1 Jury, 1901. | QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 13 
My parents gave me a small piece of ground, and in a very short time I had it 
overcrowded. | have learnt many a lesson since that time, and I always look back 
upon those days with pleasure, as it was the means of giving me a love for 
horticulture. 
Some of you may think these are small and trivial matters to bring before a 
Conference. 1 do not think so myself, and therefore do not offer any apology, as I 
have seen very successful men make mistakes in smaller matters than I have dealt 
with. For instance, I can well remember laying out a garden at Gympie, and, as lam 
always of the opinion that a bed of herbs is the first thing to be planted, I did so in 
this case. In a day or two a gentleman paid a visit to the garden, and told my 
employer that he thought I should have known better than to plant sage by cuttings, 
as they would not grow. 
Gentlemen, this man was a most successful farmer at the head of the Mary 
River, and a man whose opinion I value very much, and often I have had long 
conversations with him on farming matters in general, yet in a small matter of this 
kind he said it could not be done. y 
This is another thing the sovieties could remedy. Trusting some of the societies 
will proceed on the lines indicated here, I feel convinced they will benefit the small 
tillers of the soil in this State. 
Mr. Perer McLean then read the following essay :— 
CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE. 
[By Witt MoItwrarru, of the Rockhampton Agricultural Society. ] 
That, in the opinion of this Conference, the organisation of all persons engaged 
in arable agriculture and rural husbandry being desirable, it be remitted to the 
Business Committee to consider and prepare a scheme by which the same may be 
accomplished. 
Before speaking to the motion of which I have given notice, and submitting 16 
to the acceptance of this Conference, I desire to be permitted to call attention 
to what has already been done in this matter of the organisation of arable agricul- 
ture in Queensland, and to express my admiration and appreciation of the efforts 
made to promote it by the Government. The first Conference of which I have 
any record, was held in Brisbane on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd August. 1889. 
It was held in the rooms of the National, Agricultural, and Industrial 
Association, and was in connection with the Exhibition held atthattime. ‘The 
sessions at that Conference were short, and early all the papers were read by. 
gentlemen connected with the Department of Agriculture. Mr. H. M. Black 
was then Minister for Agriculture An Agricultural Conference under the 
direction of the Wide Bay and Burnett Pastoral and Agricultural Society was 
held in the Agricultural Hall, Maryborough, on the 15th and 16th January, 
1891; under the auspices of the Rockhampton Agricultural and Pastoral 
Society, in the School of Arts, Rockhampton, on the 12th and 13th of May ; 
and at Bundaberg, in the Municipal Chambers, on the 19th and20th. In 1892, 
Agricultural Conferences were held, under the direction of the Agricultural and 
Pastoral Society of Southern Queensland, on the 9th and 10th of May, at Been- 
leigh; at Bundaberg, under the auspices of the Agricultural Society, on the 21 stand 
22nd of July ; at Rockhampton, under the auspices of the Agricultural Society, 
on the 15th and 16th August; and at Mackay on the 23rd and 24th September. 
Though ostensibly under the auspices of the local societies, these meetings were 
largely assisted and encouraged by the Government. Records of the pro- 
ceedings at them were issued as bulletins, and will be found useful for infor- 
mation and reference. The holding of Conferences lapsed for a few years, but 
in 1897, at the invitation of the Minister for Agriculture, the Hon A. J. 
Thynne, a conference of delegates was held at Gatton Agricultural College on 
the 10th, 11th, and 12th June, 1897. Conferences were afterwards held at 
Rockhampton in 1898 ; Mackay, in 1899; and Town Hall, Warwick, in 1900. 
The arrangements for these Conferences have been to a large extent in the 
hands of the Agricultural Department, and you are aware, gentlemen, of the 
success which has attended the gatherings. That they were not more popular 
was no fault of the Agricultural Department: it deserves well of those engaged 
