[Illustration: Calm II.--Champion Jersey Cow.] To stock a dairy farm of 100 acres, the detailed cost of stock and plant necessary to make a good start, exclusive of a bull, is given by practical farmers as follows:-- $ 30 Cows at $31.20 936.00 10 Heifers, springing, at $24.00 240.00 2 Plough Horses at $86.40 172.80 Harness for plough horses 31.20 Pigs--2 sows at $10.08; one hog at $15.60 35.28 Separator, cans, buckets, etc. 240.00 Cart and harness 86.40 Plough, $21.60; harrow, $14.40; cultivator, $12.00 48.00 Sundry tools, etc. 24.00 -------- $1813.68 Including the bull the cost might roughly be put down at $1920.00 VICTORIA. For the past twenty years dairy farming in Victoria has been steadily advancing. The industry has proved very successful, so that thousands of farmers are not only making a comfortable living from it, but in many cases it has raised hard-working families into positions of comparative wealth. The principal markets supplied are those of Great Britain, South Africa, India, and the East. At present the industry is only in its infancy. It is capable of almost unlimited expansion. So far, farmers have confined their attention almost exclusively to butter, but the first steps have also been successfully taken to manufacture cheese and condensed milk, and to open up a regular market for fresh pork, hams, and bacon. [Illustration: How the Dairy Fodder Question is Settled in Australia.] A large portion of Victoria is suitable for dairy farming on account of the suitability of soil for the production of pasture and fodder crops, and the mild climatic conditions. For the most part the cows are fed solely on the natural pastures, little provision either in the way of food or shelter being thought necessary. Progressive farmers, however, find that it pays them to grow fodder for their herd and to shelter the animals in the winter, and anyone beginning in Victoria is advised to make up his mind to cultivate a certain area of his land from the first, instead of trusting to grazing alone. [Illustration: Shorthorn Cattle.] The southern half of Victoria is divided, roughly speaking, into the Western District and Gippsland. Two-thirds of the dairy cows are kept in these portions of the State. The Western District is famed for its rich soil of volcanic origin. Every town and hamlet has its butter factory.