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1 Nov., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAND. ~ 453 
PIONEER DIFFICULTIES. 
It is impossible to realise the exact degree of topsyturveydom which South 
Australian conditions presented to those who had come fresh from the classic 
seat of agricultural achievement—Great Britain. There, Nature was coaxed by 
the application of manures, rotation cropping; labour was plentiful and cheap ; 
and the market certain and fairly remunerative. Here the soil had only to be 
tickled with a hoe and it gave forth an abundant harvest ; but labour was so 
scarce that many found it impossible to thoroughly gather their crops ; and even 
when the grain was recovered, markets and prices were exasperatingly uncertain. 
The climax was reached in the harvest of 1842. In 1888 a crop of wheat from 
about 20 acres was gathered. ‘Vhis was grown within the city. In the following 
year about 120 acres was cropped, and yielded 25 bushels to the acre. In 1840 
the area was 1,059 acres; in 1841, 4,154 acres ; and in 1842, 14,000 acres. ‘The 
harvesting of the latter was a serious problem, seeing that it had to be done by 
- primitive methods, and there was but a handful of people available. To augment 
the available supply of men, the soldiers stationed here were required to lay 
down their swords and take up sickles. The increased demand for harvesters 
sent up the wages to 15s. and 20s. per acre for reaping alone; and as 1s. per 
bushel was paid for threshing, the harvesting charges totalled £2 per acre for a 
20-bushel crop. : 
In his “ Karly Experiences of Life in South Australia,” the late Mr. F. W. 
Bull describes his troubles in connection with his 1842 harvest: —“ My crop was 
in condition for hand-reaping before the end of December, but I could not 
procure reapers before the 24th, as men had been earning large wages on the 
plains. On that day I was able to induce five men to accompany me, and I 
conveyed them to the farm. I did not allow them to work on Christmas Day, 
but they had Christmas fare. 1 engaged to give them 15s. and one bottle of 
rum an acre, with rations. The crop was dead ripe, the heads drooping with 
the weight of the plump grain. On the 25th a fiery hot wind was blowing, and 
continued on the following day, when I expected the reapers to start work. 
But they were missing. I found them at the nearest grog-shop. After some 
trouble I got them away to start work on the following morning. Before a 
Sickle was put into the crop, the loss in shed wheat was over a bushel to the 
acre, and a further loss necessarily followed in harvesting.” Mr, Bull goes on 
to detail how, in carting his wheat to Adelaide, one bullock, for which he gave 
£20, was killed; and when the grain found a buyer he received 4s, a bushel for 
some, and 3s. 6d. for the remainder. % 
THE GENESIS OF THE STRIPPER, 
The position at this stage is well described by the late Mr. Francis Dutton, 
in his ‘South Australia and its Mines,” written in 1846. He said :—“ The 
farmers all knew that the land would grow corn in abundance; but they put in 
their grain with fear and trembling, not knowing but that, when, the crops 
Were ripe, the half of them might be shed before they could get sufficlent hands 
to veap them.” How this difficulty was overcome by the invention of the 
stripper—how the cost of harvesting was reduced to about one-eighth of its 
previous sum—are matters of recorded, if forgotten, history. Certainly, no 
'yention or adaptation in connection with our agricultural machinery has 
produced anything like such wholesale beneficent results, or has had such an 
Important bearing upon production, as did this snatching of the stripper from 
the silver sea of thought! Rarely, if ever, has the truth of the philosophic 
Phrase, “ Necessity, the mother of invention,” been more completely exempli- 
fied. It will not be out of place here to briefly refer to the birth and infancy 
of this labour-saving machine. According to Mr. Bull, a sort of club had beet 
formed of town gentlemen, who, with farmers, used to dine together at Payne’s 
Hotel, afterwards known as the Exchange Hotel, Hindley street, and here dis: 
cussions on agricultural subjects were introduced. Out of this gathering a 
committee was formed, called the “Corn Exchange Committee.” — The 
necessity of some contrivance to aid producers in harvesting haying 
