1 Sepr., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 301 
LOADING FORAGE. 
In the United States every advantage is taken of appliances tending to 
save labour on the farm. How few such appliances do we see on a Queensland 
farm. Novw, here is a very simple contrivance which we used ourselves some 
years ago for loading bags of corn and bales of cotton onto a wagon. An 
almost identical idea is given in the July number of Station, Farm, and Garden, 
the only difference being that our post was fixed in the ground at a convenient 
spot near the ginning-house, whilst the other is a fixture at either end of the 
wagon. ‘The fixed post is better because it can be utilised for any description 
of conveyance. What gave us the idea was simple enough—it was the ordinary 
see-saw of our school days. A heavy boy at one end raised the lighter one 
high into the air. From this originated the cotton-balé loader. The illustration 
explains itself, except that the slotted hole in the pole is not shown. It must 
be slotted to enable the pole to work on the pin at the head of the post. ‘The 
pole should be about 20 feet long, and the post from 5 to 6 feet in height. 
THE OHIO HAY-LOADER. 
Amongst the many labour-saving appliances by which our American 
prethren make farming successful is a hay-loader called ‘The Ohio,” 
manufactured by the Ohio Rake Company, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. This loader, 
which was awarded a silver medal in England, not only picks up the hay from 
the swathe as well as from the window and lifts it on to the wagon, but rakes 
‘the ground comparatively clean, leaving very little for the horse-rake to gather. 
Tt will pick up clean, and load on to the wagon, a ton of hay in ten minutes if 
the crop is a good one, with only one man on to load and a boy to lead the 
horse, so that a boy and a man can clear any field without further assistance, 
excepting the lad to work the horse-rake for cleaning up the little that is left.— 
Mark Lane Express. 
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS IN RURAL DISTRICTS. 
Tn the days when cotton was king in Queensland, numbers of boys and 
girls were employed in cotton-picking. The money earned by the children was 
a welcome addition to the income of the small farmer and his married hands. 
But cotton-picking interfered to some extent with school work. Consequently, 
if we mistake not, the school holidays were so arranged that the children were 
enabled to devote a considerable portion of the season, between March and 
June, to the cotton-fields, whilst there was no diminution in the number of 
school hours during the year. 
Although we have, as yet, no cotton-fields demanding youthful hands, we 
have ‘considerable areas of strawberries, which must be picked as they ripen 
