230 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL souRNAL. [1 Aprin, 1902. 
* When ploughing an old soil, which was planted in the previous season, do 
not make the furrows too wide. The old ground is crumbly, and the slice will 
not lie over bodily, but will roll about, and, if wide furrows are taken, some of 
the soil will not be moved at all. 
As to the plough you buy, be careful to remember that very much 
depends on the make of the mould-board whether you do good or bad work. 
Tf you decide on some particular make, first go and see it at work somewhere— 
see two or three at work, and, if they turn a neat furrow, then buy. 
In ploughing very hard land, you will find the plough will go much more 
easily if the draught chain is lengthened 3 or 4 feet. 
In first ploughing, set the skim coulter so that it will just clear the grass, 
and, when coming back after drawing the first furrow on the ridge, set the 
coulter deep enough to bury the grass. 
When you reach the end of a furrow, do not lift the plough to the next 
piece, but bear down on the handles. This raises the plough, and it will turn 
over to the right, balanced on the large wheel. Then it will be drawn towards 
the next piece. ; 
Now, a word about 
Harrowine. 
If ploughed land has been unavoidably left to cake and harden, the harrows 
will make good work on the first occasion if used across the furrows, but it is 
invariably better to use the harrows both up and across the field. Never harrow 
in wet weather, because if the land dries quickly it will set hard. What you 
want to do is to make a fine tilth—that is, to cover the surface with a blanket of 
loose earth, thick enough to exclude free air, and to prevent the escape of too 
much moisture at the surface. 
The roller is a very necessary implement which you can easily make for 
yourself out of a sound, evenly-rounded ironbark or gum log. It crushes 
coarse clods; it packs together the top soil, and gives a smooth, even surface. 
But, as in ploughing and harrowing, do not roll in wet weather. 
BEneErFirs oF Routine. 
The importance of this work is well recognised by the best farmers, 
especially in the drier inland areas. The effects of the roller are to promote 
the growth of the crops and to facilitate harvesting operations. In regard to 
the effect upon the crop of pressing the soil about the stems and roots of the 
plants, all who are familiar with gardening work know the need of such 
treatment. The plant cannot grow if the soil does not support it in a fixed 
position, while the effects of alternating rainy and dry weather are to draw the 
soil away and to destroy that close relation between soil and plant which is 
necessary for the process of vegetation. he roller counteracts this loosenin 
effect and restores the required close contact between soil and stem an 
between soil and roots. This is especially important for the wheat crop, 
which requires a firm seed bed. The harrowing of the growing crops, 
or, even better, horse hoeing after the drill, in order to keep the 
surface from setting and cracking, is work for a later date, the want — 
of the young plant at present being to get well rooted in a firm soil. 
The young crops are in special need of the treatment. The soil on drying — 
becomes loose and pores. The result is that the soil, which, when wet, lies — 
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close to the roots, shrinks in parting with its moisture, leaving the stems and 
roots bare in places, the whole mass being honeycombed with airholes. After- 
wards the soil crumbles down, and to some extent remedies the evil, but damage 
is sustained by the plants in the meantime. Under such conditions the roller 
is of special value. Then there are the advantages of rolling as facilitating — 
harvest work. The damaging effect of rough, cloddy ground upon expensive 
harvesting machinery is a real and unnecessary loss to the farmer, while the j 
waste of grain is also very great, the loss being greater in proportion to the 
thinness or shortness of the crop. During recent dry seasons it was only upon — 
