312 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Noy., 1902. 
journals, you will ere long reach the top, when it will depend upon your energy 
almost as much as on the seasons to make or mar your future life. Do not 
think because you see some beautiful crops of lucerne, wheat, potatoes, sugar- 
cane, tobacco, maize, or anything else, that this is the general state of things. 
You will have a desperate war to wage with all kinds of enemies. Some of 
these are drought, the most terrible enemy of all; floods, although causing 
temporary loss, still beneficial on the whole; insect pests, fungus pests, scales, 
flies, worms, slugs, caterpillars, birds, rats, wallabies, bandicoots ; but I may as 
well curtail the list or you may be deterred from Agriculture altogether. Still 
it must be mentioned that whilst the crops are subject to so many trials your 
live stock will also contract ills, many of which, however, you may guard 
against by care and cleanliness in byre, stye, and stable. Most of the diseases 
incidental to plant life may be either prevented or mitigated ; and if the plants 
are attacked by any particular insect or fungus, these can be got rid of in 
varlous ways. f 
For instance, wheat and barley are liable to a disease called smut, to 
another called bunt. These can be almost entirely prevented by steeping the 
seed ina solution of bluestone or, as it is called, sulphate of copper: 1 lb. 
bluestone to 6 gallons of boiling water. ‘This will dress 448 lb. of seed, and 
smut will not appear in the crop. 
The vaginula slug attacks cabbages, cauliflowers—in fact, all the cabbage 
family. They are easily destroyed by sprinkling lime about the beds, or, still 
better, by the use of tobacco dust, which is certain death to them. Caterpillars 
are more difficult to deal with, especially when they attack the wheat and barley 
fields, where little can be done to stop their ravages. Fortunately they are not 
frequent visitors. Wallabies must be fenced out with palings or wire netting. 
Sprays of various kinds and eyanide gas are used for scale insects and aphis on ~ 
fruit trees, and sprays on vegetables. 
Worms on tobacco plants are usually removed by hand, and it isa very 
troublesome business. ‘The boll worm of the cotton plant is very destructive, 
and, like the barley caterpillar, is hard to destroy. Fruit-eating birds require to 
be guarded against by light nets thrown over the trees. Flying foxes, 
which are so destructive to fruit, are a serious pest. Ina small orchard it is 
said that a few skeins of worsted twisted round the trees will keep them off, 
but this would be impracticable in a large orchard ; hence great losses, especi- 
ally of peaches and plums, are sustained, and no remedy has yet been devised 
beyond tracing the foxes to their camps in the scrubs and shooting them down. 
However, I need not detail all the diseases and pests of plants and the 
remedies for them. These would entail a fourth book, which 1 shall put into 
your hands on a future occasion. In the meantime, any information on these 
subjects can be obtained either from the numerous works on plant diseases and 
insect pests, or by questions sent to the editors of agricultural and horticultural 
papers. 
It remains only to instruct you in the times and seasons for sowing and 
planting. The months here given will not apply equally to all parts of the 
State. We have, in Queensland, at least three different climates. First, there 
is the hot, steamy, North coast, where the rainfall is excessive, and where the 
great heat of summer-is only tempered by the sea breezes, and where the so- 
called winter is of very short duration. West of this and above the coast 
range, there-is on the contrary a delicious climate, rather hot in summer, but 
enjoying a long cool winter and a good rainfall. Here the seasons for planting 
are always in advance of those in the South, so that anything which cannot be 
sown or planted in the South until the end of August or the beginning of 
September may there be sown in July. ’ : 
Next we have the Central district, with a more equable climate both on the 
coast and inland, with an average rainfall of between 40 and 50 inches, More 
towards the West, however, the rainfall is considerably less, but in fair seasons 
is ample for wheat-growing and general agriculture. Here, also, the seasons for 
planting are in advance of those in the South. : 
