their hurdy-gurdies could do in a week. Then look at the convenience 2” 
80 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Frs., 1900. 
performed by bullock power, it had to be done with a villainous-lookt 
contrivance called a flail. This weapon consisted of two 5-feet sticks 
endways together by a piece of greenhide, rope, or wire. The operator held @ 
to one stick and swung the other wildly around his head in a manner calculaté 
to endanger his own life or that of anyone within a chain of him. At inte 
the revolving stick would be brought down with a sounding whack on ™ 
unoffending sheaf or anything else within reach. Sometimes when tl! 
machinery was in full swing the coupling strap would break and the fartherm® 
stick would soar off with a velocity that meant death or destruction to anythilt 
that obstructed its onward flight. If the threshing were being done ina barn, tlt 
escaping missile usually went out through the roof, but if in the open air the 
the Lord only knew where it went. Another method of threshing was to li 
down a log and batter the sheaves on that till the grain was all knocked out 
the ears and almost out of sight. | 
After messing and battering the grain about with cattle and sticks till i 
was pretty well the colour of the earth from whence it came, what could hf 
found of it would be scraped into heaps, and then it was no easy thing 
separate stones, earth, and chaff from the wheat. | Winnowing ‘machines wel 
few and far apart, slow to work, plenteous in noise, and of a description th 
would not now be allowed or tolerated in the harvest field. When the clean! 
had been accomplished it was not always an easy matter to get the wheat 
market. The roads were long and not as good as they might have been, 2™ 
railways were scarcely thought of. 
The prices then obtained were not more satisfactory than now, for, the" 
being no cable communication with lands across the sea, the farmer did 2% 
always feel satisfied that he was getting the full value for his wheat. If offer 
15s. a bushel he thought he ought to have 20s., and so he really ought, for } 
was well worth that amount to grow it as he had to do. ; 
In those oft-regretted days the weather was supposed to have been undé 
Divine contro], and not regulated by barometers and mettorologists; 
seasons are said to have been less variable than now. More rain and wetteh 
sunshine more shiny, louder thunder, forkeder lightning, warmer frosts, blu 
moonlight, bigger stars, higher whirlwinds, more Sundays, and no red ru 
takeall, alien hawkers, insurance agents, or tax collectors. Yes; these wel 
the good old days that we so often hear about! But as settlement increase! 
district councils were formed, roads made, bridges built, and railways extende! 
throughout the length and breadth of the land. ‘Travelling was made eas) 
postal arrangements greatly improved, and modern appliances everywhe 
brought into use. Horses took the place of bullocks, the old wooden ploug 
and harrow made way for lighter, speedier, and more effective implemen! 
The scythe and reap hook disappeared before the mower and stripper. Labow” 
saving machinery was introduced wherever practicable, and so men’s knowledg! 
and opportunities increased ; so also did their requirements. Larger areas wel! 
Woustid under cultivation, and larger returns secured, but never large enoug 
to satisfy expectations or requirements. What satisfied men a few years 
would be considered positive hardship now. But’twas ever thus: the more 
have the more we want, and the more we know the more dissatisfied W 
become. Who now would really like to go back to those old works and way* 
especially on a farm? What sort of a figure would the old-time farm 
cut in these days of keen competition, low prices, and bad seasons ? 
cost of labour alone would be more than he could produce. In the swe 
gone-by it would have taken about 16 men and boys, 48 bullocks, 2 
eight ploughs to turn over as much land in a day as can now be done by 0! 
stout lad with six horses and a six-furrow plough. The same lad with thr! 
horses and a stripper will take off as much crop ina day as could be done }I 
about 40 stalwart reaphook men; while three men with the latest improve 
winnower would clean as much wheat in one day as six old-timers with two 
— 
facilities for getting produce to market. Instead of being a week or more 
