234 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Aprit, 1902. 
of 20 bushels. Dry weather at the outset, frost, rust, bunt, smut, caterpillars, 
and other pests may bring the return so low that your wheat is produced ata 
dead loss. Neyer put all the eggs in one basket. Grow different crops; then, 
if one fails, the others may help to prevent loss. One of the farmer’s best 
standbys is lucerne. Get in a crop as soon as possible. It is a crop which 
will stand a long spell of dry weather, owing to its habit of deep-rooting. You 
can cut it at least six times a year, and your lucerne stacks will carry you 
through a dry season, winter or summer, so far as your cattle are concerned. 
I shall not now give you directions how to sow the various farm crops. 
You will learn much from watching what your neighbours do, and there are 
numerous publications devoted to agriculture which will help to enlighten you, 
so the next lesson will be on the sunject of drainage. You may possibly not 
require to drain. Many farmers are so situated and have such an open subsoil 
that drainage is not wanted, at least as regards the drawing off of superfluous 
water. But J think I have already shown you that drains act beneficially on 
the soil, even although little water ever passes through them. At all events, 
every good farmer should know how to drain his land; theréfore I will deal 
with the subject. 
: Questions on Lesson 3. 
State what you know about seed wheat. / 
How would you proceed to grow your own seed wheat ? 
. What is smut—bunt—a spore ? 
How can you distinguish smut from bunt? 
How can you destroy the spores of bunt and smut adhering to seed 
DUR NE 
wheat £ 
Describe two methods of doing so. 
How much seed would you sow per acre—(a) broadcast, (6) drilled ? 
. What effect has rolling upon a young wheat crop ? 
In what months should wheat be sown ? 
10. When should you sow thick—when thin ? 
11. What is the total cost of sowing, harvesting, and marketing an acre of 
£0 9 I 
12. With a 20-bushel crop at 3s. per bushel, what net profit should you 
13. What conclusion do you arrive at from this estimate ? 
4ru Lxsson. 
THIRD STAGE. 
The fertility of the soil is lessened through several causes, amongst which 
may be mentioned drainage, growth and removal of crops, and the washing 
away of the surface soil, especially on hillsides. There are also some artificial 
fertilisers which operate in reducing the fertility of the soil by converting cer- 
tain insoluble constituents into soluble ones. or instance, muriate of potash 
has been shown by experiments made in America to convert the insoluble lime 
compounds of the soil into a very soluble form, which readily passes into the 
drainage water. Gypsum and salt applied to the soil are said to set free the 
potash and other fertilising constituents of the soil, thus rendering them more 
available to plants, but at the same time more likely to be washed out and lost 
in the drainage water. Thousands of experiments are made at the experiment 
stations of the United States of America in order to find out the effects of the 
application of fertilisers to the soil. In one of these* we read: ‘“ Whilst 
these all are possible sources of loss, it is probably safe to say that under 
ordinary conditions the chances of loss, of appreciable amounts of lime, potash, 
or phosphoric acid in the drainage water of soils are very small.’ This con- 
clusion is confirmed by numerous chemical examinations of drainage water 
which have been made at experiment stations and similar institutions in the 
United States and elsewhere. 
* Farmers’ Bulletin No. 73. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
