/ 
6 
Taking the average price of H inch and 2 
inch tiles at 12s., the cost of draining, exclusive 
of carriage of pipes, for 3£ feet drains will be 
7jd. per rod, or the cost per acre for drains 18 
feet apart will be £4 16s. 3d, and for those 
24 feet apart, £3 12s. 2£d. As, however, the 
price for labour here is, at least at this work, 
six times greater than in England, it will give 
an estimate of their probable cost here by mul- 
tiplying these sums by seven. The price, then, 
for drains four feet deep and 18 feet apart might 
be about £31, and for 24 feet apart, £26 per 
acre. 
These sums, when compared with what they 
are in Britain, are no doubt large, but when it 
is considered that land is selling at from £100 | 
per acre and upwards, in and around Brisbane, 
and that it is next to impossible, if not impos- 
sible, altogether to cultivate it as a garden with- 
out being drained, these sums sink into insig- I 
nificance when compared with the benefits to 
be derived from thorough drainage. 
From that statement it will be evident that j 
only land in and about the town will pay to be , 
drained at present. Our agriculturists must 
only attempt to cultivate land that does not 
require draining, of which, I am glad to say, 
there is abundance of in the country for years ; 
to come. The lands about Brisbane which are 
thoroughly drained, so far as I know, are a 
paddock at Mr. Q-eorge Raff’s place, and part of 
one at Mr. Robert Cribb’s place. Milton lands 
are only partially drained. I presume Mr. 
Skyring’s garden i3 drained from the crops 
which it produces. In the town there are 
several gardens drained, but I will only refer to 
the following, viz., Mr. William Sim’s, in Mary- 
street, nearly opposite the Queensland Club- 
house, and Mr. Henry Keid’s, in Margaret street, 
as those in low ground ; to Mr. J. Jeays, on 
the North Quay, as on a medium elevation, and 
to Mr. John Scott’s, near to Mr. Bourne’s 
house, as on high ground. In these gardens the 
plants look healthy. 
I will close tins paper by referring to one 
instance, viz., to the allotment adjoining Capt, 
Coley’s store, in which the proprietor was at a 
great expense in what some people might call 
trenching it. It consisted in digging down the 
soil and covering it with the subsoil. It was 
planted with sorghum, but I do not think the 
produce covered one-tenth of the expense. As 
a consequence, the proprietor got disgusted with 
his operations, and it now lies a waste. Had he 
been at half the expense in draining it, the issne 
would have been quite different, for, if drained 
and cultivated a short time, it would make a 
splendid garden. 
W. FAIRFAX, PRINTER, “ QUEENSLAND GUARDIAN” OFFICE, BRISBANE. 
