1 Ocr., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 333 
Agriculture, 
WHAT CAN BE DONE ON A SMALL FARM. 
Tue Tenterfield Star gives the following instance of practical farming taken 
from the Gulgong Advertiser :—* At Guntawang last year Mr, Rouse planted 
200 acres with wheat. In August and September he turned in 1,500 sheep, and 
fattened them for the market off the young wheat. In December he had the 
whole mowed and stacked. In January he threshed the stack. The result was 
33 bushels of first-class grain per acre, and 200 tons of straw. Putting the extra 
value of sheep at 1s. 6d. per head, the ground yielded £112 10s. for this item. 
The grain sold at 2s. 6d. per bushel—£950. The straw as it now stands is 
worth £175. Thus the total amount this 200 acres returned ‘last year was 
£1,137 10s.; or nearly £6 per acre.” 
There appears to be an error in the cash return for the grain. Thirty-three 
bushels per acre means 6,600 bushels on 200 acres. The selling price being 
2s. 6d. per bushel, the value would £825 instead of £950, a difference of £125. 
However, even with this deduction the 209 acres returned £1,012 10s. Tt 
would have added much to the interest of this paragraph had Mr. Rouse shown 
what expenses were incurred in obtaining such a good result. 
We have occasionally been asked how a man can make a living on 160 
acres in Queensland. ‘The answer to that is——It depends upon the man’s energy 
and knowledge of his business; the working ~power ‘of his family, the seasons, 
and the distance of the land from an accessible market. 
A correspondent of the Agricullural Gazette of New South Wales Says :— 
* From about 14 acres of nixed farming and gardening and 26 acres of grazing 
land, making up a total of 40 acres, with from 15 to 20 colonies of bees, and 
rearing a few pigs, I have had results that I consider (for such seasons as we 
are having) quite satisfactory—realising from £100 to £150 per annum.” 
Now, a small farmer who clears £150 per annum may be classed amongst 
the happy men of the earth. THe calls no man master. He lives comfortably, 
pays no rent, pays his way, has a healthy if laborious life, and takes his 
oceasional holiday with his family without asking anyone’s permission. Of 
course, farming is not all ‘‘ beer and skittles.” 
Droughts, floods, plant diseases, and insect pests help to reduce the yearly 
income; but, on the whole, a steady, hard-working farmer, with a steady, 
hard-working wife and family, on good land within easy distance of a market, 
is not the man who often figures in the insolvent court. 
He is a privileged growler; ruin is always staring him in the face ; the 
season is always too wet or too dry, too hot or too cold, but, in spite of-all this, 
he manages to come out reasonably well at the year’s end, 
Now, we give here some experiences of small farming in Queensland. The 
figures are facts, being taken from the farm-books kept at the time ; and although 
prices are, in some instances, lower than they were in our experience between 
the years 1861 and 1872, still there is a good lesson to be learnt from them. 
In those “ good old days” men did not go in for large farms ; 60 acres was 
considered a good handy farm, especially when most of the land was deep, rich 
serub soil on the banks of a river. There were no roads, except what the 
farmer made himself ; therefore horses and drays were not required. The river 
was the road, a boat the vehicle of transport, and the farmer and his sons or 
hired man the motive power. 
