I think that Australia, for it's size, is, all-round, the best
country in the world. It's climate is pleasant and health-giving. It
has no desolating blizzards, no frost bites, and few sunstrokes. In
edible produce, for both size and quality, it stands very high, if
not the highest. I have been in many lands, but never saw a country
supply such a variety of products as Australia does--potatoes,
onions, cabbages, carrots, peas, beans and scores of other vegetables
in abundance. In fruits it produces apples, pears, plums, peaches,
oranges, grapes, and Northern Australia also produces all the
tropical fruits in abundance wherever cultivated. In corn Australia
produces superior wheat, oats, barley, maize and all other kinds in
abundance, especially when scientifically irrigated. As a milk,
butter and meat country, it is one of the best in the world. It is
the largest and best wool-producing country in the world. It contains
the largest area in the world especially suitable for growing cotton,
the most extensively-used clothing material. Flowers grow luxuriantly
and beautifully whenever cultivated and watered. A few years ago when
writing on the "White Australia" question, I stated that with high
culture, water irrigation, and scientific irrigation, Australia was
capable of supporting 400 millions of inhabitants. A high literary
authority, in reviewing the book, remarked that this seemed like a
"gross exaggeration"; but probably he had not thought so much on the
subject as I had.
I will here concisely state the principle reasons for my opinion. The
great want of Australia, to make it amazingly fruitful, is the
complete conservation of water and it's scientific application to the
soil. Water, warmth, and soil will grow anything in Australia, if
rationally managed. Australia has abundance of water now running to
waste. On thousands of house-roofs water enough is caught for the
domestic use of the respective families. Over large areas of the
country there are 30 inches of rainfall, and the average rainfall
over vast areas is 24 inches, and could be made much greater by
cultivation. Four-fifths of this water now runs to waste. Again
surface-parched Australia has vast areas of underground water which
only require to be tapped and brought to the surface, to irrigate and
fertilise the soil.
Australia is also a country where timber grows well and fast, if
planted in trenched ground and slightly irrigated. Hundreds of
straight trees can be grown upon an acre of land if they are first
planted thickly and some gradually thinned out. Many kinds of trees
will grow upon very poor soil if they are properly planted and
irrigated, as the bulk of their sustenance is derived from the air.
One more remark about trees and their possibilities as food
providers. Wherever any kind of tree will grow some kind of fruit
tree will grow. There are hundreds of millions of gum trees growing
in Australia. Where every one of these trees is, some kind of fruit
tree would grow if properly planted and looked after.
Again, to utilise Australia to it's full extent the whole world
should be sought through for the best plants and trees of every kind,
and only the very best grown, and those in situations and soil best
adapted for them.
One argument against Australia is that much of its surface is sandy,
but experiments and developments in various countries show that the
planting of marram grass, lupins, and other plants ties even the
drifting sand together and gradually, through their decay, turns the
sandy wastes into fertile soil. Besides, science can, in many other
ways, utilise the elements in the air to enrich the soil.