524, QUEENSLAND AUKICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Drc., 1899. 
well explained whether the tissues of the plants are, so to say, cooked by the 
first rays of the sun falling on them, or whether perhaps, it is not the 
evaporation which increases the cold at that very moment. Anyhow, we know 
that the plants do not suffer when the thawing can be done artificially before 
the sun rays fall on them. Tor that purpose potted plants are brought under 
a shed and kept ina dark place for a day or two. Plants in the open can be 
covered with bags, bales, straw, cut gourds and calibashes, and where convenient 
they are simply covered with earth by running along the rows the Planet 
Junior, with themouldboards turned inside as indicated in my article on tomatoes, 
December, 1897. For large fields two men on foot or on horseback hold each 
one end of along rope or wire, and run it along the crop thus, shaking off the 
white frost from the plants. In that way whole fields of potatoes, Nepaul 
barley, and young tender wheats might have been saved on the Downs at the 
beginning of October. 
~ During’ the last winter I have tried here at Biggenden two other means, of 
which one, at least, succeeded remarkably well—water and powdered quicklime. 
On the Ist of July we had, on the Experiment Farm, 18 degrees of frost on 
the ground (19 degrees Fahr.) I saw that smoke would not be sufficient 
this time to save, amongst other things, a fine crop of tomatoes intended to be 
exhibited. a few days later at the Maryborough show. I first started sprinkling 
two rows with water. At first it acted well, the water instantly dissolving the 
white frost on the leaves. But the cold was so intense that the water very soon 
got frozen in its turn, the leaves becoming black and quite rigid. I then 
left the water alone, but put some quicklime into a thinly-woven bag and started 
dusting every plant all over until all the rows looked like as if they had just 
come out*of a flourmil]. Nota single plant perished, and nothing could be 
more pleasant to me than to see the astonished look of the visitors to the farm 
when finding, after such a sharp frost, whole rows of beautifully luxurant tomato 
plants loaded yrith magnificent fruit. They survived the whole winter, and at 
the moment of writing they are again covered with ripening fruits, whilst the 
young plants sown in the spring have not yet blossomed. 
The remedy is decidedly excellent, handy, and cheap. Keep it ready on 
your farm, and resort to it for all garden crops, for your vineyard, and young 
trees, acres of which can be thus saved by a man walking along the rows 
and shaking his quicklime bag. : 
Let us, then, never forget that if we cannot entirely suppress the ill effects 
of a frost, we can at least considerably minimise them by forethought, energy, 
and quick action. No dallying in bed on a frosty morning! An hour’s work 
before sunrise may be worth many pounds to a farmer, and, perhaps, millions 
to the whole colony. In the meantime, let us not be discouraged by the last 
calamity. Let us save what can be saved of fruit trees and vines, and haying 
turned into hay the injured wheat, let us then prepare without delay the land 
for other crops which are likely to have the benefit of a good coming season ; 
for in that lies the great advantage of Queensland over most other countries, 
that some sort of crops can be grown here all the year round. In most of the 
best agricultural countries of the world, if a crop has failed, which happens 
there at least as often as here, the farmer has to wait 12 months for another 
crop, whilst here, three or four months after the catastrophe, another crop is 
' ready for harvesting. 
To quote only one instance to the point: A few years ago a most destruc-. 
tive hailstorm completely annihilated the whole crop of a farmer well known to 
the writer of these lines. It was on the 20th of November. ‘The farm was in 
tip-top order, and every crop well advanced and promising. In twenty minutes 
everything was destroyed. ‘The vines and fruit trees were stripped of their 
leaves; thé corn chopped down; the potatoes, melons, and pumpkins cut level with 
the ground ; and some 8,000 or 10,000 heads of cabbages and cauliflowers were 
lying on the ground, chopped into small pieces. The farmer was a poor man, 
Working a rented place. Thé destroyed crops represented the whole of his 
assets, and, in fact, the daily bread of his large family. After examining the 
