1 Fex., 1899. } QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 85 
Agriculture. 
WHEATS AT HERMITAGE STATE FARM. 
By C. ROSS, Manager. 
To describe in detail all the varieties that have been grown at the State farm 
is inexpedient in these few notes; but a description of a few of the stud plots 
and results attained may prove of interest. Before entering upon the descri p- 
tion of the wheats, I would point to the conditions under which they were 
grown. The farm land is not by any means typical wheat soil, but rather the 
reverse. Many wiseacres iu the district predicted failure, not only of wheat, 
put of other crops as well. To some small extent this prediction has been 
verified, as there are several patches of alkaline soil throughout the area com- 
prising the farm, where it is impossible to germinate a grain of maize or wheat 
—in fact, even weeds are entirely absent. It therefore follows that the wheat 
fields during the past season presented a somewhat blotched appearance in 
consequence of these bald patches. To counteract the effects of these alkali 
belts, it is intended to carry out careful experiments with various simple 
chemical compounds, and records of results will be kept. 
The area under cereals at the Hermitage harvested during the present 
season was upwards of 100 acres, which gave a total yield of wheat, 1,218 
bushels; barley, 650 bushels; in addition to which there were forty plots of 
stud wheats ranging in area from half-an-acre to one-eighth of an acre; and 
403 named sorts of wheats, which occupied in all an area of about 18 acres. 
Unfortunately, the site chosen both for the stud wheat and the nomenclature 
collection was intersected in various places by the alkali patches before 
mentioned ; hence the results (although on the whole they may be considered 
satisfactory) are not all that could be desired. 
As some of your readers may not understand the term “stud’’ as applied 
to wheats, I would point out that stud implies small areas of grain sown in 
rows, the seed being hand-selected heads from the previous year’s crop. In 
hand selection every care is exercised that only pure seed is gathered, and, as a 
result of this, pure seed can be depended upon from the sowing, thus increasing 
the amount of grain for subsequent sowing. ‘The forty plots at the Hermitage, 
being all hand-selected grain of last season, were of the varieties of wheat 
described in the table attached. 
About 500 bushels of Marshall’s No. 8 wheat, guaranteed pure, are avail- 
able for seed purposes, and about 400 bushels of Chevalier barley, also of 
warranted purity. The Department, with a view to assisting the farmers to 
secure a first-class seed, are now prepared to receive orders for both Marshall’s 
No. 8 and No. 8 and the barley mentioned, at the rate of 5s. per bushel free 
on board at the Hermitage State Farm. All orders for these seeds to be 
accompanied by post-office order or cheque for the amount; as the quantity for 
distribution is only very limited, applicants, to prevent disappointment, should 
apply early to the Under Secretary for Agriculture, Brisbane. 
