1 Ave., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 181 
The Bundaberg prices are as follow :— 
£ 
v. 
2-inch tiles, at per 1,000 ate ee ee 2 5 0 
3-inch i tf he qa ae a Ee) 
4-inch 9 ” oH ea, aa 0) 
6-inch ¥ 10 0 0 
; +) ne bp Nx 
Striking an average over a broad area, about 12 chains of tile drains go to the 
acre, at a cost of nearly 8s. per chain, or a fraction under £5 per acre. This includes 
cost of supervision, &c. In looking at these figures you will see that draining is a 
costly undertaking, and it is not to be wondered that so little has been done on the 
agricultural lands of Queensland. The area underdrained with tiles at Bingera is 850 
acres. 
I will now mention some of the re. 
with tiles. 
There is much land that has an excessive amount of moisture. 
and wet for weeks, and even months, and ridge it wp in 
remain wet and cold. Now, often there is much time wasted on land of this sort, and 
not only so, but only too often a small harvest is the return for the labour that has 
been expended on the ground. 
Now, I know for a fact that ground of this kind can be cured by under-draining, 
and the crops very much increased, with a less amount of labour thereafter. [ have 
had that class of land to deal with on Bingera, and with such treatment it is now giving 
a return equal to that on any other part of the plantation. 
A second great advantage of tile draining is that the water furrows are done away 
with, making the land more convenient to work and reducing the cost of weeding very 
considerably, as anyone with a practical knowledge of working land will readily 
admit. 
A third important reason for tile draining is that the land is alw 
convenient way for the removal of the crop; particularly is this the ca 
cane. 
The fourth is Penis a more important reason than any of the preceding: It is 
that in Queensland our best growing season is during the months of January, February, 
and March. During these 3 months the rainfall is usually very great. Our crops on 
undrained land suffer very much at times by these heavy rains filling up the space 
in the soil previously occupied by air. Now, this condition is highly unfavourable to 
the growth of such a crop as sugar-cane. It is necessary, then, that the excess of 
moisture be removed as soon as possible, otherwise the surplus water in the soil will 
yery soon check the growth of the cane, and we all know that the growth of the cane 
should not be allowed to stop at that time of the year. 
In tiled drained ground the water in the soil is speedily reduced, only a sufficiency 
of water being left in the soil caleulated to promote the healthy growth of the crop, 
and for its maintenance from one rainfall to another, thereby insuring a luxuriant 
growth and a consequent increase in the weight of the crop. ‘here is also a marked 
increase in the quality of the juice. Our chemist has analyses of cane grown on drained 
land from 16 per cent. to as high as 21 per cent., and on undrained land adjoining, and 
other conditions being identical, the analyses have only ranged from 12 per cent. to 15 
r cent. Thesé figures alone are proof enough of the advantages of effective tile 
rainage. 
I do not know of anything more that I can say to add weight to the few remarks 
T have just made. Like myself, most present here are interested in agriculture in a 
practical way, and what I have contributed at this session is as much for the purpose 
of suggesting inquiry as for affording information. T will conclude my address by 
expressing a hope that what I have just said may in some way be of service to the 
farming community. 
asons why land should be drained preferably 
It remains cold 
any way you please it will still 
ays in a more 
se with sugar- 
At the conclusion of his paper, Mr. Grpson referred to the difficulty he and 
his neighbours at Doughboy Creek had in the early days with a settler who 
possessed the creek frontage, and who refused to allow the drain to follow its 
natural course into the creek through his property. Hvery effort was made 
to obtain permission from this settler, but without avail, and the drain had 
ultimately to find its way into the ereek by a long and expensive detour. Mr. 
Gibson considered there should bea Drainage Act in force in the colony by which 
individuals of this nature would not be allowed to stand in the way of their 
neighbours carrying out necessary drainage works. 
