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_ horse, a man with a good eye, and a grader which is made of a piece of hard: 
wood 2 inches thick, 1 foot wide, and about 6 feet long, and bevelied to an .. 
edge on one side. ‘Two ends and a handle are then attached, and a couple of — 
eyed-bolts are screwed or bolted on it, to which the draught chains of the { 
horse are attached. Lucerne should be irrigated as soon as the crop is taken — 
off, and should be harrowed as soon after irrigating as it will carry the horses — 
80 as to prevent the surface baking. ‘Lucerne should be planted in drills to be 
ce irrigated and harrowed in this manner. <b 
Bees: Mr. Werrerey thanked Mr. Benson for his information, and stated that it 
had made such an impression on: him that he had decided not to invest in any 
irrigation plant. Ae 
Mr. J. H. McConneztn said it was difficult to get level land on alluvial 
_ flats for Iucerne. In lots of cases in Queensland the system described by Mr. 
Benson would be too expensive. A system he had seen adopted was, distti- 
_buting the water by means of calico hosing after the water had.been lifted by 
means of centrifugal pumps. The hosing was very inexpensive—costing about 
3d. per yard—and was~ procured in lengths of about ten feet. The — 
lengths were joined together until a pipe, say, a quarter ofa mile long was — 
made: The water could then be carried by means of this pipe all over @ — 
lucerne or other paddock. Stock put on to irrigated lucerne land was very — 
apt to cause the surface to cake, which of course should be avoided. 
Mr. Lery said the people on the Burdekin found the disc harrow the bes 
__ thing with which to break up the land after irrigation. as 
: Professor Surenron mentioned that Messrs. Sealy and Malcolm, of Harris: 
ville, had put in 100 acres of lucerne with irrigation, and had been 
_ singularly successful with it. The system of irrigation by means of hose- 
_ piping, referred to by Mr. McConnell, so far as he knew, appeared tobe 
+ peculiar to Queensland, but it was a very satisfactory method, notwithstanding: 
A great difficulty in connection with irrigation in Queensland was, that after a 
man had got an irrigation plant, he would find that he did not require it. ‘This 4 
was the experience of many. In all countries where irrigation was system- i 
atically adopted the people had an arid climate. In Colorado, where he had 
- gained his own irrigation experience, the annual rainfall was only about 10 a 
inches. In such a country irrigation was absolutely necessary, but in Queens: — 
land the case was different In most years they had plenty of rain, and it was _ 
only in times of drought like the present, that people felt the pinch of necessity, _ 
and began to talk of irrigation. 1t had been said that ditching was absolutely 
necessary to the snecess of irrigation, but drainage ditching was a question — 
that should be considered by itself. As Mr. Watt had already pointed out, — 
drainage was always helpful to land, but this did not prove that drainage was — 
essential to irrigation. In Colorado he had known hundreds of cases where — 
_ irrigation was successful, and where under-drainage was never thought of. No — 
doubt under-draining would be beneficial, but in Colorado, if the original — 
_. Settlers had thought that under-draining was a necessity, they would prohably — 
_ have abandoned the country. Drainage was good with irrigation and without — 
it, but irrigation was often good upon land that was not under-drained. ‘= 
In reply to a question, Mr. McConnett said the pump he had previously 
_, referred to was simply a centrifugal pump. He gave an instance bearing out 
Professor Shelton’s remarks about the irregular necessity for irrigation in 
Queensland. He knew a gentleman who purchased an extensive plant, kept 
_ it for two years without once using it, and then sold it. Immediately after the 
sale the dreughi set in.  — 
Mr. Tomas Armsrrone instanced the case of a farmer who had invested 
£300in an irrigation plant. He was now being repaid for his outlay during 
the present dry season. aoe 
Mr. J. Lety pointed out the difference between tropical and Southern 
Queensland in respect to. irrigation. In the North, under-draining was 2 
necessity, because, if the Jand was allowed to remain saturated with water, the — 
young cane plants would quickly perish. f re 
