Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 2.djvu/170

142 PROGRESS OF THE SETTLEMENT ^^1 attempted anything in the farming way. Our neighbours succeed so badly that we are not encouraged to follow their example. The Goyemment farm did not this year, in grain, return three times the seed that had been sown."* In the Agricultural same month, Phillip, anxious to represent affairs in the most favourable light, reported that the progress made in agri- culture since last June '* had been considerable, and that at Rose Hill two hundred and thirteen acres would be sown ^this year," that is to say, in 1791. ^unl Tench gives a more complete account of the state of agriculture at the close of the year 1790 than either Phillip or Collins. In November of that year he inspected the settlement at Rose Hill. He found two hundred acres cleared and cultivated ; '^ of these, fifty are in wheat, barley, and a little oats, thirty in maize, and the remainder is either just cleared of wood, or is occupied by buildings, gardens, &c. Pour enclosures of twenty acres each had been marked out for cattle, two of which were fenced in. The Rev. Richard Johnson is referred to as " the best farmer in the country." The fifty acres of wheat and barley were expected to yield four hundred bushels. Tench mentions incidentally that all the land was turned by the convicts Convicts as with the hoe; the daily task of each convict being sixteen labourers, rods — one-tcnth of an acre.f The area proposed to be sown in 1791 (213 acres) was not large, but Phillip looked hopefully to the future. The essential point was the maintenance of the supply of food from England. Phillip was convinced that the people would soon be able to support themselves if the land was brought under cultivation, but unless the labourers were well fed they could not work. The country in its natural state afforded no subsistence ; everything depended on a regular supply of food from England. After reporting what had been done, Phillip said, ^' And I hope we shall be enabled • Historical Records, toI. ii, p. 606. t Tench, Completo Account, pp. 75, 76. PhUUp's