288 THE farmers' handbook. 



it is only by storing it until a very dry time, when inferior materials 

 have an abnormal value, that the farmer is able to recoup himself for the 

 outlay connected with the saving of it. It is claimed that the expenditure 

 necessary for saving the straw, if spent in other directions, would have 

 made more and better provision for times of scarcity. 



Nor must it be forgotten that it is not necessary to waste all the straw 

 if the crop has been stripped. If stock be turned on to the stubble it will be 

 put to good account without expense. 



The question as to which is the more desirable implement will never be 

 settled by argument. It is a question entirely of profit and loss, and the 

 farmer who finds the harvester more profitable, under his conditions, than 

 the reaper and binder will use the former. This much is certain, that 

 inexpensive methods of harvesting grain have played no mean part in the 

 development of our wheat areas, and that but for them many acres now 

 being profitably cultivated could never have been brought under the plough. 



The modern harvester is a wonderfully efficient implement, and Aus- 

 tralians may be proud that such an implement was produced and developed 

 in their country. It is particularly adapted for peculiar conditions which 

 jiecessitate that the individual cultivate a large area to be profitable. 



Precautions against Loss by Fire. 



Fire-breahs. — Hay-making affords a splendid opportunity to protect the 

 •crops, when ripe, from advancing bush fires, by surrounding them with a 

 bare strip, which will act as a fire-break. 



It is a fairly general practice in the grain-raising districts to cut for hay 

 .a strip about half a chain wide round the standing crops. Such a practice 

 might be followed by all. In large paddocks the practice might, with advan- 

 tage, be extended to provide for the cutting of openings, half a chain wide, 

 so as to divide the crop into blocks of approximately 200 acres each. 



This is a ready and economical way of safeguarding the dry, ripe crop 

 against destruction by fire. The piece of short stubble land provides a suit 

 able place for checking the advance of a fire, which may have broken out in 

 the .grass paddocks or other portions of the crop. This is especially the case 

 when, as at Iandra, a portion of or the whole strip of stubble is ploughed. 



Fire-cart. — To assist in controlling or extinguishing a fire, should ont 

 break out, a fire-cart, filled with water and equipped with buckets, beaters 

 and axe, should be stationed, during harvest time, in a convenient place, with 

 harnessed horses for drawing it, close by. On small farms where the numbei 

 •of horses is limited, the most suitable place for such a cart is considered 

 to be at the winnower, or if the harvester is being used, at the place where 

 the bags are sewn up. 



It can be brought daily to such a place by some of the horses used in the 

 stripper, and when required for a fire the animals necessary to draw it can 

 be taken from the stripper or harvester working close by. There is an 

 additional advantage in having it stationed at such a place, in that a small 

 portion of the water in the tank can be used for giving the stripper horses a 

 •drink during the heat of the day. But care must be taken when such a plan 

 is followed, that every favourable opportunity is seized to fill the tank, and 

 that the quantity in it never becomes unduly low. 



