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Laying Out A Homestead.

Independently altogether of the style of architecture adopted, says the “Sydney Morning Herald,” a great deal of skill may be exercised in laying out a new country homestead. When the settler makes a start in the country for the first time, he frequently commits great blunders for which he is sorry afterwards, but takes good care not to repeat them should he happen to move to a new selection a second or even a third time.
The way in which a man arranges his buildings and fences is generally a good or bad omen of his future success and prosperity. If you see a selector commence operations on a new building by planting a shed here, another there, and the next anywhere, depend upon it he is lacking in the qualities which go to make a successful farmer.
It is not always

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Climbing Plants In The Homestead Garden.

The growing of climbing plants is a subject to which, as a rule, a great deal of thought is not given by the home homesteader, and although we often see these plants about that are more or less taken as a matter of course and until seen gay with bloom are practically forgotten or unattended.
There are many beautiful flowers in this group of plants, and the uses to which they can be put are many and varied. There are, for instance, amonsts these plants those which will cling to walls, fences, and other subjects without the aid of wire and other supports, while others needs something through which to twine their growth to keep them up.
Some of the uses to which these plants can be put are the covering of unsightly out-buildings, or fences, or the sides of walls where

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Trees On The Farm

Shelter belts about the homestead serve a dual purpose. They increase the comfort of the dwelling, making it a much more pleasant place to live in, and also provide a much more attractive setting or background for the buildings. They may also be used for screening off unsightly buildings, stockyards, and other places.
Very little attention is usually given to the planning of the homestead and its surroundings, but consideration of the needs of the locality, combined with a proper tree planting scheme, would add considerably to the comfort of the one and benefit of the others. For instance, where ground is not expensive, a 5-acre timber reserve could be planted on the western side of the homestead. This would not only cut off the bleak or hot westerlies, but would form a source of timber supply for all farm needs, apart from

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“Away Down South”
(From A Correspondent).

Pimpama, August 10 – Very little concerning the doings in this thriving neighborhood appears in your columns, but perhaps a few remarks will not be out of place. It is little use commenting upon the state of the weather or the crops, for we all know how sharp the frosts have been, so I will, with your permission, cut that subject short until it gets warmer.
I am very glad to find that selectors are at last mustering courage to explore the upper regions of this and the Hotham river, where an abundance of good land is to be had. There have been a good many homesteads and some larger blocks taken up lately, and I trust that in the course of two or three years, this will be as flourishing a district as any in the colony ; but of course,

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Retro Station For Grain.

Clermont, May 21 – The Australian Mercantile Land and Finance Company’s property, Retro, 18 miles east of Clermont, has been acquired by the Queensland British Food Corporation.
Retro contains 71,600 acres freehold and joins Peak Downs grain farm.
Retro was originally taken up by Messrs. Archer, of Gracemere, in 1855, then it passed to Mr. Gordon Sandeman and was working as an outstation of Gordon Downs. R Towns and Company were the next proprietors and the station was formed in 1870. The only improvements then were a hut and a horse paddock. The homestead, wool shed and fencing were all erected in 1870.
Retro then contained 200 square miles, 62,500 acres freehold being acquired by preemptive rights or auction, the remainder being held under lease. Retro then carried 72,000 sheep, but marsupials were very troublesome and 70 miles of wire netting were erected, at an

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