1 Ava., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 123: 
dying, and we are warned solemnly against using cow peas. First of all, it may be- 
Bitsetan that this cane is dying from want of cow pea and other manures... Cow 
peas have been planted here for years, and it is possible where you plough them 
- in, or where you plough in trash, that you make an attractive seedbed for the: 
cockchafer, and in that place the cockchafer will lay its eggs. The result will 
be that the place is full of grubs, but it is not because the cow pea is there, but 
because you have made a nice spot for the female to deposit its eggs. The: 
discussion has been satisfactory to us in one way at any rate. We have been 
told the Agricultural Department did some service when it introduced the cow 
pea. When out at Taroom the other day I found the cow pea there used as a. 
vegetable ; in fact, it was practically the universal vegetable of that dry region. 
Now, some of the representatives from the Bundaberg district spoke strongly 
on the need of agricultural chemists, the necessity for the analyses of soils, and. 
about spending money in buying manures in the dark. It is funny the members 
who spoke did not seem to realise that we have already an exceedingly able- 
chemist in the service of the Government, a man whose life has been practically 
devoted to agricultural chemistry ; that his services are placed at the disposal of 
farmers and others who wish to have their goils analysed, at a price which is. 
not in excess of one-fourth of the actual cost of the analysis. I think thos. 
who desire to have soils analysed should remember this It is true it may be: 
said that the Agricultural Department should analyse soils for nothing, but in 
that case it might keep a staff of from fifty t 
) © sixty chemists, and then never’ 
be able to keep pace with the work. For you must remember that the analysis 
of a soil is not the same as the assay of a bit of stone. Some analyses. 
will cost as much as £50, and the average not less than from £8 to. 
£10 if properly done. Now the Department is saying that it will do. 
them for from 2 to 8 guineas. That is a fourth of what they cost, and 
I am surprised to hear gentlemen say that it is time we got decent agricultural 
chemists. With regard to the proposal made by the Bundaberg delegates about. 
the establishment of a station in their district, I may say that is a matter that. 
has been on foot for some time past. The Isig people last year proposed to find 
£250 a year, but Bundaberg now proposes to find something like £1,200—that, 
I believe, is the amount—towards the establishment of a station. If they 
complete that offer, it is certainly very liberal of them. But, mind you, I think 
the sugar industry itself deserves some sort of Government assistance of this. 
description. We have, or have had, experts for ever 
1 ‘Or y possible industry in the: 
colony except sugar, I think. We have @ yiticulturist, a tobacco expert, and 
we previously had a gentleman skilled in the same product. We keep a. 
large staff to advise on the comparatively small fruit industry, but up to 
the present the sugar-grower has had to get 
along as best he can. The 
Bundaberg Nagel now, however, ask that we should assist in giving adyice- 
as to how t 
ney may help themselves. That is a most creditable position 
to take up; and we now propose to enter into communication with Mr.. 
Maxwell, the head of the laboratory in Honolulu, and the most successful 
_ agricultural chemist in the world. We are proposing to ask him—and_ he: 
is a gentleman in receipt of an extremely large sal 
over here and give us advice on what we should do in order to increase: 
the fertility of our soils, especially of those used for sugar. We cannot read. 
the accounts of the production of sugar in other countries without feeling 
ashamed that the Queensland sugar-grower is so far behind the rest of the 
world in sugar production. When we hear of the crops produced, say under: 
Mr. Maxwell’s expert direction in Honolulu, amounting to 10 and 11 tons of 
sugar per acre; when we read of Java’s 6 tons anda little over, or an average for: 
the whole island of 4 tons per acre ; and remember that Queensland produces. 
something like an average of 80 ewt. per acre—I think our sugar-growers may 
well feel ashamed of themselves. Of course land is dear in those places, and 
they have got to put brains into it in order to get a profitable return out of it. 
Land is cheaper here, but cheap land is coming to an end. There is a limit of 
distance over which it is payable to haul cane, and tramways are going out such 
ary—if he will come: 
