1 Ocr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 243 
is dropped down to the thighs, which are protected by wooden guards called 
‘bitters’ or ‘ betters’ (7.¢., probably ‘beaters’), from which a further push is 
given ; finally, the clod gathered on the blade is turned over with a quick 
movement to the right. The owner of the plough, now over eighty years of 
age, remembers as a familiar sight, in his boyhood, twenty men ploughing 
abreast in one field. Hardly anyone at work to-day can remember to have 
seen, much less known how to use one. There is no doubt that the labour 
necessary is very severe.” 
MAIZE IN THE NORTH. 
We should have written “ Maize in the Far North.” Itis surprising that 
there are still people in the South who hold the belief that maize cannot be 
produced commercially north of Rockhampton. In these days of quick and 
cheap travel such an idea should long since have been exploded. We, ourselves, 
have seen splendid crops of maize grown in the great Northern scrub lands 
near Herberton. Now we learn from the Ingham Planter, a live journal 
pepuched. at Ingham, which always has a good and true word to say for the 
orth, that maize, for the first time, has been exported from the Herbert River 
district. We take the following from the latest issue of that journal, and it 
bears out exactly what we ourselves have seen in that part of the State :— 
“Tt is matter of common knowledge that during the drought, the Southern 
maize crops have practically failed, and it follows that if the North can come 
to the front as a maize-producing division of the State the pockets of farmers 
in the future may be very considerably improved. During 1901 the western 
portion of the Northern division had the heaviest yield of maize—88-15 bushels 
to the acre—the eastern portion averaging 33°33 bushels per acre, slightly under 
the average of the previous year; whilst, together, the whole Northern division 
returned the satisfactory average of 35°35 bushels. This yield, taken in 
conjunction with the high prices ruling for the article, should have given 
farmers a good return for their labour. Hitherto the Southern division 
of the State has been mainly looked to for maize, but the drought has made 
certain revelations which go to show that there is good reason why this and 
other Northern districts should come fairly prominently to the front as maize- 
producing centres. As to what kind of maize should be sown may be a matter 
of opinion, and in this connection a Mulgrave experiment may be worth noting. 
“‘Over a year ago, according to the secretary of the Queensland Acclima- 
tisation Society, it was suggested to him by Mr. John Stennett, of Elliott Bros., 
that he should import from Jamaica some seed of a variety of maize that was 
growing there; he thought this maize would be suitable for growing in our 
Northern districts where the ordinary maize did not do well—not that it did 
not grow well, but being of a soft nature it did not keep well in the damp 
climate of the North, and was, moreover, very subject to attacks from the weevil, 
whilst the Jamaica variety, by reason of its containing a larger proportion of 
gluten, was hard, and was found to stand the climate well. This suggestion was 
carried out, and some of the seed was distributed. One result is shown in a 
letter from Mr. S. W. David, of the Mulgrave (and known to many Ingham 
residents), to the secretary of the society referred to, and from which we extract 
the following :—‘I am sending you asmall sample of corn grown from the corn 
given me by your overseer when up here. I planted all the seed in my garden, 
and the resulting crop I gave to two of four farmers, who planted it on their 
farms. ‘The sample I am sending you is not a picked one, as the farmers had. 
saved the best for seed. They are highly pleased with the corn, and are going 
to plant a large area with it. The cobs were nice and clean, and free from all 
disease ; grain hard and even. An exhibit of this corn will be most likely sent 
to your Brisbane show. It seems particularly suited to this climate. It 
ponte that two crops of the maize in question were grown in ten months, as 
only that time had elapsed from the distribution of the seed and Mr. David’s 
