Gippsland is a district of rolling hills and downs, and of a comparatively heavy rainfall. Many parts were once covered with dense forests, but these are rapidly passing away before the pioneer. Practically every railway station has become a centre of the dairying industry, and cans of cream are always in evidence on the platforms. Owing to its suitable climate Gippsland has become the centre of maize growing in the State, and much of this crop reaches the market in the form of butter and pork. In the north the summers are warmer and drier, but the soil is perhaps even more prolific than in the southern parts of Victoria. Large areas are suitable for dairy farming under ordinary conditions, and extensive water storage works have been provided for the irrigation of large tracts of country which is being made available in suitable areas for dairying under very liberal conditions. The manufacturing and marketing of the butter is carried on, to a very large extent, on a co-operative basis, the factories being owned and managed by the farmers who supply the cream. Two hundred factories are scattered throughout the State, the largest of them producing upwards of 40 tons of butter per week in the height of the season. Where the farm is close to the factory the milk is taken to the creamery, where it is separated, and the corresponding quantity of skim milk is returned to the farmer. In other cases the farmer owns his separator, the milk is passed through the machine as soon as the cows are milked, and the cream is sent to the factory by road or rail every day or two, according to the size of the farm. [Illustration: Dairy Factory--Refrigerating Butter Train.] Government Assistance to the Farmer. Every branch of the producing interests is steadily fostered by the Government of Victoria in a way that may sound strange to the British farmer. Besides the facilities for acquiring farms and homes, the Government employs dairy supervisors, who assist the farmer with information and advice on matters relating to the farm and herd. The produce is conveyed by the railways (which belong to the Government) at special low rates. It is received into the Government cool stores, where it is graded and frozen ready for export. The State has contracts with the principal lines of steam-ships, securing regular despatch, a minimum temperature, and a very low rate of freight for the British markets. It costs less to send butter from a farm in Victoria to London than it does to send it from a farm in Ireland. [Illustration: "Miss Prim," Champion Ayrshire Cow.] QUEENSLAND. Queensland as a Dairying Country.