WOU 
460 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Juxx, 1900. 
convinced that it is by working on the plan laid down by that gentleman and 
other eminent plant pathologists that we shall succeed in obtaining wheats 
perfectly suitable and adapted to the various districts of the colony. F 
One acre and a-half of lucerne has been sown in the north-east corner 0 
the cultivation paddock, partly on subsoiled land and partly on land simply 
ploughed inches deep. A small part of the seeds has been drilled in by 
means of a Planet Junior hand seed drill, and the remainder broadcasted by 
hand. A small quantity of barley has been sown thinly on the same plot, and 
the whole lightly harrowed. This should prove an interesting experiment, 
inasmuch as the land is far from being an ideal one for such a deep-roote 
lant. : 
_In accordance with the Honourable the Minister’s personal directions 
during his visit here, I have broken up and fenced in a small plot of ground in 
the midst of the grass paddock, with a view to test the grazing value of some 
of our fodder grasses, such as Paspalum dilatatum, Mitchell grass, Panicum 
colonum, &c. The idea is to remove the fence after the plants shall have had 
time to make firm roots and yield seeds, and then let them be browsed down by 
our farm animals, thus showing exactly how they stand grazing in comparison 
with the surrounding indigenous grasses. ' 
Successive sowings have also been made of cabbages, cauliflowers, turnips, 
radishes, lettuce, and other winter vegetables, but no transplanting could be 
done on account of dry weather. 
During the month we have shelled most of our corn by means of a hand 
Globe Invincible double-hopper corn-sheller. The machine does very good 
work indeed. The cobs are greedily drawn in and thoroughly stripped of their 
grain. No pith is torn or twisted. But I was not so pleased with the 
shaker, which does not grade the corn. I removed it and made another, 11 
which the two square-holed metallic sieves are replaced by three sheets of zine 
perforated with round holes, 3-inch, }-inch, and 3-ineh respectively. This 
works extremely well. The dust and other small impurities fall on the ground 
al along under the shaker. The small grains—good only for use on the farm— 
come out through a small shoot on the right side ; the large, well-graded seeds 
through a similar shoot on the left side ; whilst the stripped piths fall in front ot 
the shaker. This is, I believe, as perfect an arrangement as can be made 
by a small farmer. y its means, he is enabled to put on the market an article 
as clean and well graded as the man who works hundreds of acres with steam 
and other improved corn-shelling machines. ‘his device can also be used for 
separating cow-pea beans from the cow-pea chaff, although it is somewhat 
small tor this purpose. But the principle is correct, and any farmer can make 
himself, for a few shillings, a larger one, say 6 feet long by 2 fect 6 inches to 
3 feet wide, which would do the work both rapidly and efficiently. 
To avoid choking, the sheets of zine should be wider apart at the outlet 
than at the back. Ours are 14 inches apart at the back and 2 inches at the 
outlet. They never choke. ; 
We have also, during the month, given a few coats of paint to the 
American wagon, the dray, and other implements which were in need of it. 
All the above works, as well as some odd jobs, such as repairs at the tana 
and windmill, have been made, without extra labour, by the usual farm sands 
(a man and a lad) with such help as I can give them after my office and other 
pen work are completed. 
WHAT IS “KHAKI” CLOTH ? 
ITS BEARING ON AUSTRALIAN WOOLGROWERS. 
Tue special Bradford correspondent of the Adelaide Observer writes :— 
“Tommy Atkins” is undoubtedly the man of the hour throughout, the 
whole of the British domains, and the fact that he has gone forth dressed in # 
‘bran new suit,” as they say in Yorkshire, is sufficient in itself to arrest atteD- 
tion. But what is that new suit? And with the answer there comes the 
