76 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. jl Jury, 19018 
price as I would get 1 ton of Eagle Farm manure. I believe that everything 
that comes out of the land should be returned to it, and am sorry the munic- 
pality of North Brisbane can find no better scheme for the disposal of their 
nightsoil than to take it out to sea to poison the fishes with. I hope Mr. Corrie 
will be able to use his influence for the introduction of a more economic system, 
for I know he is in favour of letting the farmers have the nightsoil. There is 
nothing objectionable in the South Brisbane system, and it results in the 
preparation of what I believe is a complete fertiliser, and one that has in it all 
the ingredients that we want. 
My. J. W. Ler (Zillmere): I am very pleased that the subject of manuring 
has been set down as a topic for discussion, as I am sure that for the farmer 
there is no more important one. The gentleman who read the paper apparently 
went to a good deal of trouble over it, and has provided us with a good deal of 
food for reflection. Theanalysing of soils has been mentioned; but when you 
have obtained an analysis of a soil, what are you to do with it? No analyst 
that I know of can give you a just idea of what your soil requires at the time. 
The question is not what your soil is composed of, but whether that which is in | 
the soil is available for plant food. If the constituents are not available, then 
the analysis is not worth the paper it is written on. The analysis may show 
potash, but it may be in that condition that it is of no use to the plants 
that you may have to grow on the land. Suppose a man is pulled 
up for starving his children. He pleads that there is plenty of 
food in his house; but when the policeman inspects that house, he finds that, 
although there is plenty of food there, it is alllocked up. It is precisely the— 
same with the soil. The food may be in the soil, but unless it is available for 
plant food, and unless the analyst can give you an idea as to whether it is 
available (and they have not been able to do so yet, so far as I am aware), then 
a soil analysis is not much good. I have used a good many of these artificial 
manures that are placed upon the market, but at the same time I maintain that — 
it is not very becoming that a State like Queensland should allow the refuse — 
from the bodies of 100,000 people to be thrown into the Bay to no purpose | 
whatever. All these 100,000 people are fed from the land, and what comes — 
from them I maintain should go back to the land. We are like men drawing upon | 
our bank overdrafts. We are constantly cropping our soil, and returning noth- — 
ing like what we should do toit. I know this sanitary manure in its present con- 
dition is very difficult to handle, but I was one of a deputation that went the — 
other day to Dr. Ham, the Health Commissioner, on the subject, and he wag 
quite of our opinion that the nightsoil should be utilised for fertilising purposes, — 
I remember we approached the Corporation about twenty years ago on this — 
very same matter, and were told we could have the excreta if we took it away — 
from the closets. The Government might well assist us in the direction of — 
plants being established for the treating of the nightsoil with the object of 
making it portable. 
Mr. W. R. Rozryson (Toowoomba): ‘With regard to the remarks made 
by me on a previous occasion relative to shows, 1 wish to explain that my 
contention is that, if a gentleman is asked to judge at shows and the single 
judge system is adopted, the time has arrived when we shall have to pay 
for our judges. You judge at one show, and then are asked to oblige about 
twenty other show committees in a similar manner. It becomes a tax ona man, — 
and I say the time has come when practical men should be paid for their | 
opinions at shows. As for the subject of manures, I may say it is one that I~ 
am not acquainted with. Thanks to the soil they are blessed with, it is a — 
question that has not yet troubled the Darling Downs farmers. i know this 
much about it, however. The value of farmyard manure depends upon the 
kind of food you feed your stock upon. You need not expect to get good © 
farmyard manure if you feed your cows upon prickly pear. 
Mr. J. E. Dean (Maryborough): Mr. Robinson states he knows nothing 
about manures, but concludes with an important truth. Some time back L 
began to use Sunlight oil cake, which is really the by-product of the cocoanut. 
