228 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Aprin, 1902. 
your eye on the man you employ and see that it is properly done, otherwise 
you will lose money. A good farmer never says, ‘‘ Go and do this or that.’ 
He says, “ Come and do it.” 
The best plan with new land only shortly grassed is to plough it to a depth 
of about 3 inches, run the harrows over it, exposing the grass roots to the sun 
and wind, and then to plough deeper according to whatever crop it is intended 
to plant. This is a rather difficult matter to advise you on, as soils differ so 
much in depth and quality that what might be a suitable depth on one farm, or 
even on one field of the same farm, might not do for the neighbouring land. Some 
farmers merely, so to say, scratch the soil to a depth of 4 inches, others go to 8 
inches. On an average, I think you may take 6 inches as a fair depth for 
wheat. 
If you intend to sow maize, or corn as it is called in Queensland, choose 
your richest soil and plough to a depth of 7 or S inches. Maize roots have 
been proved to attain a depth of 6 feet. 
However, it is not at this stage that I propose to teach you how to plant, 
sow, cultivate, and harvest your crops. We are dealing now with the prepara- 
tion of the land for the reception of the seed, and for the present I will assume 
that the land does not stand in urgent need of draining. Consequently all that 
we have to consider, now that your land is cleared and fenced and your first 
house built, is: What are the most indispensable implements required, and 
what live stock should be bought? / 
On a scrub farm, as I have already pointed out, you cannot use either 
horses or horse implements for cultivation. You must depend on manual 
Jabour, with axe and hoe. A horse and dray or spring cart, however, will be 
needed for many purposes, and you may safely make a start at pig-breeding 
with a boar—a good one—and a couple of sows. It will not be long before 
you will get plenty of feed for them, even before your first crops are ready, in 
the shape of thistles and other succulent green feed, and you can buy cheaply 
some pumpkins and a little dry feed from the neighbours. 
On the forest or plain land it is different. Whether you give a contract 
for the first breaking up, or whether you do it yourself, you will need three 
or four good, staunch, steady horses, a good beam plough, adding afterwards a 
sulky and a double furrow or disk plough, a pair of harrows, and a roller which 
you can make yourself out of a good log. it you sow your first crop of wheat 
broadcast, you save the expense of a seed drill. At harvest time you will want 
a reaper and binder which you may buy or hire, and for your maize crops a corn- 
sheller. Finally, add to these the necessary fencing tools and some carpenter’s 
tools. I take it for granted that, by the time you were ready to start farming 
for yourself, you have learnt to plough and to use the ordinary farm implements. 
Still, a few words on ploughing will not be thrown away, for many men are 
able to turn a furrow who do do not turn it to the best advantage for the 
intended crop. 
What are the requisites of good ploughing? These are: (a) that the 
furrow slice shall be turned over in such a way as to bury all rubbish, and 
leave as large a surface as possible exposed to the weather; (d) that this 
surface shall be in such a state as to harrow down with as little labour as 
possible, without again exposing the rubbish; (c) that there shall be as little 
shine on the bottom of the furrow as possible, so as to prevent the formation of 
a pan, and to allow the capillary action between the furrow slice and the 
subsoil to establish itself as quickly as possible; and last, but not least, that as 
much as possible should be done in a day. 
Remember that ploughing should vary according to what it is required for. 
Suppose you intend to broadcast wheat, your furrow slices must be sharp on 
the edge, upright, and closely pressed together. On the other hand, if you 
intend to drill in the seed, let the furrow slice have a broken edge, so that, when 
harrowing, one stroke of the harrow will make a tilth; it must also be flat, so 
that when cross-harrowing you will not turn it over, and loosely pressed to 
avoid shine. 
