802 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Sepr., 1901. 
between July and October. Strawberry-pickers are scarce amongst the adults 
of a district, and when such pickers are obtained, some will work on an orchard 
so long as the berries are plentiful; but, as soon as the main heavy crop is picked, 
they leave one place to go to another where the fruit is in greater abundance, 
leaving their first employer to get through the rest of the season as best he may. 
The remedy for this undesirable state of affairs is either to pay a fixed daily. 
wage to young people, or to enter into a binding contract with adult pickers, so 
as to ensure the whole crop being taken off. 
Here, again, the school question comes in, and the difficulty might be met 
as in the case of cotton-picking. 
At Brafferton, in Yorkshire, a meeting was lately held in the schoolroom 
to consider the advisability of altering the time of the summer holidays so as 
better to suit modern requirements in regard to agricultural labour. The leading 
farmers in the district attended. After a short discussion, it was unanimously 
decided that as there is now but little work for children in the harvest field, the 
holidays, instead of being continuous through August, should be divided into 
two portions, a fortnight being given in July, so as to enable the children to 
enjoy themselves in the long summer days, and four weeks from the middle of 
September, so as to liberate boys to work during the season of potato gathering. 
A vote of thanks was passed to the teachers for their willingness to forego the 
enjoyment of a long unbroken holiday for the sake of the greater advantage 
which it was hoped would thus accrue to the children. This example might 
very well be followed in various other parts of the country. 
From the above, it will be seen that the only sufferers by a re-arrangement 
of holidays are the teachers, who have to forego their long holidays at mid- 
summer in order that the school time may suffer no diminution. 
When we have coffee, cotton, strawberries, and native gooseberries to pick, 
perhaps some such arrangement as we have indicated may be made in the 
interests of the farmers and orchardists with no detriment to their children’s 
school work. 
SPELT IN MANITOBA. 
A new grain which has been grown to a limited extent in Manitoba this 
year is called spelt. It is said to be a Russian grain, and is grown in that 
country, and in Germany. The seed was obtained from a foreign settlement in 
Dakota. It was sold in Winnipeg last spring by W. G. Douglas, grain-dealer, 
to anumber of farmers throughout the province. Mr. Douglas has received 
reports from the farmers who grew this grain last summer, and they all speak 
very favourably of it. Though the season was a trying’ one, it produced good 
crops, as much as 50 bushels being obtained from one bushel of seed. It is 
claimed of spelt that it produces a heavy crop, is easily grown, stands drought 
much better than most other grains, ripens early, and makes a superior feed 
grain for animals. The straw is also said to be better for feed than straw of 
other grains grown in Manitoba. It is claimed that spelt is a feed grain, in 
appearance resembling something between wheat and rye when shelled. The 
berry, however, is held in a tough husk, and does not shell like wheat in thrash- 
ing. T'wo berries grow together in the head. 
The above, which we take from an American exchange, gives the impres- 
sion that spelt is a hitherto unknown grain. Asa matter of fact, it has been 
grown in Queensland (at Killarney, we believe) some years ago, the seed having 
been imported by the Department of Agriculture, and distributed to some 
German farmers for trial. It succeeded very well, but we do not think our 
farmers would benefit much by growing it for flour-making purposes, as the 
flour produces the black bread, almost like rye-bread, so much used in Germany 
and Russia. Wheaten flour is within reach of the smallest farmer in Queens- 
land, consequently, as human food, there is no necessity for the introduction of 
spelt. As a fodder plant for cattle, however, there seems to be a good opening 
for it, and it might be worth a trial on that account alone. 
— pO ee ee kl! le 
