1 Aprin, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 231 
level ground that some crops could be gathered at all. Those who attend to 
rolling in time will give the young growing crops the assistance immediately 
required, leaving the soil in good condition for aerating operations later on and 
removing many difficulties out of the way of harvesting operations. 
I do not propose to describe all manners of ploughs, harrows, cultivators, 
seed drills, mowers, reapers and binders or other farm implements, because you 
ean find out ali about them in catalogues issued by the best implement makers, 
which give full directions how to use and how to take care of them. - 
Questions on Lesson 2. 
1. In what does the farming of scrub land differ from that of forest or 
plain land ? 
2. What are the points to be particularly attended to in selecting a farm 
in slightly wooded or open country ? 
3. What is meant by the proverb: “The eye of the master is worth both 
his hands” ? 
4, To what average depth would you plough for a wheat crop? Fora 
maize crop ? 
5. What implements and stock are absolutely necessary when starting a 
farm on any but scrub land ? 
6. What are the requisites of good ploughing ? 
7. Name and describe three types of furrow. 
8. What points should be observed in harrowing and rolling ? 
3rp Lesson. 
THIRD STAGE, 
Let us now suppose that you have made a fair start, that your land is well 
ploughed and harrowed to a good tilth. If the land is ready by April or May, 
you will, if in a wheat district, sow a breadth of wheat, and will have to buy the 
seed. The selection of seed is a most important matter—in fact, you may con- 
sider it the most important operation in.growing wheat. Some people suppose 
that if wheat is grown continuously on the same soil it will deteriorate. 
Nothing of the kind. It has been proved by experiments that varieties of 
wheat seed do not thus degenerate. When buying seed for your first crop get 
it from a neighbouring farmer, but see that you select a careful man, who grows 
selected seed in the most scientific manner. Go, if possible, to one of the State 
farms, where the raising of seed for distribution amongst farmers is made a 
business of, and you may be sure of getting seed of the best quality. 
When you begin to grow your own wheat for seed, study the methods 
adopted on the experimental farms, and you cannot go wrong. In a general 
way, proceed in this manner: Sow the seed on a specially prepared plat of, 
say, 1 acre, more or less, according to the size of your farm and the quantity of 
land you propose to put under wheat. Plough the plat early. Get it into the best 
possible condition, and keep it in a high state of fertility. When the wheat is 
inear, go through the field and pick out and mark plants which show the 
qualities it is desirable to perpetuate. Choose those that are well stooled and 
whose heads are filled with plump grain. The straw should stand up well, and 
as much as possible be free from rust. When the wheat is ripe, cut these 
marked plants with a sickle, and thresh them out separately. Then carefully 
screen the seed, pick it over by hand, and save only the largest and plumpest 
grain for sowing. Next season sow the seed thns saved at the rate of 14 
bushels per acre. Do the same every year, and you will tind that the wheat, so 
far from degenerating, will improve. At the same time you will do well to 
locate your seed plat on a different part of the farm every year. 
Before sowing fora crop, the wheat seed must be treated in a certain 
manner for the prevention of smur. Do you {know what smutis? Itisa 
disease which, if it attacks your wheat, will often cause the loss of half the 
