828 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1899. 
you out of debt. It supplies also an abundance of a most excellent and whole- 
some food—diminishing by so much the butcher’s, baker's, grocer’s, and 
doctor’s bills. Then there is the increase of your stock, which goes on day 
and night, and will, with such other crops as you will be able to grow besides, 
help you in keeping the balance on the right side of your ledger. 
Do not be afraid of over production. Science and practice have now eom- 
bined. They work hand in hand, and are able to keep those products perfectly 
sound and fresh for long periods. ‘They canalso carry them safely to all parts of 
the world. In the thickly-populated countries of the old world, in its large 
industrial cities, in its innumerable standing armies, there are teeming millions 
of consumers eager to buy at a price, remunerative to the Australian farmer, 
unlimited quantities of the products of the dairy and piggery.. Our main drayw- 
back is at present the scarcity of our farming population, which in many places 
is too scattered yet to combine for the purpose of starting powerful co-operative 
creameries, butter and cheese factories. Many factors though, of which the 
impending federation of the Australian colonies is one of the most important, 
tend and will tend daily to alleviate that drawback. The time is not far distant 
when we shall have increased our production in those lines to such proportions 
that it will really be worth while to establish an export trade on a large scale, 
Then, without dispersing too much your energy and means, go in for a 
few crops well adapted to your land and your other circumstances, Try to 
combine them so that they can be grown alternately during our well marked 
winter and summer seasons. Make also of them a rational rotation suitable to 
your soil, never forgetting that a change of crop is in reality a rest for the land, 
as a change of occupation is a rest fora man. Try also to grow such crops ag 
could be consumed—concentrated, so to say, on the farm by your stock, should 
there be no remunerative market for them in their raw state. 
These are not mere theories. If you will think of the successful and 
unsuccessful farmers you know, you will find nine times out of ten that the 
successful farmers belong to the category of the advocates and practisers of 
the mixed-crop system as described above. With such farming there is no 
waste of energy; no time for idleness either. Every member of the family 
contributes his or her share to the common welfare and happiness. There iy 
no profession perhaps more conducive to a sound healthy family life than 
farming thus understood and practised. Some time since the writer of these 
lines had the honour to be invited to a farmer’s wedding in one of the principal 
farming districts of Queensland. The house was a comfortable and cosy nest, 
in a romantic site, on the bank of a running and bubbling streamlet. Every- 
thing was of exquisite cleanliness. Pictures and drawings, delicate embroideries, 
musical instruments showed that fine arts occupied a legitimate place in the 
life of the inhabitants. In front of the house there was a splendid flower 
garden, and lower down a well-kept fruit and vegetable garden. Both were 
taken care of by the womenfolk of the household, and were capable of 
supplying the family the whole year round with an abundant and varied 
vegetable diet. About fifty guests sat round the well-spread tables. Great 
was my surprise on learning that everything on the tables, except tea and 
sugar, had been grown and prepared on the farm. 
The look of contentedness on the face of the old people, many of whom 
were the veteran pioneers of the district, the healthy and robust appearance of 
the young men, the graceful and happy look of the bride and her numerous 
: Bu eucees all showed that this was morally and physically a healthy and 
appy life. 
Ppy those people have no doubt to work hard. According to God’s 
commandment, they earned their bread by the sweat of their brows. But, 
taken all round, there is more happiness amongst them than is to be found in 
city life. The girls would certainly not exchange their work for the more 
trying one of the shop, bar, and factory, whose employees lead an exclusively 
indoor and emaciating life. For women as well as for men, animals, and 
plants, a certain amount of sunshine is necessary’ to insure their full and 
