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 1Dzc., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 523 
tendeney to grow bushy—that is, to emit a lot of small, thin, and stunted 
shoots. If you leave matters in that state you will not only rob yourself of 
this year's crop, but compromise also the crops of succeeding years. Keep 
tubing off carefully those useless shoots, leaving only three or She in suitable 
_ places to reshape the vine stock and give you a good material for the following 
_ years’ pruning. 
ow, about plants growing close to the ground. 
Tt has been remarked that a small rise of the soil gives a considerable 
eon to delicate plants. Taking advantage of that fact, the writer of these 
tines has planted successfully potatoes and other delicate erops as early as July in 
some of the coldest places of the colony, such as Roma and Westbrook. The plan 
isto plant or sow at the bottom of a drill 6 or 7 inches deep, usually opened with 
the plough, and to cover slightly with a couple of inches of earth on y. Asthe 
plant grows, bring more earth towards it, and let it fully develop only when all 
_ danger of frost isover. This method of planting (which I can also recommend 
forthe spring crops of maize and sorghums in the dry districts of the colony) 
 isnotonly an excellent safeguard against frost, but ‘it helps also greatly to 
_ ounteract the effects of a drought. ‘The plant is practically hilled up, though 
the land remains flat. This protects the roots from sun heat, and keeps the 
_ taoisture in the ground much more effectively than the old method of hi ing 
up potatoes and maize. 
: Do not limit yourself to the above preventive means, good as they are, At 
_ the slightest sign of a frost, rise up early—say between 4 and 5 a.am.—and start 
_ atonee making smoke with anything handy, such as wood heaps covered with 
n Jeayes'or grass, old cornstalks, old, useless, and, if possible, wetted straw, 
i » ‘Tar is still better, as it gives a thick dark smoke, forming an excellent 
_ protection, and it is not expensive either. You will remark that at sunrise 
_ there is usually a change of direction in the light morning breeze. It will be 
“sometimes sufficient to take your artificial cloud away just at the time when it 
is most wanted, and carry it to your lazy neighbour, whose crops are thus saved 
_ whilst he is sound asleep in his bed. To obviate that inconvenience, take three 
_ light boards, make of them a small hand sledge, cover it with some sheet-iron, fix 
_ 6m it an old oil drum with a small opening on one side towards the bottom, such 
_ as plumbers use to heat their soldering irons. Put in it a good provision of 
rs and charcoal, and on them anything smeared with tar, such as corn-cobs, 
chaff, straw, &c. Now draw your sledge on the side of the field where it is 
_ wanted. In less than half-an-hour you will find that the whole country— 
especially if it is a hollow, a plain, or the bottom of a valley—is covered with a 
fine artificial cloud, hanging like a horizontal curtain at a small distance from 
_ the soil. This will be perfectly sufficient to prevent any damage from frost as 
long as the thermometer does ‘not fall below 5 or 6 degrees of frost on the 
— ground. In Switzerland, where solidarity and co-operation are more developed — 
_ than in these colonies, it is not unusual to see the municipal corporations, or 
_ what we would call here the divisional boards, prepare in advance burning 
materials at given places, and have them lighted as soon as the thermometer 
drops to a certain degree. By that means the vineyards and other 
_faluable crops of whole parishes—nay, of whole districts—are saved 
from destruction. Here in Queensland, nine times out of ten, that 
_ simple and inexpensive means would be suflicient to save our crops where 
‘the thermometer very seldom falls below a few degrees of frost. I have used it 
successfully nearly every year for the last ten or twelve years, and at the 
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moment of writing I have before me a letter informing me that on my own farm, 
in the Roma district, the crops have again been saved by it during the last frost, 
“whilst nearly every other place in the district has more or less suffered. I read 
also in the Australasian that Mr. Dubois, the energetic viticulturist of the 
Dookie College, in Victoria, has saved his vines by it. 
_ Should the thermometer fall below 6 degrees of frost, that is, below 26 
degrees Fahr., we should not avow ourselves beaten yet. As is well known, it 
isnot so much the frost as the thawing which does the harm. Tt is not yet quite 
