| Joy, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 93 
them is that of drill versus broadcast sowing. On the Downs we find the drill 
bést for several reasons, one being that it puts the seed in at an even depth. 
Broadcasting does not. Another point is, that the drill evenly distributes the 
seed. In broadcast sowing you have got to sow the day after the rain, or else 
jou run the risk of the seed not coming up. Broadcasting entails a lot of 
arrowing, and harrowing dries the land. On the other hand, you can 
drill for a fortnight after the rain, and then the seed would germinate 
Drilling saves seed, and in fact saves the price of the drill. Forty 
pounds of seed drilled is as good as 60 Ib. sown broadcast. By that 
means you save Is. an acre, and in 10) acres you will save £5. As a drill costs 
from £25 to £30, you soon save that, or, at any rate, you make the interest on 
the money, even if you have-to borrow it. As for the kinds of wheat, that may 
depend upon the climate. One wheat will do well one season and badly the next. 
alors Spring is a splendid wheat in an ordinary year, but frost injures it more 
than any other variety, and the last big frost destroyed all our Allora Spring. 
Budd’s Early resists the frost much better. The bad year I had 120 acres. It 
was nearly all destroyed except about 120 bags, which, by the way, went to Roma. 
Allora Spring is a wheat that easily germinates, and it is a wheat that will stand 
drought better than any other sort. An excellent wheat, and one introduced 
by ifs Agricultural .Department, is the Belatourka. This did as well as 
any wheat we had last year. As for Purple Straw and White Lammas, 
we abandoned them on the Downs years ago, although the White 
Lammas is about the best milling wheat in existence. Mr. Miscamble 
mentioned the Steinwedel, but it is a wheat that I do not like. I sowed it 
three years in succession, but would never try it again. The first year it did 
very well, but it was no good the succeeding. I am not going to say anything 
against the Marshalls except this: and that is, I shall sow no more of them. A 
new wheat introduced by the Department last year was the Blue Stem, but the 
seed imported was, unfortunately, not pure Blue Stem. T putin 4 bushels of 
seed, and got a return of about 20 bushels to the acre. 1f we could get pure 
seed, | think the Blue Stem would be a very desirable variety for Queensland. 
As for the time to sow, of course, as Mr. Miscamble said, it may be along one. 
I know one individual who put Spring wheat in on the 4th August and got a 
splendid return. The farmers have been delaying sowing on account of the 
unprecedented frost we got two years ago. We uever had such a trost before, 
and may never get one again. I believe in early sowing—about the last’ week 
in April or early in May. ‘There are some wheats that you must sow early. 
I think the grain is heavier and the yield much better if you sow early. The 
wheat for one thing has more time to root. If the Government does establish 
experimental plots in the Maranoa district, a man should be stationed to look 
after them the whole time, and not appear on the scene only at sowing and 
harvesting times. 
Mr. J. Witson (Freestone Creek): The advantage of sowing with the 
drill is, that the wheat roots better, and when the plants in a drilled field ripen 
they are all of the one height A man who once tries drilling will 
never go back to broadcasting. The first year I used the drill, the extra 
return repaid me the cost of the drill. With regard to varieties, no man 
can tell which is the best. The Department is testing varieties at the 
experiment farms at Westbrook and the Hermitage, and it is a pity the 
knowledge to be gained by a visit to these farms is not more generally 
availed of. We wheatgrowers are the people who are going to make Qucens- 
land what it is to be. Our whole interest is in growing wheat for Queensland. 
If Brisbane is going to be a seaport town, our vessels must be loaded with wheat, 
and if we can get right down to the port they will be. I have not the slightest 
fear of federation if we get a fair chance to get to our port. We have land 
equal to anything in this world, and we have men who can use it. 
The objects of Mr. Miscamble’s paper were also very ably supported by 
Mr. J. Scantan, of Helidon, and Mr. J. Danren, of Pittsworth. 
