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_ The principal kind of wheat grown for many years was what is called the 
White Lammas; then followed the Purple Straws, Defiance, and others. Many: — 
of them were very subject to rust, others were swept out of existence by 
that disease, and all more or less became deteriorated. Here is where the 
value of the experimental or, say, stud farm will come in for the wheat-grower. 
The stud farm or plot is as necessary to the farmer as the stud flock is to the 
grazier; and for the want of it, worn-out, run-out sorts and seeds, that will 
neither resist rust nor drought, and run to complete waste with excessive 
moisture, have been’ cultivated to the ruin of the farmer. Accident provided 
the Downs, however, with a wheat just in the nick of time, which is mainly 
responsible for the increased area under that cereal in Queensland, and which 
is now in high favour in the other colonies. I refer to the sort known as the 
Allora Spring Wheat. This was first grown from a couple of ounces of grain 
obtained by the Queenslander from Mr. Farra, the eminent and enthusiastic 
New South Wales wheat-grower and experimentalist, and then sent to Mr. 
J. Kelly, of Aliora, who grew and distributed it. It is a grand, quick-growing 
spring wheat, and appears to suit both wet and dry seasons. It is not rust- 
proof, but it mostly eludes the rust by maturing early. It is a fair but not 
heavy yielder; its greatest fault is that of shelling too easily in a showery 
harvest. Care should be taken of it, lest it become deteriorated and go the 
way of its predecessors, but there are no signs of this at present. It is a wheat 
eaeeny suited to the colony, and, I believe, will grow in almost any part 
of it. 
The Agricultural Department has experimented on wheat, but under 
exceptional difficulties ; but it has some grand wheats, as I know from my own 
observation—wheats which I am sure are suited to the colony—heavy yielders, 
and which will be heard of yet: notably amongst them Venning’s Rust 
Proof, Grose’s Prolific, and Mexican Spring, and many of Farrar’s and 
-Marshall’s. There is a great opening for the Agricultural Department in 
their agricultural experimental farms, which I may be pardoned for saying 
I hope will be numerous and small, rather than few, large, and expensive. One 
hopes, in trying to look ahead for the future of farming pure and simple, to 
see the same progress made in the field as has been made in the fruit and flower 
garden, and to see the same improvement made in our cereals and fodders as 
has been effected in our flocks and herds. 
_ Wheat is sown on the Downs from the last week in April to the beginning 
- of August, on land which has generally been ploughed twice, or on once ploughed 
corn land. Early sowing is not only the safest—by catching an early rain—but 
no doubt, as a rule, the yield is much heavier, and it has a better chance of 
escaping the rust should it be a year for it. Last year, however, the best crops 
__ were from late sowing—July and up to 4th August. Sowing is generally by what 
is termed broadcast by hand on the sods, which are then twice harrowed at 
least. But the drills, of which there are now several excellent ones of different 
make in Queensland, are now coming into tayvour. By drilling, no seed is wasted, 
the crops are more even, and on an average the yield is heavier. The seed-bed 
can also be well prepared beforehand, the seed is put down at an even depth, 
and as a rule less rain will start it growing. 
I do not propose to deal with the harvesting of wheat, except to say that 
_ itis best cut when the grain is in the dough stage; nor, except with regard to 
smut, with its diseases. lor smut, the majority of wheat-growers, as a preventive, 
dress their seed with bluestone—sulphate of copper—z-lb. to the bushel. 
More might be dangerous, and I have seen less effective. One pound of blue- 
stone is powdered and dissolved in a quart of boiling water; to this is added 
three or four gallons of cold water; and you have sufficient to dress one bag of 
seed, which is done in various ways, all explained, I believe, by the bulletins 
issued by the Department. With regard to rust, at present I will leave that to 
the scientific man, or for general discussion. The best thing to do is to sow wheat 
that will get out of the way of the disease before it becomes virulent. With 
us, if we have wheat that is behind hand and not out of danger by the end of 
