1 Jan., 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 61 
DEPTH AT WHICH TO SOW WHEAT. 
An English experiment as to how deep grains of wheat will sprout and come up 
disclosed the fact that out of 50 grains deposited 8 inches deep, only two came 
Up, and these formed no heads. When covered 5 inches, 10 out of 50 came up, 
but the heads were not perfect. All that were planted 3 inches deep came up, 
but the best results came from the grain that had been deposited 2 inches in 
ae Still, depth of covering is very largely a question of the character of the 
ei) 
SHORT V. LONG SILAGE. 
Strage should not be eut too short. There are certain lengths at which it is 
Igested more easily than at other lengths. Some years ago, at a convention 
held in Wisconsin, an investigator made a report on the kind of feed that was 
found to be easiest digested by cows. He had examined a number of cows’ 
Stomachs, and had also fed silage and cut corn fodder to cows, and noticed at 
What lengths least of it showed in the droppings. He found that when the 
suder was cut short, say }-inch long, much of it appeared in the droppings ; 
ut that when the fodder was cut 12 inch long, it all seemed to be digested. 
TNOCULATING THE SOIL. 
Tur Australian Pastoralist says:—The Alabama Experiment Station (America) 
4s made some experiments in this line with astonishingly good effect. Four 
lots of one-fortieth of an acre in extent were experimented with, the crop sown 
>eing the hairy vetch. ‘The soil was of a poor nature, and was manured at the 
Tate of 400 Ib. of superphosphate and 120 lb. of sulphate of potash per acre, no 
litrogenous manure being applied. ‘Two of the plots were inoculated with the 
Mtragin cultivation in addition to the manures, while the other two plots 
received only the superphosphate and sulphate of potash. The process of soil 
Moculation was carried out in the following way:—Some earth was taken from 
ey lawn belonging to a garden, which for several years previously had grown 
“‘uxuriant crops of the common vetch, and which was consequently rich in 
itroven-fixing bacteria, and of this a solution was made in water. In this 
Solution seeds of the hairy vetch were steeped before sowing. All the plots were 
Cut on the same day, but the produce of two only—an inoculated one and an 
Unnoculated one—were weighed. ‘The uninoculated plot yielded 900 Ib. green 
Th we which produced 232 Ib. dried hay ; while the inoculated plot yielded 9,136 
*. green forage, which produced 2,540 Ib. dried hay, being nearly ten times as 
Much of the produce of the uninoculated plot. ‘The cost of inoculating was 
ound to be a little less than 9s. per acre. 
VINES AND FROST. 
{Xros 6 that will avert danger to vines and fruit trees from late ground frosts 
a of Interest. It has been confidently asserted and reasserted, after trials 
ee in California, that spraying the stems and branches of vines and fruit trees 
ith any kind of whitewash will delay growth from a fortnight to four weeks. 
a b maintained that early growth is controlled not so much by soil temperature 
+h re the action of the warm air on the stem and branches of the plants, and 
fe at by the application of air-slacked lime or whitening to those parts the heat 
tadiated, so that the awakening from the winter sleep is retarded for the 
Period above mentioned. 
DROUGHT-RESISTING GRASS. 
m 
a ® Secretary of the Agricultural Department of the United States has recently 
ane making efforts to discover a drought-resisting grass suitable. for the more 
en regions of that country, and has succeeded in finding a variety that stood 
8 Months of drought. The grass is Bromus inermis. It comes from the 
&ppes of Russia. Experiments made in California showed that it withstood. 
