The system of farming on shares is common in several branches of Australian farming, including dairying. To the intelligent and industrious man with a limited amount of capital, the system offers many opportunities for success. Practical dairymen, and especially those with children over fourteen years of age, may obtain a farm on shares. The arrangements made between landlords and their tenants on shares are not uniform. They differ considerably in individual cases, but the following broad outlines of the arrangements made between the parties may be set down as having a more or less universal application. As a general rule the landlord provides-- (a) The land cleared and fenced into convenient paddocks. (b) The dairy herd. (c) Cowbails and piggeries. (d) All necessary utensils and implements. (e) Dwelling. On the other hand, the tenant supplies-- (a) All the labour--milks the cows, separates the cream and carts it to the nearest butter factory. (b) His own horse and cart. (c) Cultivates sufficient land to grow green fodder for the winter. In some instances the share farmer buys his own dairy utensils, but in the greater number of cases the landowner provides them and keeps them in repair. The sharing of the profits depends largely upon the character of the farm. As a general rule the tenant receives from one-third to one-half of the proceeds of all cream or butter sold. He also receives from one-third to one-half the value of the pigs raised, and from $1.20 to $1.80 per head for each calf reared to the age of six months. A man is generally given as many cows to milk as he can conveniently manage and care for. [Illustration: In the Cheese Factory.] There are cases which can be pointed to where a tenant farmer after even paying for assistance, makes a profit of from $67.20 to $96.00 every month. It is not possible to state definitely the size of herd that any individual can manage, but it is by no means uncommon to see a herd of forty head, with from twenty-five to thirty cows in milk at a time, managed comfortably by a man and his wife and one sturdy boy or girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age. The average returns from a fairly good herd, in the majority of districts, may be stated at $4.80 per head per month, and as each cow will be milking for seven to eight months at least, and there will be the calves and ample separated milk for a good many pigs, it will be seen that there is at least a fair living to be made, especially when it is remembered that the share dairy farmer, under the ordinary arrangements, is living rent free and under conditions which enable him to keep household expenses at a minimum. The conditions regarding cropping and keeping the farm implements in repair and caring for the dairy herd are not onerous, and are such as no good tenant could object to. [Illustration: An Extensive Milking Shed.]