1 Ava., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 97 
miller swore he would never buy any more Belatourka. With proper 
machinery, however, there was no difficulty in making good flour from 
Belatourka or any other hard wheat ; and as a matter of fact in the Warwick 
mill they had had to get extra machinery for such varieties. 
Mr. S. Srernens (Nerang) had noticed that in the three papers read 
nothing had been said about wet weather. All the maize, wheat, and cow-pea 
referred to had been grown in dry districts, but he did not think husking, 
threshing, and bagging machinery could be used down about the coastal districts. 
There was too much inferior maize, for one thing, mixed with the good maize. 
He would like to ask Mr. Benson if wheat could be grown profitably on the 
coastal districts. 
Mr. A. H. Benson said that in a district where the humidity was excessive, 
as was the case in the coastal districts of Queensland, wheatgrowing would 
never be successful, owing to the rust, if to nothing else. Anywhere in the 
coastal country, the heat and moisture were too great, except for one or two 
varieties which were unsuitable for milling purposes, to permit of the successful 
growth of wheat. Wheat in Queensland would, therefore, be confined to the 
districts adapted to it, such as the Darling Downs, the Maranoa, and the 
Central Western districts. With regard to Mr. Lamb’s question, he would 
state that at the Department’s experiment farms they were going to carry out 
very exhaustive experiments in the growth of wheats. Not only that, they 
were going to breed wheats, strong wheats, resisters of rust, wheats that would 
stand up well, wheats that would not shell, and wheats with good milling 
qualities. They would breed the wheats as a man breeds his stock, by the laws 
of natural selection. Seed would be selected, cultivated carefully, and only the 
finest plants reproduced. The seed would be kept as pure as possible, and he 
hoped that with this seed they would be able to keep up the quality of the 
wheat in the colony, and be able to supply farmers with seed of wheat suitable 
for Queensland market conditions. As to quality in wheat, millers’ fancies 
changed from season to season, as the law of supply and demand necessitated ; 
but if growers kept up wheats rich in gluten, wheats that would make a’ 
sweet loaf of bread, and one that would keep, millers would always buy them. 
He hoped to be able to raise wheats in Queensland which would produce flour 
able to hold its own in any market in the world. 
Mr. W. D. Lams (Yangan) had been rather disappointed there had not 
been more discussion on his own and Mr. Hagenbach’s paper, but as wheat 
had already been dealt with at the Conference, and as maize was such an old 
subject in Queensland, perhaps there was not much fresh that could be said 
about either. As for the cow-pea, he did not think, unless there was some 
better and cheaper way of harvesting it, that it would ever become a leading 
crop on the Darling Downs. The men on the Downs liked to be sitting down. 
at their work. They sat on the mower, the reaper, the thrasher, and every- 
thing else, so that if the cow-pea necessitated the use of the hoe or scythe he 
did not think they would very eagerly take it up. Doubtless, however, when 
the cow-pea came into more general use a machine would be found for dealing 
with it. As for the seed of the cow-pea, he thought an ordinary wheat-thresher 
would be able to harvest it. 
Mr. P. Hacenpacu (Warwick) said he would apologise for his error about 
the first flour-mill in Queensland. To-day was the first time he had heard 
about the mill at Ipswich which had been mentioned. He had never heard of 
it before, and in any event it must have been a very poor affair. With regard 
to his estimate, he had simply given the returns from an acre of wheat reaped, 
and he did not think he was very far out. Taking things all round, he had 
given an average yield. The Darling Downs had made considerable strides 
in the wheat industry, and if any gentleman present, who could spare the time, 
would pay a visit to the Downs, particularly about Warwick, during harvest 
time, he would see the proof of this assertion. As for Budd’s Early wheat, at the 
last Warwick show, Mr. Hayes, of the Queensland Milling Company, had 
inquired about this variety, and recommended farmers to grow it. 1t was not 
