I Noy., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 457 
of Richmond, when he presented two of the new implements to a farmers’ 
association in one of the English counties. After the expiration of one year, 
the plough was returned to the duke with the message—“ We be all 0’ the 
same opinion that it do make the weeds to grow !” What these good husbandmen 
would have said if they had seen a South Australian stump-jumper capering 
about in the most approved style over mallee stumps, stones, and ‘other 
obstructions, it is not easy to imagine. The stump-jump plough has this colony 
as its birthplace, and so popular has it become that few others are now used. 
There is more than one claimant for the honour of having introduced this 
exceedingly useful invention. It is contended on behalf of Mr. R. B. Smith, of 
Kalkabury, that his plough, “The Vixen,” made in June, 1876, was the pioneer. 
He registered his invention on 19th February, 1877. This secured him for 
twelve months, but, on account of the difficulties and expense attending the 
taking out of patents under the old Act, he did not apply for one. Mr. J. W. 
Stott, formerly of Alma, claims to have made the first practicable stump-jump 
plough, and has supplied a large number of these implements to farmers. Mr. 
Shapland is another who has urged his right to be considered the inventor of 
the principle. Messrs. Martin and Co., of Gawler, assert that they were the 
first to put the idea into practical form, and that they did so at the instance of 
Mr. Mullen, of Wasleys, the father of the process of scrub clearing known as 
“mullenizing.” No matter to whom the idea originally occurred, or whether it 
occurred to two or more at the same time, t : 
he stump-jump plough has, next to 
that of the stripper, been the most valuable invention in connection with the 
development of our agricultural industry. It is a coincidence that neither of 
these were patented, and that the public received the benefit of them without 
any deduction for royalties. Mr. R. B. Smith worked very hard at his idea, 
and it was unfortunate for him that his implement did not immediately achieve 
the success it subsequently obtained, as he would have then been encouraged to 
take advantage of the full protection of the Patent Act. In a letter he wrote 
later, he remarked somewhat pathetically :—‘‘ My invention has cost me some 
money, some anxiety, and condemned my little ones to all the miseries of poverty 
and banishment in the bush, whereas if I had been a successful cricketer, a good 
bowler, or a rifle shooter without pluck, a Blondin, or an acrobat, I and mine 
Would have escaped these ills.’ However, in 1882 Parliament provided some 
solatium for Mr, Smith in granting him a yote of £500. Perhaps no one has 
done more than Mr. C. H. Smith, of Ardrossan, to improve the stump-jumper, 
and make it the popular implement it is to-day ; and his new six-furrow stump- 
jumping plough is a marvel of ingenuity and good workmanship. Messrs. R. B. 
and C. H. Smith were working together in 1876, and it was from the interchange 
of ideas between the two brothers that the first stump-jumper is said to have 
originated. Certain itis that Mr. C. H. Smith is entitled to much credit for the 
present position which this implement occupies. The day of the single-furrow 
plough is past, and even two-furrow implements are now few and far between. ‘The 
nultiple plough, of light construction up to five, six, and even seven furrows, is 
becoming extremely popular, and promises to displace in part, at least, the 
scarifier. On this point Professor Lowrie observed in his last annual report :— 
“ Our leading farmers are satisfied that they get a better secd bed by the use of 
the multiple plough in place of the scarifier. On lands where the dandelion or 
vape weed is plentiful, it will be found far superior to the scarifier as a means 
of cleaning the fallows in autumn, and, indeed, wherever there is a growth of 
Yegetation fairly established, and especially in damp weather, the scarifier is not 
init with the multiple plough.” The improvements which South Australian 
manufacturers have effected in the plough, and its kindred cultivators, the 
Scarifier and harrows, must have cheapened the cost of cultivation very con- 
siderably. The introduction of the seedsower, which has displaced the old 
laborious process of hand-seeding, has also saved valuable time, and secured 
sreater efficiency. Messrs. May Brothers and Co. and other makers have 
introduced improvements which render it a more desirable implement than the 
American article, , 
