374 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1901. 
At the time of writing (8rd August), the crop was estimated to yield from 
i2 to 14 tons per acre, but the roots were then daily increasing in weight, and 
quantities of the dressed roots turned the scale at over 12 Ib.; so that it was con- 
sidered probable that the total crop would reach 16 tons per acre, which may be 
looked upon as a heavy yield in Europe under the most favourable conditions 
of fertilisation, soil, and season. [The final return has since been furnished, and 
shows that the actual weight of roots per acre sold was over 15 tons, not including 
what were consumed on the farm. ‘Two tons of valuable fodder in the shape 
of tops went to the compost heap, there being no pigs to consume them.— 
Ed. Q.A.J.] 
There was a very heavy crop of tops amounting to over 2 tons, which, 
unfortunately, could only be utilised in the compost heap, there being neither 
sheep nor pigs at the farm to utilise by-products. 
The land had been got into the very best of order for the seed-bed, and, 
soon after sowing, gentle showers fell. The ground being warm, the seed was 
up in three days. Notwithstanding a very dry spell afterwards, the plants 
never stopped growing, a fact which proved the excellence of the tilth both 
before sowing and afterwards with the cultivator. 
Mr. Ross considers this to be a very fine crop for less than five months’ 
growth ; indeed, the actual time of growth was only four months, as marketing 
then began—7.e., in the first week of June. 
The farmers in the surrounding districts are very keen to obtain informa- 
tion on the methods by which Mr. Ross gets such excellent results from his 
vegetable crops. Needless to say that such information and advice are gladly 
placed at their service. Many of the largest sheep-breeders visit the farm to 
gain information, and this crop of swedes has proved a revelation to them. 
The example will do a great deal of good, and will be largely emulated. 
ARTIFICIAL MANURING. 
All plants grow, come to maturity, and yield fruit only by the help of the 
plant food placed at their disposal either by nature or by art. Like members 
of the animal kingdom, those of the vegetable realm thrive on different varieties 
of food. Much of the food of plants, particularly carbon, is derived from the 
air in gaseous combination. Of this ingredient there are enormous supplies. 
Other plant food is derived from the soil, where it exists in limited quantities. 
Such are nitrates and mineral matter. 
With such wonderfully rich soils as are daily coming into cultivation 
in this State, the question of manuring is a secondary one. Tor several years 
the man who farms any of these fertile lands has no need to exercise his mind 
on the subject of a supply of manure. He clears, breaks up, and cultivates his 
land year after year, and annually reaps a rich harvest when seasons are 
favourable. 
But nature will not allow us to draw too extensively on the main stock of 
plant food hidden away in the soil. There comes a time when the over-strained 
land is temporarily exhausted, at least in so far as the available sources of 
supply are concerned. More fertilising materials are still stored there, but 
they are now out of reach of the roots of the plants, and the result is—poor 
crops. But both by nature and art these hidden treasures can be brought up 
and made available. | Many fallow crops tend to enrich the soil or work in 
many ways against its exhaustion. Many collect nitrogen from the air by 
means of microdemes at their roots, and bring plant food to the surface. And, 
just as a scrub enriches the soil with its fallen leaves and rotting timber, so 
some of the leguminous crops leave a large amount of vegetable matter in the 
soil. The lupine especially has the property of bringing up food from the 
