8 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jan., 1898, 
Wagga Experiment Farm. 
Axzovr 100 visitors (says the special correspondent of the Sydney Stock and 
Station Journal) journeyed to Wagga to see for themselves the results of Dr. 
Cobb’s famous experiment with the improved Allora Spring Wheat. When 
the guests were assembled at the paddock, the doctor made a speech. He 
said that the paddock at the beginning of the year was ordinary forest land, 
and cleared at a cost of £2 per acre. Part of it was ploughed after the January 
rains, and was allowed to le fallow and then sown, but at the beginning 
of July he decided to sow the area under observation with Improved Allora, 
Spring Wheat, and had the land ploughed six inches deep, partly by contract 
and partly by men of the farm. ‘The contract cost 6s. per acre. After 
ploughing, the land was gone over with a spading harrow, and then the ordinar 
harrow, after which the wheat was drilled in at little less than a bushel to the 
acre. This variety of seed had been improved by experiments at this farm 
during the past five years. The cost of putting the wheat in and making it 
ready for market was 30s. per acre, or, with the cost of clearing, £8 10s. per 
acre. This included manuring with medium grade superphosphate, which cost, 
delivered there, about 10s. per acre. Some adjoining crops sown early were 
decided failures, particularly one of King’s Jubilee species. We saw a very 
good crop of Algerian oats, estimated to yield a ton to the acre, and several 
other smaller plots of wheat, which it is intended to test right up to the millin 
stage, and even to bread-making, in order to fully classify and_ tabulate the 
respective values of the different varieties from a commercial standpoint, 
which is very important, in the light of Mr. W. Farrer’s opinion of Allora 
Spring Wheat, and the experience of Mr. White, of Belltrees, Scone, with his 
parcel of flour sent to a Sydney baker for report. - This, however, is all by the 
way. Wewere at the paddock, and most of the visitors alighted, examined 
the wheat, and passed judgment. I thought it important enough to get the 
opinion of three or four representative men present, and here follows what 
they said. The first wheat-grower I asked for an opinion was Mr. B. B, 
Bennett, who cultivates between 2,000 and 3,000 acres :— 
Mr. Bennett said : “The experiment is quite as good as.could possibly be 
expected, and the experiment cannot fail to be beneficial to wheat-growers.” 
Mr. J. J. McNickle, a thirty-five-year Riverina wheat-grower, said : “My 
opinion is that had the season been fairly favourable the crop would haye 
averaged 16 to 20 bushels to the acre. As it is, I think it will not go much 
beyond half that; it might reach 12 bushels, but I very much doubt it. But 
to have had a full experiment on the advantages of the manure, several strips 
should have been put in at the same time without manure, to see how they 
would compare with that treated with the superphosphate.” 
Mr. James Gormly, M.P., said: “The experiment under the conditions 
that have been carried out has been a thorough success.” 
“Mr, Alderman J. B. Edney, a practical wheat-grower in Wagga for thirty 
years, said: “For such a season the experiment has been an undoubted 
success.” ; 
Others spoke in a chatty way, and the consensus of opinion was that the 
plot would yield about 10 bushels to the acre, and an ordinary sowing without 
manures, such as Mr. McNickle remarked should have been done, wouldn’t 
have yielded more than 4: bushels to the acre. The various plots should be 
photographed. 
