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1 Dec., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 541 
and ploughing, and the garden is now in good order. The vineyard on the hill 
has been kept well cultivated; the vines have been frequently tied up, and were 
twice treated with sulphur; they are now in a healthy condition and making 
rapid growth. The vines on the creek have been once sulphured, and once 
treated with a mixture of sulphur and lime in equal proportions. The land has 
been twice scuffled, and all weeds have been kept down; the vines are all 
growing well. In the hill orchard all the the trees have been mulched, and the 
Jand has been kept well cultivated. A considerable amount of spraying has 
been done, especially in connection with the peaches and plums. 
Dairy.—During the period under review, 1,727 gallons of milk were 
converted into butter for a yield of 738 Ib. ; 370 gallons gave 384 lb. of cheese; 
and 508 gallons were supplied to the dining-hall. The increase in the dairy 
herd comprised two purebred Jerseys and seven grades. We disposed of 
one Ayrshire and one Jersey bull. Attention may be called to the large yield 
by the Ayrshire cow Lavina of Glen Elgin, the reeord of which appears else- 
where in the present issue of the Journal; this cow was fed on natural grasses 
only. The average number of cows milked daily was fifty-six. 
Piggery.—Natural increase for the month comprised fourteen purebred 
Berkshires, eight boars and six sows. We sold during the month ten Berk- 
shire boars, six Berkshire gilts, one Middle Yorkshire boar, one Middle York- 
shire sow, and one grade Berkshire sow, also ten mixed weaners. A good 
demand exists for purebred pigs, but Berkshires are principally inquired for. 
The animals sold have been sent to various parts of the State, both North and 
South Queensland. 
Mechanical Department.— W ork has been continued on the poultry yards. 
The quarters provided for the working men, stables, and shed at orchard have 
been painted. | Horseshoeing and usual repairs to implements, &c., have been 
carried out. Four pig paddocks are now in course of construction. 
PROTECTION AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 
The Gazette Coloniale gives the following directions for protecting oneself 
from mosquito bites, and from consequent malarial fever :— 
Close all apertures of the house, even to the keyholes with wire-gauze, and 
do not move out of the house after sundown without a veil round the hat and 
gloves so thick that the dart of the mosquito cannot pass through it. Burn 
insecticide pastilles in the house, anoint the face, neck, and hands with menthol, 
camphor, or turpentine. Swab up all small patches of water, and pour a 
certain quantity of petroleum on the surface of the larger waterholes. If 
these precautions are used, it is easy to avoid the terrible swamp fever. 
Seeing that there are thousands of men, women, and children in this 
mosquito-ridden State of Queensland who live all the year round in the bush, 
many in the neighbourhood of swamps, in slab and bark huts where the slabs 
are far enough apart to allow of the passage of the hearth-loving black snake, 
and of the bread-pilfering *possum, that hundreds live in tents, that other 
hundreds are nightly camping on the banks of creeks, swamps, and waterholes, 
which localities they are careful to select for the night’s lodging, and that then 
thousands are nightly bitten by millions of mosquitoes, without any evil resulting 
but a blotched face, often not that, we can only come to the conclusion that 
the Queensland mosquito is a different kind to the mosquito of the Pontine 
Marshes, in Italy, which is so deadly that the wonder is that the swampy parts 
of Italy were not depupulated in the time of Romulus. If a Queensland 
shearer or bushman were asked to smear his face with oil, fence in his hut with 
wire-gauze, and wear gloves an inch thick, the answer would probably be 
garnished with profane ribaldry. 
