is unquestionably a very great proportion of the very best soil in the Port Phillip district.  Nevertheless that of South Australia has yielded a finer and a heavier grain than has ever been produced in those colonies, but the reason of this is, that with a naturally rich soil to work upon, the agriculturists of South Australia have spared no pains in cultivating their lands, but there can be no doubt that with equal care and attention both the Vandemonians and the settlers of Port Phillip would produce an equally fine sample.  The farmers of South Australia have enhanced the value of their colony by their energy and skill in cultivating it, and can boast of having sent the finest sample of wheat to England that has ever been exhibited in her market.

South Australia, in its length and breadth, contains about 300,000 square miles, or in round numbers more than 190,000,000 acres.  The limits of location, however, do not exceed 4000 miles, or 7,000,000 acres.  In this area, however, a great portion of desert country is included, or such, at least, as at the present moment is considered so.  Of the more available land, 470,000 acres have been purchased, but the extent of country occupied by sheep and cattle stations is not known.

It may be necessary here to observe, that the returns of the land under cultivation last year were published after I left the colony; but the comparison between the two previous years will shew the increase and decrease of the different grains, sufficiently to establish the progress of agricultural pursuits in the colony.  In the year 1845, the number of acres of wheat sown was 18,848.  In 1846 it was 26,135.  Of barley, there were in the former year 4,342 acres, in the latter only 3,490.  Of oats, there were 1,485 in the first year, which, in 1846, increased to 1,963.  It would thus appear, that the increase of cultivated land in the course of one year amounted to between 6000 and 7000 acres, and that more than 400 agriculturists were added to the list of landed proprietors.  The necessary consequence of such extensive farming operations is that the produce far exceeds the wants of the settlers, and that there is a considerable surplus for exportation; the price of the best flour being from 12 pounds to 13 pounds per ton, whereas for a short period in 1839 it was 120 pounds!!!

Whilst the agriculturists have been so earnest in the development of the productive powers of the colony, another class of its inhabitants were paying equal attention to its pastoral interests.  The establishment of stock stations over its surface followed its occupation, and a mild climate and nutritive herbage equally contributed to the increase of cattle and sheep that had been introduced.  In 1844 the number of sheep assessed was 355,700, in the following year that number had increased to 480,669, or an addition of 120,000.  At the present moment there cannot be far short of a million of sheep in the province, with an increase of 200,000 annually, at a moderate computation.  The number of other kinds of stock in the possession of the settlers, at the close of last year, was as follows:—­of cattle, 70,000; 30,000 having been imported during the two previous years from New South Wales.  The number of horses was estimated at 5000, and of other smaller stock, as pigs and goats, there were supposed to be more than 20,000.