; the crop of hay scarcely averages 1 ton to the acre, but this is, unquestionably, the result of want of capital, scarceness of labour, and bad cultivation. The averages in the early days of the Colony were much higher, as is the yield in many cases now. The average price of wheat in 1876 was 6s, 3d. a bushel, of barley 5s., of potatoes £9 2s. a ton, of hay £6; but when the cost of cartage is increased by distance, or bad roads, the prices are much higher, as wheat 7s., barley 6s., potatoes £11, and hay £9.

Horticulture, where land has natural springs to provide water in summer, is a most profitable though not largely increasing industry. The first colonists introduced nearly all the vegetables and fruits now under cultivation, which include almost all those of temperate