1 Nov., 1901. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 451 
None of our agricultural pursuits seems to have made more rapid or 
enduring progress than the dairying industry. The very last of them to: 
establish a footing, it is already one of the most important of them. In 1900: 
there were at work 58 butter and cheese factories, and 146 creameries, employing 
595 persons. The output that year was 3,875 tons of butter and 886 tons of 
cheese, valued altogether at £658,177. Of that quantity of butter 620 tons 
were exported, as against 517 tons for the preceding year. A similar healthy 
condition of things is evinced in the allied industry of ham and bacon curing,. 
of which the exports were valued at £31,067 in 1899 and £45,831 in 1900.. 
Experts on the matter agree that everything which conduces to successful and 
profitable dairy-farming exists in Queensland, excepting proximity to the great 
markets for dairy produce, and that even this disadvantaze would have no 
appreciable effects if Queensland had the shipping facilities enjoyed by the 
other States of the Australian Commonwealth. Determined efforts should 
therefore be made to have Brisbane ineluded umong the ports visited by the 
European mail steamers, which now make Sydney their destination. 
The following table gives the estimated value of all the agricultural 
productions in 1899 and in 1900 :— 
— | 1899. 1900. 
40) Ke Gh £ 8. da. 
Crops ... 1,436,832 10 3% 1,501,622 0 0O 
Dairy produce 686,972 15 8 658,177 1 4 
Farm stock... 55534,850 0 0 4,024,050 0 0 
£5,658,155 5 114 | £6,183,849 2 1 
SrateMenT Snowrne the Varun of the Undermentioned AGRicuLTURAL Exports during: 
the Years 1899 and 1900. 
VALUE. 
Exports. / 
1899. 1900. 
£ £ 
Butter and cheese 49,646 52,252 
Fruit 355 93,397 104,747 
Grain— W heat 106 74, 
35 Maize 22 363 
a, Oats 91 x 
Rice 8 4a 
Hay and chaff 1,256 1,500 
Honey and beeswax ... on 1,646 1,738 
Meat (pigs and poultry only) ... 31,431 47,102 
Sugar “Lh 3 ‘ 1,163,010 669,389 
Vegetables (fresh) 3,181 4,005 
ry (preserved) cr a0 teh 8 
All other kinds of agricultural produce ... 23,758 22,993 
£1,367,502 £904,171 
Some reference ought to be made to the efforts of the Department during 
the year to find a cheap and effective means of eradicating the prickly pear. 
Bunker’s Hill, a portion of the State Farm at Westbrook, was the tield of 
experiment, and the result was that the desired remedy was discovered, though 
it is not yet possible to state exactly what would be the cost of clearing 
ordinarily infested land by means of it. The land treated presented extraordinary 
difficulties, and was operated upon simply because it was a nursery of pear: 
that was a constant menace to the Farm. Probably the cost of freeing infested 
land generally from the pest will be from £1 to £2 an acre. 
D. H. DALRYMPLE, 
Secretary for Agriculture. 
