THE 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Supplefiient Monthly to tlie " TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST:' 
June : — 
The following pages include the Contents of the Agricultural Magazine for 
Vol. XII.] 
JUNE, 1901. 
[No. 12. 
FIEST STEPS IN AGRICULTURE, 
First Stage — 1st Lessen- 
BY A. J. B. 
|N the following articles L propose 
to explain in simple language, 
suitable to the minds of young 
boys and girls in the country, the 
elementary principles and practice 
of agriculture. 
In the absence of any easy text-book on agri- 
culture in the State schools of Queensland, these 
lessons may be found of some use in interesting 
young people in an industry which must always 
take first place amongst those of all pountries 
under the sun. It is hard to say what would 
become of the world and its other industries if 
agriculture were abandoned. 
You have all heard the word "agriculture," 
and you know that it has something to do with 
farming. Well, the word agriculture means 
cultivating a field. But how the field is culci- 
rated, and how the farmers make the beautiful 
crops of wheat and lucerne and potatoes and 
other things grow and produce fruit, you do not 
yet know. You see a man ploughing a field. 
Why is he ploughing it? That is wMt I am 
now going to explain to you. You know the corn 
and wheat and green stuff for horse feed and 
vegetables are grown in the soil. But if you 
■WW,e to try and, grow these . things in the same 
way aa the graw in the bush grows, you would 
Hud that your «rop woufd not come to anything. 
WUjUtUis? Touwill «ay 6haf grass and 
weeds grow without any ploughing. Their seeds 
drop on the ground and they grow ; why should 
not potatoes and corn grow just as vyell? The 
reason is, that corn and potatoes require a loose 
soil. And why loose? Because the plants and 
their roots require air and water, and they can 
only get air and water when the soil is soft, so 
that the roots can easily run through it and get 
the nourishment they require. This nourishment 
is called plant food. The air can get into a 
loose soil, and the moisture can rise through it 
and be sucked up into the plants. Now look at 
that man ploughing. If you follow him you will 
see that his plough has stirred up the soil for 
several inches from the surface. He has thus 
made a loose bed through which, when he has sown 
the seed, the little rootlets can easily make their 
way and draw up all the moisture they need to 
enable them to grow up vigorous plants. But 
ploughing alone is not sufficient. Look at the 
sod the ploughman has turned over. It is like a 
long cake, scarcely broken. If the seeds were 
to be sown after lie has finished ploughing, they 
would not grow properly. So the next thing 
he does is to drag a wooden or iron frame full of 
long teeth across the ground. This is a harrow, 
and it does for the field what a garden rake does 
for a flower garden when it has been dug over. 
It smooths down and breaks up the clods, and 
renders the soil soft and friable, and puts it in a 
proper condition to receiye the seeds. 
When the field is ploughed and narrowed it 
becomes a sort of soft sponge. You have seen the 
raiu falling on hard groaad. ^Vliat bBComea of 
