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Persistent burning, coupled with very dry conditions (a rainfall of less than 15 in. in places), a plentitude of rabbits, and overstocking, has depleted a large part of the south of the region. Irrigation and the eradication of rabbits are perhaps the two factors on which regeneration will hinge most. (m) Southern This covers the Counties of Wallace, Southland, Clutha, and Bruce. The Counties of Fiord and Stewart Island have been omitted, being of no significance for the sheep industry. In this region breeding-ewes have increased from 1,227,000 to 2,842,000, total sheep from 2,026,000 to 4,340,000, beef cattle from 69,000 to 90,000, while cows in milk have decreased from 87,000 to 62,000. Here the mountain ranges have generally run out to rolling downs and plains, ploughable, easy of access, fertile, well watered by an even rainfall, and generally developed as first-class fattening pastures. The coastal hills of the Catlins district, the Hokonui Hills in the centre, and the Takitimu Ranges on the west are exceptions which remain largely in bush. The northern part of Southland County is a drier former tussock plain, and is partly store-sheep producing and partly fat-lamb. The region is one of the country's best sheep areas. Provision of winter feed is a major part of sheep-farming economy in Southland, and each year a large proportion of the arable land is sown in root and fodder crops for this purpose. (iv) Characteristics of South Island Farming (a) Changes in Farming Practices Except in Southland, there have been no sweeping changes in sheepfarming practices in the South Island similar to those which have characterized the 1925-1945 period in the North Island. A large part of the South Island runs fine-woolled sheep run largely for wool alone. This area has not varied in size or location, nor has the total number of sheep involved varied to any great extent. The sheep used are the Merino, the halfbred (bred originally from a Merino ram crossed with a Lincoln or English Leicester ewe), and the Corriedale. All three are similar in purpose and are interchangeable on much of the country, although Merinos predominate on the mountains and Corriedales on the warmer coastal hills. Changes have occurred in breeds according to economic conditions, there being a swing away from Merinos when prices of very fine wools fell relatively to coarser wools, and when income from meat makes the halfbred a better proposition. But fewer halfbreds can be carried on any area than Merinos, and the halfbred is a less hardy sheep, so that severe winter pasture depletion or reduced stocking, and a boom again in very fine wools, result in a trend back to Merinos at the expense of halfbreds. However, the totals of all three breeds remain stationary. The Romney has always-been a leading sheep of Southland, and has remained so, tending to replace Lincolns there and in Otago and North Otago. It is now gaining a foothold in South Canterbury. It has become the sheep of Banks Peninsula. Because these areas contain a major part of the sheep of the island, the Romney stands high in importance although so restricted in locality. It is wanted by fat-lamb producers, but the supply is limited.