The first European colonists in America found there two valuable native products--maize and tobacco. Australia, on the other hand, presented a virgin field to the agriculturist. Like the rest of the Commonwealth, Queensland, blessed with the richest natural pastures, possesses no indigenous food plants of proved economic value. The early settlers naturally availed themselves of the wealth of native grasses and edible shrubs, and became graziers. When a commencement was made with agriculture, farmers sowed the crops to which they had been accustomed in Great Britain. Though these grew well, it was soon found that they were, on the whole, better adapted to the elevated downs than to the forcing climate on the coast. Maize, sugar-cane, and the fruits of the tropics, on the other hand, revelled in the sunshine and moist atmosphere of the seaboard. The farmer's first consideration is how he may utilise his land to the best advantage. The most profitable crops are those for which there is a world-wide demand but only a limited area of production, and therefore little competition for the grower; or, alternatively, crops which, by reason of natural advantages, he can produce more abundantly and at less cost than his competitors. Next in value are crops for which he has a monopoly in a limited but protected market, or enjoys natural advantages which give him a partial monopoly in such a market. Of less value, but still profitable, are crops which he can place on the market as cheaply as his rivals. In the first-mentioned category the Queensland farmer has butter, cheese, hams, and bacon. With good stock, cheap land, unrivalled pastures, and a climate which permits production to go on uninterruptedly from January to December, Queensland is most favourably situated, and farmers have not been slow to profit by their natural advantages. Large as are the present dimensions of the dairying industry, they are small compared with the possibilities of expansion. Already the value of butter, cheese, and milk is well over L1,000,000 per annum, the butter export alone being worth considerably more than half that sum. The export has multiplied tenfold in the last six years; and, as Queensland is the leading cattle State, there is every justification for believing that in dairy produce she will soon become one of the principal exporting States of the Commonwealth. [Illustration: SURPRISE CREEK CASCADE, CAIRNS RAILWAY]