1708 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Mar., 1899. 
Queensland Agricultural College three large silos have just been filled with 
chaffed maize stalks, the cobs on which had just passed the milk stage. Nearly 
200 tons of excellent ensilage are now stored away in readiness for any emergency 
such as a flood or further drought. 
On the subject of ensilage the Leader says :—‘ Maize is different from ~ 
other crops, such as wheat, oats, or grass, with regard to the time of cutting 
for ensilage. These latter can hardly be cut too green, as long as they are 
allowed to reach the earing stage ; but it is different with maize, which, if put 
into the ensilage stack too green, has all its substance pressed out and wasted.” 
On this point, Mr. John Blencombe, of Myra Vale, New South Wales, 
describes how his first attempt at maize ensilage turned out a failure. He 
says :—‘‘ The ensilage became quite dark, and a quantity of water ran from it. 
I have since found out that the cause was from the maize being cut too soon; 
but last season I made ensilage from maize, planters’ friend, and sorghum, 
which has been a thorough success, as nothing better could be desired. 
Several farmers have been to see it, and they all state it is the best they ever 
. saw. The Johnson press (wire bands tightened down with ratchet and lever) 
was used on this occasion, and the ensilage is good to within 3 inches of the 
outside of the stack, so there is very little waste. The cattle cat it with 
avidity, leaving none. I find the maize ensilage is superior to planters’ friend. 
The milking cattle do better on the maize, giving a greater flow of milk than 
when fed on planter, so in future I intend to grow maize only. The stack 
contains from 80 to 100 tons, and the maize was put together just as the milk 
had gone off the grains. This is worth knowing, as we have tried it at several 
stages of growth, and a great deal depends on the time when it is cut to makea 
good article. The stack was put together in twelve days, and the wires were 
tightened twice a day for the first six days after it was built, and once a day 
for the next six days, and after that once every three days for a month. This 
is of great importance, as if depends on the attention it gets for the first twelve 
days, whether the ensilage will be a success or not. If farmers are desirous of 
making a first-class article, and they attend to the time of cutting and to the 
pressing, they cannot fail in making the ensilage a success. I give you this 
experience after some years of experiments.” 
WHEAT AND MAIZE ON THE DOWNS. 
WHEAT. 
Now that the wheat harvest for 1898 is over, and a pretty correct estimate can 
be formed of its results, we may congratulate the farmers as a body that the 
losses due to the dry weather have not influenced the yield in such a disastrous 
manner as was expected. Indeed, a return of 600,000 bushels, considering the 
great drawback of want of rain, is something to give general satisfaction. 
In New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia the aggregate yield of 
wheat is far in excess of the requirements of those colonies, more especially in 
Victoria and South Australia, in each of which colonies it is an acknowledged 
fact that the surplus is very large. 
The markets for this over-supply must, therefore, be the other colonies, 
Africa, and England. 
The keen competition between rival steamship companies trading between 
Europe, Africa, and Australia has resulted, as a natural consequence, in very 
low rates of freight, and the Brisbane millers naturally have taken advantage 
of this, and have arranged for freight at unprecedentedly low rates. 
We hear of freights having been taken as low as 4s. 6d. per ton of 2,240 1b. 
between Melbourne and Brisbane. When we contrast this remarkably low 
figure with the freight demanded by the railway authorities on wheat between 
Brisbane and Warwick, which amounts to 12s. per ton, we cannot help arriving 
at the conclusion that the wheat farmer of the Darling Downs is too 
