356 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1899. 
PRESERVING MELONS. 
At the same time 1 acre of poor soil was sown with preserving melons. 
The drills were drawn 14: feet apart, and two seeds were dropped in holes at 
distances of 6 feet. The holes were not worked, as in the case of the pumpkins, 
as it was not considered necessary. The result was :— 
Gish ka, 
Ploughing, sowing, harrowing, rolling, &c.  ... Lene, 
Harvesting and carting to station—33 tons 
at 2s. he es pe is at 3.6 0 
Freight ... a ii 4 ae ms 612 0 
asilik G8 
Cash received for 33 tons at 18s. = sr 29 14 0 
Less cost of crop ree, a iy H. ink Sy 
Profit per acre ah ro cae or: Seem OnO 
From this it would appear that it would pay a farmer well to grow a few 
acres of preserving or pie waBlente as they are called in this colony. But, asa 
matter of fact, such a crop would not pay for carriage here. ‘They may be 
seen rotting in many fields, simply because it will not pay the fatmer to send 
them to market. t is true that at times there is a certain demand for them at 
a fair price, and last year a quantity was imported from the south. We know 
that from £4 10s. to £6 per ton has been paid of late, but it does not follow 
that such is a usual price, or even that a market at any price could be found if 
large quantities were brought in. The railway freight on melons is 18s. 9d. per 
ton for 100 miles in full trucks, and 2s. 6d. for ten miles. With the price at 
£4 or even £3 per ton, there would appear to be a great deal of money in 
preserving melons when, as has been shown, 33 tons can be grown per acre. 
But it stands to reason that such an enormous profit is delusive, and could only 
be made on a very small quantity, and then only when the market is bare of sue 
produce. At present the price of pie melons is 30s. per ton, and the demand 
1s not excessive. 
THE PRINCIPLES OF SHEEP-BREEDING. 
; - No. 4. 
ANIMAL HAIR GENERALLY. 
By J. 8S. HERMANN SCHMIDT. 
THE most important products of the skin, however, and the most interesting 
to the woolgrower, are those horny elements called hair or wool. The various 
kinds of hairy covering of the skin might be divided into feathers, bristles, hair 
roperly speaking, and wool hair. I purposely avoid here the term ‘‘wool fibre,” 
ecause it is liable to mislead those uninitiated. Fibres are fine slender products 
of the animal and vegetable kingdom, the result of certain changes and combina- 
tions of primitive cells, and constitute whole tissues. A single wool hair, how- 
ever, being composed of fibres, cannot well be called a fibre itself. Wool is 
therefore a fine, tender, animal hair, the product of the skin. The wool and the 
down of sheep, goats, and some fur-bearing animals, as well as the fine downy 
hair of the human body, belong all to the same class. We shall see directly in 
what ‘respect they differ from hair properly speaking. The history of the origin 
and the development of hair and wool have been made the subject of extensive 
inquiry. Cuyier has found that the elements of every hair which the skin is 
likely to produce are fully developed during the foetal (intra-uteral) existence of 
the animal—z.e., before it is born. This discovery is of the greatest interest to 
the woolgrower. We know at present that the skin of every individual will - 
