HY J. C. HKUNNICff, F.I.C. 41 



or nearly 10%, corresponding to tJie annuji.l import of wlieat 

 into the United Kingdom. 1 specially mention these two 

 countries, as their climate somewhat resembles our own- 

 The two States together are ahout one-lialf the area of 

 Qiic(*nsland, hut wliereas Queensland has only in all 600,000 

 acres or about -14% of its total area under crop, the land 

 cultivated in Italy and Spain amounts to 47 and 3f)% 

 respectively, which accounts for the large produMion of 

 cereals, 



Professftr E. M. Shclton made years ago a rough estimate 

 of our lands suitable for wheat culture, and considered 

 about 50 million acres were fit foi' the cultivation of wheat. 

 At present our area under wheat amounts ia only 150,000 

 acres.' The great drawbacks to wlieat culture in Australia 

 are the climatic vicissitudes, as is clearly shown by the 

 variation in the annual average yield. In Queensland 

 the average yield for twenty years is 14.7 bushels per acre, 

 which in the drought year 1902 drrjpped to 3.3 bushels, 

 whereas the crops of last year will go well ovei* the average. 

 Victoria shows similar fluctuation, two years ago the crop 

 was only 6.6 bushels, whereas last year (1908-9) an area 

 of 1,885,000 acres yielded 12.8 bushels per acre. But, 

 in spite of dry weather, good crops of wheat may be grown 

 by improved methods of cultivation and the selection 

 of healthy rust-resisting varieties. In 1907, on the Roma 

 State Farm, a crop of 14 bushels per acre was obtained 

 with oidy 3| inches of rain between seed time and harvesting. 

 Last year the crops were very much heavier, averaging 

 well over 20 bushels per acre, but several varieties of wheat 

 yielded up to 38 bushels. 



The United Kingdom with an average yield of 29.5 

 busliels is only able to grow 25% of its required wheat 

 and has to import 75% from abroad, and rarely holds 

 more than 14 weeks of supply on hand What help it 

 would be not only to us, but also to the Mother country, 

 if we could cultivate part of our 50 million acres and supply 

 Great Britain's demand of 180 million bur-hels. 



Agriculture is the most ancient of all arts, coeval with 

 the first dawn of civilisation. Agriculture flourished in 

 ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The ancient Romans 

 highly esteemed husbandry, and spread the knowledge of 

 agriculture all over Europe. In the early times the Anglo- 



