24. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Working a Small Farm. 
With the high price of land, and the 
relatively low prices for produce, it be- 
hoved small holders to work their land to 
the best possible advantage. While he 
must get his work done as cheaply as 
possible, he thought it a great mistake for 
the small holder to depend upon hi® 
neighbour for the use of drill or binder. 
There was a right time to get a crop in 
and off, and unless the farmer owns his 
own implements, he cannot do this, He 
may prepare his land well, and be anxious 
to sow early, but is unable to get a drill - 
or his crop may be ready to cut, but the 
binder cannot be obtained for a week. 
Under such circumstances the farmer 
cannot get the best results. One or two 
seasons’ losses on a small area wou'd pay 
for the cost of the necessary machines, It 
was a mistake to grow the same class of 
crop year after year. If wheat is sown 
one year, put in oats the next, and follow 
with peas or fallow. In a district like 
this, where the holdings are so small, it 
will not pay to fallow too often; once in 
three or four years was sufficient. A crop 
of peas manured with bonedust will put 
the Jandin good condition for a hay 
crop, peas do well here, and there is a 
ready demand for them. He considered 
bonedust better than superphosphate in 
this district; the latter seemed to exhaust 
the land after a few applications, Peas 
should also be planted in rotation with 
potatoes; if the latter are planted year 
after year, the land seems to get stale, 
‘ whereas after peas the soilisimproved, and 
works much better. An important factor 
in working the farm was a good team of 
horses. In this district, where most of 
the laud is hilly and hard to work, a 
farmer will get along much better with a 
team of good young, active, horses instead 
of older animals. The younger horses do 
the work easier and keep in fair condition 
“where old horses get poor, unless they get 
better feeding and attention. The farmer 
should, therefore, breed one or two foals 
each year; the feed consumed will not be 
missed, and the horses will be ready to 
take their places in the team as the others 
yet old. Asmall flock of sheep is of 
advantage; they will clean up the stubble 
much better than horses or cattle, bring in 
a fair income, and manure the land.— 
Paper by Mr. E. Scheidow, of th® 
Clarendon Branch Agricultural Bureau. 
Another Drought Predicted. 
Mr. Clement Wragge, who, while 
Government Meteorologist in this State 
achieved a reputation for his accurate 
weather forecasts, and although at present 
ona lecturing tour in India, does not 
forget his old friends in Queensland, but 
occasionally gives thema friendly warning 
as to the future seasons. In March 
1906, he wrote to the London ‘Standard,’ 
- foretelling another drought, and ended his 
letter as follows:— 
‘Now is the time for Australians to 
wake up and lock the rivers for water 
conservation and irrigation. Better so 
than trying to keep out the Japanese. 
For ancther Australian dronght will 
attach to the next solar minimum after 
1910 as surely as little apples fall in 
autumn. Laughing and ridicule will 
never alter fact, and Galileo’s spirit will] 
bear full witness.’ 
A’few weeks ago he returned to the 
charge, and has declared that the rainfall 
in Australia will now fall off, but he gives 
the comforting assurance that the coming 
drought will not be so severe as the 
last. 
Will farmers and dairy farmers seriously 
consider the probability of another 
recurrence of the drought, which, owing 
mainly to the neglect to conserve the 
superabundant fodder of previous fat 
seasons, entailed such ruinous loss upon 
the improvident ones? The silo should be 
in evidence on every farm, and now is the 
time to prepare for the inevitable. By 
and by it will be useless to call upon 
Jupiter for help. 
—Queensland ‘ Agricultural Journal.’ 
Robert Hill, 
Chaff and Grain Merchant 
64 CURRIE STREET, Adelaide. 
Bran, Pollard, Oats, Wheat 
Chick Meal, and all kinds of 
Poultry Food 
AT LOWEST MARKET RATES. 
Telephone 1250, 
February 1, 1909 
Miscellaneous Items. 
Rye came from Siberia 
ats originated in North Africa. 
The most of a horse’s muscle is in the. 
hind quarters. 
The Canadian farmer works from 
twelve to sixteen hours a day in the busy 
season, 
The potato industry is an important 
money-making industry when lvoked 
after properly. 
The lay of the old speckled hen is more 
inspiring to the farmer than the lay of 
the spring poet. 
A great many of the ills which horse. 
flesh is heir to are to be attributed to. 
injudicious feeding, 
Free exercise and a varied diet will aid 
materially to give to pigs the streak of 
fat so much desired. 
Young pigs pay better than old ones’ 
for the feed they eat, and they make the 
best hams and breakfast bacon. 
Ifa diet of milk and wheat middlings 
is fed to young breeding sows they will 
grow rapidly and will not fatten. 
A pebble in your shoe will give you a 
fair idea of how a horse will feel with a 
sore under any part of the harness. 
As a rule young sows have fewer pigs 
in a litter, and cannot give them so good 
a frame to put fat and growth upon, 
The agricultural value of 
superphosphate is dependant on its per- 
centage of phosphate of lime soluble in 
water, 
effective 
‘Like master, like man,’ is a true pro- 
verb, and if a farmer is heedless about. 
the care of his implements it is very 
unlikely that the men will trouble them- 
selves. 
Farmers desiring mules should bear in 
mind that the larger the mule the better,. 
other things being equal, and thata male- 
and female should be paired to have a 
pleasant working team. 
A New Zealand farmer has a ewe that 
has had 16 lambs in five seasons, and all 
but two were successfully reared. The 
series were two, two, five, two, and five. 
The ewe is now ten years old. 
