1 Mar., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 229 
SOUTHBROOK WHEAT HARVEST. 
Tun Zoowoomba Chronicle publishes the following cheering notes from its 
Southbrook correspondent on the harvest in that district :— 
Early in the season there was a lot of speculation as to the probable yield. 
The ‘effect of the rust was very much feared, but, while considerable damage 
was done, yet there have been good yields, and there is every encouragement 
for the farmer to sow wheat extensively for the coming season. I give a few 
of the actual results on the north side of the railway, the south side being very 
similar, say, from 4 to 8 bags per acre. Mr. W. Gwynne takes the lead with 
a yield of fully 8 bags per acre all round, each bag weighing 43 bushels, 
thus giving 36 bushels per acre. Thus we have: Mr. W. Gwynne, 320 bags, 
40 acres; Mr. W. Farquharson, 225 bags, 40 acres; Mr. I. Farquharson, 53 
bags, 14 acres; Mr. (Juinlan, i140 bags, 18 acres; Mr. J. Stower, about 7 bags 
per acre; Mr. W. Blacklock, 240 bags, 40 acres; Anderson Bros., 3380 bags 
wheat and barley, 80 acres; Mr. D. Mackintosh, 170 bags, 30 acres; Mr. T. 
Dwyer, 140 bags, 22 acres; Mr. J. Heffernan, 170 bags, 50 acres; Mr. T. J. 
Jenkins, 240 bags wheat and barley, 50 acres; Messrs. Yorke Bros., 150 bags, 
23 acres; Mr. Noonan, 60 bags, 12 acres. Anderson Bros. are to be con- 
gratulated in getting the prize of £10 10s. for their malting barley, which, I 
understand, was the best exhibited at the late farmers’ show at ‘Toowoomba. 
It must have been good, for they obtained 5s. per bushel for the whole of it 
(107 bags), while others only got 4s. 6d. and 4s. 8d. Nearly the whole of the 
wheat has been sold to the Dominion Company at 4s. per bushel at Southbrook. 
Returns such as above quoted should be very inspiriting to the selectors  . 
who have lately taken up so much of the Headington Hill lands, where, ithe a 
soil is equally as good as the Southbrook soil. 1, oS Nar pieuedy on 
fae ont 
A HEAVY DEAL IN WHEAT. \aor? it 
Amone the great commercial transactions of 1897, the attempted corner? in | awe 
December wheat at Chicago stands out in prominence. At the head ofthe — 
speculative enterprise is Mr. Joseph Leiter, who bought 6,000,000 bushels of 
wheat for December delivery. This great deal was expected to have 
embarrassing results, as it was supposed that the wheat could not be obtained 
in time for delivery, and that, consequently, Mr. Leiter would be able to run 
the price up to an extravagant rate. As it was, he succeeded in forcing the 
price up to 104 cents a bushel at one time, or 13 cents more than the price for 
May wheat. But he was encountered by an opponent of vast resources, Mr. 
Philip Armour, who, in the face of great difficulties, succeeded in obtaining 
the enormous quantity of wheat to deliver. Agents were sent to Duluth, 
Minneapolis, and the north-west to buy wheat of the requisite grades ; 
arrangements were made with railway companies, and every available steamship 
was chartered. As ice was forming on the great lakes when there were 
2,000,000 bushels of wheat at Duluth, which had to be conveyed to Chicago 
by water, half-a-dozen steam-tugs were engaged to break through the ice, and 
to eontinue moving up and down in Duluth Harbour, and others in the Soo 
Canal, to keep a channel open until the grain fleet had got out. hus, by rail 
and water, wheat was poured into Chicago until Mr. Leiter’s great deal was 
covered. Then the chief question of interest to speculators was as to what 
Mr. Leiter would do with the wheat. He declared his intention of shipping 
it promptly to Europe, and a great deal of it has already been exported ; but 
there is still a large quantity to dispose of, and, so long as it remains, it will 
have a disturbing effect upon the market.—Standard. 
THE WORLD’S WHEAT CROPS. 
For agriculture in most foreign countries and British colonies the year has 
been more or less unfavourable. ‘The wheat crops of France, Italy, Austria- 
Hungary, Russia, and the Danubian countries proved much smaller than those 
