while it is usually estimated that clearing land
for wheat costs about $4.30 per acre, it does not mean that it will
always cost that, or, in any case, that the settler has to pay that
amount out in cash. After the timber is grubbed and pulled down it is
usually piled together and burnt. It burns well, and the burning
enriches the soil. The settler starting in to clear his farm has ever
the future picture in mind of when the work is done, and he has a
beautifully-cleared, improved property on which to spend the latter
years of his life. And there is no finer picture than an improved wheat
farm, with its alternation of park-like paddocks, paddocks carrying a
flock of sheep, paddocks of growing crops, and paddocks of fallowing
ploughed land ready for the crop next season, or perhaps carrying a
rotation crop of oats, rape, or cowpea. The homestead, surrounded by its
orchard, stables, hayshed, and machinery sheds, and poultry run, will
stand upon a rise, from which the whole property can be surveyed. And
to none is the picture finer than to the man who by his own toil and
energy has cleared and improved most of those paddocks. Such wheat farms
are to be found in thousands throughout Australia.

One of the first things the settler has to do is to provide a water
supply. It is the exception to find wheat farms with a natural permanent
water supply, such as a creek or river. In most cases the settler
depends upon tanks or dams for watering his stock. A suitable low-lying
site is picked, and the earth is scooped out and banked up at the end
and sides, so there is a hole into which the rainwater runs, following
the natural lay of the country, and assisted and directed by drains and
gutters. These tanks, as they are called, usually range from 1000 to
2000 cubic yards, and cost up to 24 cents or 30 cents per yard to
excavate. In most districts the country holds water splendidly, and when
the tank is filled by the autumn and winter rains it will carry through
the summer. For domestic use galvanised tanks are depended upon, being
placed to catch the rainwater off the rooms of the homestead buildings.
In some districts water is obtained by sinking shallow wells. In parts
of the wheat country sub-artesian wells are also common, good water
being obtained by boring 200 to 300 ft., when an unfailing supply of
good water for stock is secured. The real artesian country, where deep
bores are sunk for water, is outside the present wheat belt