1 Dec., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 411 
A FEW HINTS ON MAIZE-GROWING. 
By HENRY A. TARDENT, 
Manager of the Biggenden Experiment Farm. 
MAtzE-GROWING is a vast and complicated subject, on which yolumes could be 
written without exhausting it. In the following lines it is intended to dwell 
on a few points only, bearing especially on the. cheapest and most profitable 
ways of growing and handling a crop. These notes have been first prepared 
at the request and read at one of the meetings of the Drayton and Toowoomba 
Agricultural and Horticultural Society. I now publish them in the Journal 
in a somewhat altered form, and with some additional facts and notes, together 
with illustrations of a few of the mentioned labour-savying appliances, for 
which, I understand, there have been inquiries from many parts of the colony. 
Corn (or Zea mais, as botanists call it), is a Phalaridea of the Graminea 
family. It is a monoic plant—that is, on the same plant are to be found the 
male flowers (tassels) and the female flowers, the stamine emerging from the: 
cob like a handful of hair. Maize originates probably from Central America,. 
where for ages past it has formed the main staple of food of the redskin 
aboriginals. But after the discovery of America by the Europeans maize has 
rapidly extended all round the world. At the present day it is cultivated in 
all the tropical and semi-tropical countries, and in the warmer’ parts of 
countries with a moderate climate. Wherever grown, it forms an important: 
part of the food of man and farm animals, and gives birth to an extensive 
commerce of export to other less-favoured countries. Here, in Queensland, it 
is cultivated on 120,000 acres, giving about 4,000,000 bushels per annum. 
Tt stands second only to sugar-cane amongst our agricultural products. 
As a farm crop it succeeds admirably all along the eastern slope of the 
Dividing Range, the hot and moist climate of which seems to suit the plant 
well, although there it suffers sometimes from an excess of rain. On the 
Darling Downs, and further north on the western slope, maize grows well too, 
and the grain is usually of a superior quality. But, taken all round, the 
average crop is, I believe, inferior to that on the coast. This is due, no doubt, 
to our less copious rainfalls, and also to frosts, which occur here both earlier 
and later than on the coast. Further west, as far as Roma and Mitchell, 
excellent crops of maize are being occasionally gathered, but it is not there 
either a reliable or a profitable crop. The millets and sorghums, which stand 
the drought better, should there supersede corn as fodder crops, whilst 
Jerusalem and especially Kafir corn should replace it as a seed crop. 
SOIL. 
Tt goes without saying that maize, like many other plants, does best on a 
deep, rich, friable alluvial loam, such as is to be found along the banks of 
most of our rivers; also on scrub land. But with good cultivation and proper 
care it will grow on a much greater variety of soils. During the last season 
the writer has grown @ very fair crop.on a rather poor stony ridge, which one 
would haye thought hardly capable of producing this sort of cereal. 
SEED.* 
Too much care cannot be bestowed on the selection of seeds. ‘They 
should not only be taken from the very best cobs, but also from the healthiest, 
strongest plants, which should be marked in the field before harvest. It pays 
also-to chop off top and bottom ends of cobs, and to sow only the large, even 
seeds from the middle of the cobs. In some districts kangaroo rats or birds 
pull up the corn when it is just emerging from the ground. I have had whole 
rows destroyed in that way. To prevent this, dilute a small bit of tar in 
water, soak and stir the seeds well in it, then drain off the water, and dry the 
seeds well by throwing a shovelful of powdered lime or ashes on them, shaking 
pil 
