ey ommynl RFE! Ny | Len | 
May, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 343 
a. ( CONCLUSION. 
_ bike the potato, the tomato plant will not thrive in a wet or swampy soil, 
ier is excessive moisture at any time a blessing. It delights in a well- 
ined friable, easily worked soil abounding in potash salts. It may not be 
= 4 fpooly known that tomatoes are excellent things for cleaning metal with, and 
ait he out stains, &c., due to the potash absorbed by the fruits from the soil. 
| Feculd suppose, too, that it is the potash they contain that accounts for their 
| _‘ellent action on the system, at least to a considerable extent. It is, therefore, 
|" excellent mediciné and delicious food, far too little understood and 
| PPreciated in this country, and should, I venture to think, be recommended 
| ha extended in its culture everywhere, seeing, as I have endeavoured to show, 
tit could be produced on the plains above all places in quantity and quality, 
| tna ty, fax from being a non-profitable crop if the best form of culture is 
| understood. 
1 oy [It has been recommended by Queensland growers to erect a framework 
} “the plant, cover this with wire netting, and train the plant through the 
j pees. The fruit will then lie on the netting, which should be about 18 inches 
| —e the ground.—Ed. Q.4.J.] 
. 5 Seers = 103 1b,; 1 Maund = 25 lb. ; 1 Rupee = 1s. 44d; 1 Anna = Id. 
PICKLING WHEAT. 
| ‘Sour Avstrattan farmer says :—Having during the last four years watched 
| tha closely the effect of pickling wheat asa preventive of bunt, lam conyinced 
1,1 © receive the full benefit of pickling it is necessary to pickle at least a 
| by efore sowing, to allow the wheat to thoroughly dry, and to give the 
| teaver’ time to kill the germ of the smut before the wheat is sown; for I 
| par that sowing wheat before it is thoroughly dry causes bunt rather than 
Tan €nts it, for I have never seen bunt in wheat that has been allowed to stand 
Piegpth after pickling before sowing, even though the crops around it were 
T the Y affected. Three years ago two farmers adjoining me bought wheat out of 
|, me stack, and sowed it at the same time under exactly the same conditions, 
: y that one farmer pickled a month before sowing while the other only a few 
7 Hig, vith the result that when harvest time came the crop where the seed was 
| et ‘Some time before sowing was perfectly free from smut, while the crop 
Ted Was only pickled a few days before sowing was very badly affected. As Stein- 
4,22! seems much inclined to smut, it needs pickling much oftener. I have 
tr " growing Steinwedel since 1891, and I have always pickled with the 
stion of one year, in 1898. I did not then pickle, and what I grew that 
q Houde’ fully one-third smut. Now, several said if I sowed smutty wheat I 
1. Stow smut, but I pickled it six weeks before sowing, with the result that 
| °° a crop perfectly free from it. 
1y POTATO HXPERIMENTS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
Aug WW. Summers, Inspector of Fertilisers, writes as follows in the South 
“talian Journal of Agriculture :— 
in List season several of our public school teachers carried out experiments 
© cultivation of potatoes under suggestions from the writer, in some cases 
the ead manure being supplied by the Department of Agriculture. Owing to 
ten ty weather in October and November, and the dryness following, the 
the te, Were not altogether satisfactory, but a few notes from reports of two of 
Sachers will be of interest. ; 
b a5 T. G. Roberts, of Aldgate School, had about ten manured plots 16 feet 
yg feet, the rows being 4 feet apart, and the potatoes 1 foot apart in the 
Yr: Owing to unforeseen circumstances, the results were too variable to 
t of fair comparison of the effects of the different fertilisers used. The 
eae) ll 
