AUSTRALIA'S EMPTY NORTH

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1198, 5 August 1911, Page 5

AUSTRALIA'S EMPTY NORTH

AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES. By Tolcgraph—Press Association—OopyriEhl Perth,, August 4. ■ Tho first samplo of wheat grown in tho Northern Territory, near Port Darwin, has been received here. Indian seed was used. Without rain, irrigatioii, or manure, it yielded fifteen bushels to the acre. The result is considered highly promising for ths agricultural development of tho Territory. AGRICULTURE IN.THE TERRITORY, A recent writer in the London "Morning Post" says of the Northern Territory :— The agricultural potentialities of the territory can hardly bo overstated. Tho soil is various and rich; (ho rainfall is adequate for all the necessities of civilised life, as this table shows;— Average rainfall over 80,500 square miles 40in. p.a. 120,G00 square miles 30 to 40in. p.a. 06,790 square miles 20 to 30in. p.a 213,130 square miles 10 to 20in, p.a. Amongst the crops that have been grown are col Tee, rice, maize, tobacco, cotton, jute, spices, and india-rubber The tobacco was of a very, high prado Cotton is indigenous to tile territory, and ernld lie grown on a great scale on tho coast lands. It is picked during the pleasantest months of tho year—May, Juno, and July. There is no reason why in tho future the mills of Britain should not draw their man supplies of cotton from North Australia. liice-growinp is usually associated with most unhealthy country, but tho "upland" variety grown in tho Northern Territory entails no hardships upon white growers. An earnest botanist. Jlr. Holtze, of Port Darwin, has succeeded in growing GOO diiTerei.t plants, which ordinarily produco livelihoods for their cultivators. This fact, perhaps, will bast- of all, advertise the agricultural possibilities of the territory. With a range of GOO herbs, vegetables, and marketablo plants, there should be ample scope and high rewards for energy.