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[Page 2]
been the case I suppose it would have been attended to. I will not be certain, but think when I left the Colony there was not artificial grass sufficient to feed a Lamb a week.
I am no Farmer therefore ought not to venture an observation, but have understood that Grass Lands require to be constantly cut or eat to prevent its being coarse & rank; that from the state of the Colony could not be done, & a substitute was made use of (Fire) to get rid of the coarse & rank, which answerd the purpose, the young grass springing up more luxuriantly for it.
In the great heats during the Summer, they were obligd to vary their drives, generaly to those places where the woods were closest as the pasturage was better from the shade afforded by the Trees, & the shelter it gave the Sheep, which could not have been so had the Country been cleard. My opinion is from slight observation, but I think the Pasturage infinitely better the greater part of the year under the shade of the Trees, than in the more exposd parts.
With respect to the Pasturage of Sheep to a great extent - I have frequently gone with Governors Philip & Hunter & other parties into the interior of the Country, & speak I beleive the general idea, when I say that from Nare Rose Hill or Parramatta, to Prospect Hill is good Pasturage, as the number of Sheep &c fed on it prove, from thence to the River Nepean is still better, our Routes were each time different but I think the Pasturage equally good. There are some high Hills between Prospect Hill & the River Nepean coverd with good Pasturage & in every respect calculated for grazing, those I saw both in winter & Summer, the distance from Prospect Hill to Nepean River is about 22 Miles. After crossing the Nepean River to the foot of what is calld the Blue Mountains, I am at a loss to describe the face of the Country, otherways than as a beautiful Park