1 Serr., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 191 
Turning to live stock, we find that sheep farming in most parts of 
Germany is on the decline, owing to the fall in the value of wool. Cattle are 
kept chiefly with a view to milk and draught purposes. But in Westphalia, 
Mecklenberg, and Saxony sugar beet roots, in the language of the report, 
seem to be “the order of the day.’ The difficulty with this crop is the 
number of labourers which it requires and the increasing scarcity of skilled 
hands, owing to the higher wages to be obtained in towns. Agricultural wages 
vary, of course, in different districts. The ordinary labourer earns Is. 9d. a 
day in summer, 2s. a day in harvest, and 1s. 6d. a day the rest of the year. 
But then he gets a cottage free, a small plot of ground for potatoes, and 
another for linseed; and he has the use of the farm horses to work his allot- 
ment. Piecework is paid much higher; and in Saxony it seems that this 
system is the commoner of the two. Beer is one of the staple products of 
Bavaria, where great attention is naturally paid to the barley crop. It has been 
found that by careful selection of varieties, &c., the quality of malting barley 
can be greatly improved. The brewer then pays a higher price for it, and the 
farmer makes a profit where formerly there was a loss. Bavarian beer may 
only be brewed from malt and hops, and this regulation is enforced by very 
heavy penalties. Here, at all events, is something which is made in Germany 
which Englishmen may well covet. We have no space for all that the report 
says of the reclamation of moorland and its beneficial results, which the writer 
thinks might be reproduced in Ireland. Nor can we more than mention 
generally what he says about the excellence of German agricultural implements. 
‘These “are as good as those of any country, with the exception of 
mowing machines and binders, in which the United States are first, and of 
steam ploughs and threshing machines, in which England excels.” It seems, 
on the whole, to be the writer’s opinion that if British farmers had the 
scientific knowledge of German ones they would be able to hold up against 
taxes and railway rates, open ports and foreign competition. “ We must 
never forget that medical science at one time was revolutionised by chemical 
analyses and. physiological studies, whereas in olden days medicine was practised 
much as a matter of routine, simply by experience. It is an incontestable fact 
that the chemical laboratories of the Agricultural Colleges have revolutionised 
agriculture. . . . Nowadays we know the chemistry of the soil, the plants, 
the live stock, the manures, the foods. ‘Thus agriculture to-day is as much a 
science as in olden times it was a matter of purely practical experience.’ The 
report concludes as follows :— 
The best foundation a State can give to its people is a thorough genuine and 
technical education, to fit them out adequately in order to be able to successfully 
fight their way; it affords them the best chance of being able to work against long 
odds, so that they may hold their own in bad times, and even through a crisis. The 
German farmer has had to fight against agricultural depression, but, by means of his 
thorough education and resources, backed up by science and State help, he has with- 
stood bad seasons and low prices; he has been going ahead all the time, learning how 
to increase his crops and increase his income per acre in the same proportion as prices 
receded ; with this object in view, no stone was left unturned, and his resources were 
strained to the utmost. He found great help in co-operation, as I have tried to show : 
co-operation in credit, loans, purchase and sale of produce, purchase of foods, seed, 
mineral manures, in drainage and irrigation works of large dimensions, and in dairying. 
In all his struggles the State helped him, by encouraging scientific research at its 
experiment stations by gratis advice, and farmers recognised the value of unions and 
combined efforts to fight and swim up stream. He recognised that, single-handed, he 
was powerless to achieve anything, but, although not individually intrinsically 
wealthier when combined, he found himself, when united, and working hand in hand 
co-operatively, strong enough and able to withstand: worse times than before. 
In this country State aid has a bad name; and, though all classes are 
ready enough to take it when they can get it, most of them denounce it when 
offered to any but themselves. The prejudice, however, has its good side; and 
if the land were treated fairly in other respects, we doubt if English farmers 
would either require or desire such fostering care as is bestowed on their 
