1 May, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 403 
half the strength by using 10 gallons of water. The morning is the best time 
for spraying, just after the dew has disappeared, and the plants should not be 
watered either immediately before or after the spraying. Since the spores may 
reproduce the fungus in from five to seven days, spraying should be repeated 
at intervals of a week. Dr. de Haan, of Deli, Sumatra, says that by the use 
of the spray mentioned, and by rational change in the seed-beds, the disease 
has been checked in its outbreak and spread. By taking these preventive 
measures, and by good care and supervision, the disease has lost its serious 
character, and only occurs sporadically. 
GARLIC CEMENT. 
Tv is not generally known that the expressed juice of garlic makes an excellent 
eement for broken glass and china. The juice must be applied as soon after 
breakage as possible, as the edges of the broken parts become worn away by 
friction. This makes an everlasting cement, and if the edges are neatly joined 
no sign of a fracture remains. The expressed juice of an onion also makes a 
very good adhesive fluid, 
HOW TO CHOOSE ORANGES. 
Tue sweetest oranges generally have rusty-looking coats. An Hnglish expert 
says:—“ Pick out the dingiest in the box, and you will get the best.’ Another 
test is weight. The heaviest oranges have the thinnest rinds. Thick-skinned 
fruit is apt to be dry inside. A slight freezing on the tree causes this 
condition in otherwise fine fruit. The “kid-glove” oranges are the two 
varieties grown in Florida from stocks respectively brought from China and 
Tangier. The Glen Retreat orange of Queensland is a very fine-skinned 
heavy orange, and is amongst the best, if not the best, of our mandarins. 
VICTORIAN WHEAT HARVEST. 
Tire Government Statist’s figures relating to the wheat crop of 1898-99 show 
that the total area harvested for wheat was 2,079,410 acres, an increase of 
421,960 acres on the previous year. The yield is placed at 19,557,532 bushels, 
and the average per acre at 9°41 bushels. In the mallee country, where 
600,000 acres are under wheat, the averages for the Karkarooc and Tatchera 
counties were low, being respectively 3 47 and 4.67 bushels. 
NEW SOUTH WALES HARVEST. 
Tire total area under wheat in New South Wales in 1898-99 was 1,605,000 
acres, of which 1,801,000 acres were cut for grain, The production of wheat 
was 9,232,0L0 bushels, and the average return per acre 7:2 bushels. ~ 
THE PRICE OF MAIZE. 
Wiru the increase in the manufacture of smokeless powder, better prices 
would appear to be in store for maize-growers. One of the ingredients 
required for this powder is alcohol, and the cheapest alcohol is distilled from 
maize. There has arisen an unprecedented demand for this spirit. Japan 
lately bought 50 car-loads of alcohol, so says Mr. E. B. Powell in the Vew 
York Independent. Russia and Germany are also purchasing heavily. The 
United States is also buying extensively for the purpose of making their own 
powder. Seeing that corn is now being so largely used for the production of 
alcohol, and that the late crops in Australia have suffered so severely from 
drought, the price of maize during the coming winter will probably keep up to 
an abnormal figure. Against this we note that the corn crop in the Argentine 
is simply magnificent, and can scarcely be injured by locusts to any reaterial 
extent, as it is very far advanced for the time of year, and there are abso- 
lutely no locusts in the most important maize-growing districts. 
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