26 ' QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jury, 1898. 
moisture. On the other hand, the dry atmosphere of the Western country has its 
beneficial influence upon wheat in preserving it from rust, and hastening the ripening 
of the grain, so that it is ready for harvesting before the extreme heat of the summer 
comes or the dreaded thunderstorms of November can interfere with the growing 
crops. Thus far, then, the experiments made are more negative than positive. 
Briefly, they may be taken to show that in a bad season the farmer will have no crop, 
and he may expect to encounter more bad seasons than good ones. On the other 
hand, he may be fortunate enough to strike a succession of seasons which may suit 
him, although they count for bad with graziers who depend solely upon the indigenous 
grasses as food for their stock. For instance, rain may be withheld in the autumn and 
fall in quantities during the winter months. ‘This, with light showers early in 
September, would produce no grass for the prazier, but would just suit the farmer. 
With such uncertainty, however, it is hard to be content; and therefore it is pleasant 
to turn from the contemplation of failures in one direction to what have been 
undoubted and brilliant successes in connection with substituting for the scanty rain- 
fall the application of artificial moisture to the cereal crops by means of irrigation from 
artesian wells. Taking it for granted that the water from artesian wells is free from 
the mineral salts destructive to plant life (and this description applies to all water 
from the lower artesian basin over a very wide area of the Western district), the onl 
question requiring consideration is whether irrigation applied to cereal crops will 
pay. Some experts declare it will not pay, that irrigation is only applicable to intense 
culture. The cost of providing the supply, and of distributing it over a large area, 
prohibits its use for cereals. ‘This may be true with respect to the expensive irrigation 
works in Victoria and some of the other colonies, where the cost of reservoirs, 
pumping machinery, channels, flumes, weirs, and floodgates, combined with salaries 
of engineers and carriers, have almost ruined the companies and trusts controlling the 
works. Of irrigation by gravitation from our flowing wells they can have had little 
_ experience; and it is only lately, from experiments made by the Government of New 
South Wales at the Pera settlement, that engineers have admitted there is a 
possibility of this method of irrigation proving a financial success. My own 
* convictions, based upon the results of experiments personally directed, is that only b 
“irrigation can the wheat crop in our dry climate be ensured year by year, and that the 
extra cost of providing the water and applying it to the crop is more than balanced 
by increased productiveness. he settler, whether he be grazier or farmer, who 
selects a farm on the downs in the neighbourhood of Barcaldine, must 
fence his selection and make some provision for supplying water to-his stock. 
The old plan of excavating a tank has been discontinued altogether in favour of 
boring for water, as in this favoured locality the artesian supply can be tapped at 
' from 700 feet to 1,200 feet. A cash expenditure of £500 will ensure a constant and 
good supply of water more than sufficient for all stock likely to be kept on the farm, 
and allowing for a daily output of some half-a-million gallons for irrigation. ‘The 
bore put down on the highest point of the farm pours out its unceasing flow into a 
basin from whence, by drains easily and rapidly constructed by plough and delver, it 
1s conveyed to the land requiring to be irrigated. The method of applying the water 
is by flooding the surface or soakage of the soil by means of furrows 4 feet or 5 feet 
apart. The last-mentioned method seems best. as unless perfectly levelled beforehand 
the soil interposes slight inequalities of surface which interfere with the proper 
flooding of the ground, besides rendering the surface liable to “cake” when the water 
has evaporated. In applying the water, the full stream from the bore passes down 
the drain, from whence if is drawn off by the plough furrows in five or six streams, 
each soaking the loose soil on either side as it flows gently through the whole 
length of the cultivation. One man with a shovel is required to attend to 
the work of irrigation, and this is the only expense after first outlay. It 
may not be necessary to irrigate the crop more than once; but in this climate there 
seems to be a distinct gain in giving the field-a second saturation at the end of winter. 
Five and a-half acres harvested yielded, last year, 29 bags of wheat. Where 
a portion of the field had received an extra application of water, the yield was much 
greater, and by a judicious irrigation there seems to be no reason why the grower 
should not be able to reap at least 30 bushels to the acre. When it is remembered 
that downs country ready for the plough can be selected at rentals varying from 2d. 
to 6d. an acre; that horses can be bought for £4 a head and do their work on the 
native grasses of the country; that by the use of modern labour-saving appliances the 
cost of production is considerably lessened, it would seem that the difference between 
the value of the crop elsewhere without irrigation and that produced here by the 
use of, water is more than sufficient to pay interest on the capital required to 
provide the water and the extra labour necessary for its application to the crop, 
