L Noy., 1902 } QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 875 
RUSTY WHEAT. 
Should rust make its appearance in the wheat this year, it is recommended 
by Mr. Molineux, late editor of the South Australian Journal of Agriculture, 
to cut the wheat with a binder as soon as it is past the dough stage, and allow 
it to ripen in the stooks. His opinion is that cutting the wheat would arrest 
the progress of the fungus, and that, unless the grain was already affected, it 
would fill out allright. The Awstralian Agriculturist says that several farmers 
who adopted this practice with part of their crops have since reported that, 
while they got a good sample from the wheat they cut and thrashed, the portion 
of the crop left for the stripper was badly affected by rust. Farmers would do 
well to test this matter for themselves should rust, unfortunately, attack the 
crops this year, and, even if the grain should not fill out in the sheaves, they 
will have a supply of hay. 
CORNSTALKS., 
Tt is estimated that the stalks, leaves, and husks of the corn plant, which 
have hitherto been burnt or otherwise got rid of as useless, contain about 40 
per cent. of the nutritive value of the plant. 
PRESERVING SOFT FRUITS. 
We hear that Dr. A. A. Brown, of the Department of Agriculture of 
Victoria, has discovered a process by which soft fruits may be preserved for 
indefinite periods. His long-continued experiments have produced such 
satisfactory results that the work will probably be continued by the Government. 
In July last, Dr. Brown showed the Minister for Agriculture grapes, pears, and 
peaches, which had been in cool storage for eleven weeks, and which were 
perfectly sound. The treatment is understood to be that in which formic- 
aldehyde acid gas is the chief feature. 
AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
The Editor will be glad if the secretaries of Agricultural and other Societies 
will, as early as possible after the fixture of their respective shows, notify him 
of the date, and also of any change in date which may have been decided on. 
