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THE FARMERS HANDBOOK. 



districts 60 or 70 bushel crops should be possible. In the north-west (Inverell 

 district), a yield of 60 bushels per acre is often obtained in a good season. 

 In the south-west (Tumut district) 80-bushel crops are not uncommon. 



A good "three stalk" hill of Fitzroy Maize. 



Storage. 



Satisfactory methods of storage on a large scale have not yet been evolved 

 to enable the grower on the coast to dispose of his maize at his own pleasure, 

 owing to the presence of weevils and grain moth, which soon reduce sound 

 maize to a riddled condition, especially on the warm North Coast. Appar- 

 ently the best that can be done with maize in the husk is to store in well- 

 ventilated barns, with sides of open battens or round timber. A certain 

 measure of success is believed to have been obtained in Queensland in 

 " tanking" the shelled grain, but care must be taken in this method to get 

 the grain down to a sufficiently low moisture content to prevent it becoming 

 mouldy in the tank. Mechanical driers will have to be resorted to for this 

 purpose. 



In saving a small quantity of maize for seed, it should, after thorough 

 drying, be stored in the ear in air-tight bins with | lb. naphthalene flakes or 

 balls for every 20 to 25 cubic feet of space. Before being put away, however, 

 the ears must be kept freed from weevil by fumigating in an air-tight receptacle 



