308 



GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



[Dec. 1896. 



year amounting to rather more than 1 ,000,000 lbs. The fluctuation 

 in supply from year to yea", as a result of the climatic changes 

 to which the colony as a tropical and semi-tropical country is so 

 especially liable, might, it is thought, be largely modified were 

 less reliance placed upon the natural herbage, and a system 

 adopted of grazing dairy cattle on improved, if not actually 

 sown, pastures, supplemented by a certain amount of stall 

 feeding. The outlay necessitated by this system would, it is 

 maintained, be amply returned, and the farmer would then soon 

 learn the advantage to be derived from bestowing his time and 

 food only on animals bred from the best milking strains, which 

 are alone suited to his purpose. This question has received a 

 great deal of attention at the hands of the officers of the Agri- 

 cultural Department, who have drawn attention to the butter- 

 producing capacities of the average Queensland dairy cow as 

 compared with the cows of Victoria, the United States, and 

 elsewhere, and have impressed upon dairymen in the colony the 

 necessity of weeding out their herds so as to have no cows- 

 include I therein which do not produce a certain quantity of 

 milk. These exertions will, it is believed, have a good effect, 

 and a more regular and greatly extended output of butter may 

 be looked for in the future. Should such a result be attained, 

 the question of finding a market elsewhere than in Queensland 

 will then arise. 



There was a much greater quantity of cheese made in 1895 

 than in 1894, namely, 1,841,799 lb*, in the former and 

 1,536,979 lbs. in the latter year. Although a great improve- 

 ment is said to be apparent in the quality of Queensland cheese 

 now in the market, some of it being really goo 1, it is in too many 

 instances very inferior and leaves much to be desired. The 

 production is now only a little short of the consumption, conse- 

 quently the imports of the article for 1895 amounted to but a 

 tithe of the quantity consumed during the year. The annual 

 consumption of cheese per head is estimated to be about 4^ lbs. r 

 but it is believed that the use of cheese as an article of diet 

 would be greatly extended if a high quality could be attained and 

 the cheese retailed at a lower price than is at present charged. 



Wheat Cultivation in German East Africa. 



The Deutsche Landwirtschaftliche Presse of the 22nd 

 August, quoting from the Deutsche Kolonialblatt, states that 

 the demand for corn in German East Africa is at present mostly 

 supplied by Indian and Hungarian wheat, which is imported by 

 way of Zanzibar. But few districts of East Africa are adapted 

 to wheat cultivation, and among these the neighbourhood of 

 Tabora takes an important place. A little while ago consider- 

 able samples of Tabora wheat were sent over by the Imperial 

 Government at Dar-es-Salaam, and handed over to the Koyal 



