‘I give it up Mr. 
1 Dec., 1897. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 423. 
Amongst the Warwick Farmers. 
To travel through the wheat districts of the Darling Downs at this season, is: 
to become practically acquainted with the magnificent resources of this justly 
celebrated portion of the many fertile districts of Queensland. It is a 
revelation which cannot fail to impress the most unimpressionable. Practical 
farmers from the old country, as well as of the southern colonies, who have 
had an opportunity to visit the Downs during the present harvest season, are 
all unanimous in their expressions of admiration of the illimitable fertile plains, 
and of the excellent methods of farming adopted by the wheat-growers. People 
who write books on Australia invariably picture the agricultural settler as 
toiling from year’s end to year’s end in “subduing the wilderness,” in felling 
and burning giant trees, and in toilsomely clearing the land of innumerable 
stumps. Here, on the Downs, there is no wilderness to subdue (except, of 
course, in the case of scrub lands). For miles, there stretch in all directions 
apparently endless fertile plains of black or red volcanic soil, covered with a 
wealth of succulent grasses and herbs, whilst at the same time there are, in 
many localities, areas of timber sufficient for all the settlers’ requirements in 
the shape of fencing, house and yard building, &¢. For the most part, 
however, the new settler.has nothing to do but to enclose his land, and put in 
the plough at once—thero is no clearing to be done. Even before the land is 
reduced to anything like a fine tilth, he may sow a crop of maize or of wheat, 
and with a fair season feel tolerably assured of reaping a bountiful harvest. 
There was a time when it was a part of the squatter’s creed that cultivation of 
these lands was madness. Indeed, a squatter, many years ago, said to the 
writer, whilst showing him one of his splendid stations, between Toowoomba and 
Warwick: “Look here, sir, I will give 200 acres of that land to any farmer 
who likes to try it. I will fence it for him, and supply him with horses, 
implements, and seed. In two years, sir, that man will come to me and say: 
It’s no use trying to farm on the Downs. The land 
won't grow a cabbage.’”’ 
Let us take a run through these lands which forty years ago would not 
give a farmer a bare living, and as a sample we will take the Warwick district, 
in which are situated those celebrated stations, Canning Downs, Glengallan, 
Maryvale, Clifton, Goomburra, Toolburra, &., &c. Over thirty-six years ago 
agricultural settlement began to progress rapidly here, and to-day large areas 
of the surrounding sheep stations have been devoted entirely to agriculture. 
Many of the former managers of the stations are settled in comfortable homes. 
surrounded by their broad well-tilled acres. They raise what a South 
Australian wheat-grower would consider fabulous crops of wheat, they raise 
sheep and cattle, and they also raise a splendid race of stalwart sons and 
daughters who, when the old people sleep with their fathers, will continue to 
add to the prosperity of the colony, following in their fathers’ footsteps and 
steadily building up the Australian nation. From Warwick a short ride of 
four miles through a succession of waving wheat-fields, brings the visitor to 
the Hermitage, one of the Government Experiment Farms, managed by 
Mr. C. Ross. This property consists of 240 acres, of which nearly 200 have 
been brought into an excellent state of cultivation in less than five months. 
Besides crops of wheat, barley, and oats, a large orchard and vineyard ave 
been planted, whilst experimental plots have been sown and planted with a 
variety of seeds and plants imported by the Department of Agriculture, which 
on their proved success will hereafter be distributed to farmers on application. 
