an instalment of $0.06 an acre for
each of the two following years, $0.24 an acre annually for the next
four years, $0.36 an acre for the next four years, and $0.48 per acre
for the next eight years. The survey fee is paid, one-fifth in cash and
the balance by four equal annual payments, with interest added, unless
the selector elects to pay it off at once, when interest is remitted.
Every encouragement short of giving the fee simple of the land away for
nothing is afforded the intending settler, and he can acquire a freehold
on easier terms in Tasmania than anywhere else.

[Illustration: Ayrshire Herd, New South Wales.]

Clearing the Land.

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 i