80 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jan., 1898, 
River Plate Mutton (crossbred or merino wethers).—Heavy, 25d. per 
lb.; light, 23d. 
Australian Frozen Beef.—Prime ox, forequarters, 24d. per Ib.; ditto hind- 
quarters, 2d. Secondary, fores, 2}d.; hinds, 23d. 
The above prices are the official quotations furnished by the Frozen Meat 
Trade Association. The basis of quotations is sales of lines of not less than 
100 carcasses of mutton or lamb, or 100 quarters of beef. All the quotations 
for mutton are for fair average quality. Quotations for New Zealand and 
Australian lambs do not include sales of small lambs, or heavies or inferior 
quality. 
THE WHEAT CROP OF 1897. 
From the latest reports we have received respecting the wheat crop, much 
encouragement is to be derived. On the Darling Downs the early crop has 
proved a marked success. Some rust was perceivable, but, on the whole, 
farmers have no reason to complain of the returns from early-sown wheat, 
The grain is plump and well developed, and will command a fair price. 
The later-sown wheat is, in many cases, a failure. Much was badly rusted, 
and had to be cut either for hay or to be burnt off to make room for a maize 
crop. What was reaped for grain resulted in pinched grain of little value. 
This was largely owing to abnormal heat, following on heavy rains, which 
resulted in practically burning up the ear. It is remarkable that in many 
paddocks well-developed grain is found in conjunction with pinched grain. - 
Hence it is with the greatest difficulty that a farmer can state how much 
pinched grain and how much fully developed he can guarantee. Some say it 
amounts to about half-and-half. 
T’o come to prices, the millers value the pinched grain at 8s. 6d. per bushel, 
and the full at 4s., delivered on the trucks at any station on the Downs. The 
average price, taking the value of inferior and full grain, is 3s. 10d. per bushel. 
To a Brisbane miller this would mean 4s. 14d. per bushel, the freight from, say, 
Pittsworth to Brisbane being about 33d. per bushel. 
Neither can the mill-owners on the Downs afford more. They have to 
send all the bran and pollard to the metropolis, as there is no sale» worth 
mentioning for their by-products in the West. There is a little sale in ~ 
Toowoomba and, Warwick, but the bulk comes to Brisbane and thence. to 
North Queensland. With respect to the yield as compared with last year, the 
crop for 1896 amounted to 680,000 bushels. ‘This year it is confidently 
estimated by competent judges that the yield will reach 800,000 bushels—that 
is, the quantity which will be available for sale to Queensland millers. Besides 
this, the farmers will be able to retain the necessary quantity of seed for next 
season. 
The average yield is estimated at 12 bushels, but this includes the pinched 
grain, which, of necessity, must bring down an average which on some farms 
has amounted to between 30 and 40 bushels per acre. 
; One thing greatly in favour of the harvest this year was that as a rule 
splendid weather prevailed during the harvest. During the latter part of the 
harvest, when practically all the wheat was stacked, heavy rains came on an 
nine inches of rain fell in seven days. Hundreds of stacks were badly built, 
and. many unthatched, and these suffered in consequence. Three inches of rain 
fell in one night. he loss will probably be very great so far as the uncovered 
stacks are concerned. So badly, in many instances, were the sheayes stooked, 
that they were actually bound together by the green growth, and had to be 
torn asunder. When will farmers learn to cap their stooks and thatch their 
stacks ? 
The latest news from New South Wales puts the year’s yield of wheat_at 
9,100,000 bushels; whilst from South Australia we glean from the market 
report of Messrs. John Darling and Sons, kindly supplied to us by Mr. Archibald 
(Dominion Milling Company, Brisbane), that, “on the whole, the weather has 
