{ Ava, 1902.} QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 99 
AVERAGE VALUES OF CROPS IN THE WESTERN AND SOUTH- 
EASTERN STATES OF AMERICA COMPARED WITH 
QUEENSLAND VALUES. 
Florida produces on an average 92 bushels of sweet potatoes per acre, and 
in food value this is equal to the produce of 3 acres of English potatoes. Rice 
averages 19 bushels per acre, with a food value of 1,680 units, whilst Northern 
wheat flour, at less than 20 bushels per acre, has a food value of 1,675 units. 
Take the average value of the principal crops of the Western States per 
acre, as given by the Florida Agriculturist. We give the values in British 
currency— 
Corn, £2 3s. 4d.; wheat, £1 19s. 1d.; potatoes, £4 lls. 9d.; hay, £8; 
tomatoes, £9; cabbage, £8. ; : 
Now compare these returns with those of Florida. In that State the 
leading crops average—Sweet potatoes, £8; corn, £1; rice, £5; upland 
cotton, £1 17s. 1d.; Sea Island cotton, £1 18s. 6d.; sugar-cane, £12 4s.; Irish 
potatoes, £11; cabbage, £14; tomatoes, £14; cantaloupes, (rock-melons), 
£11; strawberries, £18. 
To obtain these results in the west, the farmers spend, on an average, £4: 
per acre in fertilisers. Now, deduct £4 from the receipts for potatoes, 
cabbages, tomatoes, rock-melons, and strawberries, and the Florida farmer 
receives more per acre for everything subject to comparison. _ 
How do the Florida farmers manage on their poor yellow sands? They 
erop their land in corn in unbroken succession tor twenty, twenty-five, or 
thirty years, the crops getting better every year; and begear-weed is the secret. 
The land grows its own fertiliser. All the farmer has to do is to plough it 
under, and he saves £4 per acre. 
How do these returns compare with those of Queensland soils where no 
manure is needed for the crops mentioned ? 
Corn yields £6 per acre; sweet potatoes £20 per acre. (At the penal 
establishment at St. Helena 35 tons of saleable potatoes were harvested per acre 
on 6 acres in 1897, which sold at £6 10s. per ton, the largest potatoes weighing 
34 1b.) This was equivalent to £227 10s. per acre. The variety planted was 
Maltese. The soil was red volcanic, and no manure was used. They were 
planted on hills 3 feet apart. This is taken from the official record of the 
Comptroller of Prisons. We have ourselves grown 15 tons per acre, sold at 
£4 per ton, but this must not be taken as the regular average return for 
Queensland. 
Rice in the south yields 40 bushels of paddy per acre, worth 6s. to 7s. per 
bushel for seed, and for market 5s. per bushel, or £10 per acre; cotton is only 
now again attracting attention, but when cotton was extensively grown 
here during the American civil war, the average yield was 1,000 lb. of seed- 
cotton per acre, the yield often rising to 2,000 lb. At 6d. per Ib. the average 
return amounted to £6 10s. per acre for lint, the farmers getting £8 per acre 
net for the seed-cotton. Coffee at 8 ewt. per acre will return from £34: to £40 per 
acre. Sugar-cane without irrigation, in good seasons, averages 20 tons per acre, 
giving the growers £12 per acre; but irrigated cane returns 50 tons, worth £30 
per acre. English potatoes average from 4. to 8 tons per acre, returning as a 
rule £3 to £4 per ton, or £12 to £32 per acre. Cabbage is not much grown 
as a field crop, but farmers in the Stanthorpe district grow 10,000 cabbages per 
acre, selling at from 6s. to 9s. per dozen, or at the rate of from £240 to 
£600 per acre. Strawberries grow to perfection in Southern Queensland. 
10,000 to 16,0U0 plants go to an acre, and the yield of fruit reaches 7 tons 
per acre ; but the average yield may be set down at 2 tons, the price averaging 
3id. to 4d., or about £75 per acre. Tomatoes, cucumbers, rock and water 
melons return large profits. Now, all these crops are raised without manure as 
arule. The Queensland scrub soils, and the rich, deep, volcanic soils of the 
plains have been cropped for years without deterioration, yet fallowing, 
rotation, and manure are negligible quantities so far. The sugar-cane fields 
