DEFENCES AGAINST LOW PRICES OF FARM PRODUCTS. 
725 - 
operation, doing about six acres per day. In the cultivation of the 
crop two rows are taken in each passage of the cultivator across the 
field. The hand hoe is rarely used, except where the ground is very 
foul. The husking is a single operation. The ear is roughly freed 
from the enveloping husk — a good workman doing 60 bushels or more' 
per day —and thrown directly into the wagon, which carries the crop 
to its destination, which may be a “ crib” for storage in the farm, or 
an elevator where the ears are shelled, and the grain run into bins,, 
suitably graded, whence it is spouted directly into railway trucks. 
A comparison of this simple and direct way of winning a crop 
with the cumbersome and complex methods in vogue in Queensland 
serves to show the artificial burdens under which agriculture labours. 
When the colonial farmer’s crop has been made, and is ready for 
delivery at the railway, the odds against him are still very heavy. He 
must sack all of his crop, at a cost of 5^d. the 4 bushels ; he must load 
the truck with his own hands, and it is to be presumed that in the end 
he pays for unloading and for transferring from the railway station 
to the produce merchant’s quarters in Brisbane. Again, compare 
the colonial producer with his American competitor in respect te 
facilities for marketing. The Yankee farmer drives to the elevator 
with his load of maize, where the weighbridge promptly gives him the 
weight of his load. Then, at the touch of a lever, the rear wheels 
of the wagon drop a couple of feet, and in a second the load is shot 
into a hopper at the side of the weighbridge, and from thence is 
carried to the elevator where it is shelled (if in the ear), cleaned, and 
graded, and delivered to the proper bin, from which again it is spouted 
directly to the railway truck. When the truck reaches its destination ^ 
a steam shovel empties it into a hopper, from which it is lifted into 
the elevator of some trade centre. 'The owner of the grain may now 
receive from the elevator a receipt for so much grain of a certain 
standard of quality or grade. This receipt will now do duty in the 
commercial world for the grain which it represents. It may be held* 
sold, or transferred at the pleasure of the owner, and it is negotiable 
at the hank precisely as is a bill-of-lading or warehouse receipt. 
Much of the foregoing criticism of existing farm practices applies- 
to other crops than maize, but in marketing existing methods burden 
nearly all branches of production alike. It is cruel to the farmer 
that crops, at times almost valueless, like hay, potatoes, and maize 
must be bagged as a preliminary to shipment; Surely the transporta- 
tion system of the colony admits of modification to the extent of 
permitting bulk shipments of grain and produce, even though 
elevators are not forthcoming. Here, at least, is one of the most 
vulnerable of our industrial outworks! With transportation rates 
upon the basis of values of ten years ago, without elevators or 
cold storage conveniences, with the excessive cartage rates, warehouse 
charges, and in many cases lighterage charges, growing out of our 
failure to connect the internal transportation system of the country 
with the good harbours which stud the coast, it is not surprising that 
the colonial producer, sorely pressed on every side by competitors 
free from these artificial burdens, and scarcely knowing which way to 
turn, ends by a pathetic appeal for aid to the Government of his 
country. 
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