Quantity of seed used: When we first came out here we used to sow 35 to 40lbs. of late (pickled) wheat and from 45 to 50 lbs of early wheat per acre, and usually reaped from 12 to 18 bushels per acre in good years. In the 1915 seeding I sowed very light, 19 to 30 lbs. of late wheat and averaged 18 bushels per acre. I am now showing more seed per acre and putting on 60 to 65 lbs. of late wheat and 60 to 75lbs. of early wheat per acre. Last year, my average was 24 bushels per acre.

Quantity of super used: When the land was new the usual practice was to sow about 40 to 45 lbs of super per acre. This was continued for four or six years until fallowing commenced and then the dressings of super gradually increased. Experience and experiments proved that it was a payable proposition. This year I am sowing from 100 to 112lbs per acre (standard super).

Average rainfall: 16 inches.

Average wheat returns: My average for six years has been 11⅓ bushels per acre.

General remarks: Water is obtainable by boring at a depth of from 220 to 300 feet, most bores are 240ft. The supply is good. The water contains a little magnesia. The Pinnaroo country opened in good seasons, therefore many difficulties were not noticed. However, they are legion; the greatest, in my opinion, is the gaining of definite knowledge concerning the land we have taken up, its special peculiarities and requirements, its strength for cropping purposes, supers and seed that suit the land, combating insect pests, grubs, etc., and takeall, weather conditions, scarcity of labour, capital — this latter, coupled with a high rate of interest, is the most serious of all.

Experiments: Experiments with seed have not yet been taken up on definite lines. I am now using Marshall's No. 3, Federation, Yandilla King, Gluyas, Late and Early. These are all good hardy genuine varieties and can be relied on. I would suggest that any improvements after the first two years should be of a definite and lasting character. Draw up a line of procedure before starting and act on it. Plan your holding so that you can work it with the greatest economy, having all fields opening on to a lane or race running direct to the homestead.

H. E. BETTESS, farmer, Bute. Location of holding: Hundred of Wiltunga.

Original Cost of land: 12s 6d. to £1 per acre.

Character of land: Some sandhills, loamy, stony, heavy flats, some clay.

Area held: 1,018 acres.

Present Value: £4 per acre.

Means of clearing: Rolling and mullenising.

Cost of clearing: Depends on size of timber. After rolling and burning there is another crop of shoots in a year and so on every year until the shoots are killed. It is very hard to estimate the cost of clearing, but probably it would run from £1 to £2 per acre. The cost of the first year is about 7s. 6d.

Cultivation Methods: Cultivation of a light nature should take place during the first few years, but as the land improves it may be worked more, that is fallowed one year, cropped the next, and grazed the following year, then fallowed again, and so on.I would strongly recommend shallow ploughing — not more than two and a half to three inches. I use a light cultivator in seeding time and a disc drill, as new mallee land is always bad with roots and sticks.

Quality of Seed used: one bushel per acre.

Quality of super used: One cwt., nothing less.

Average rainfall: 13 to 16 inches per annum.

Average returns: From 10 to 20 bushels per acre.

General remarks: Water is one of the most important things the farmer has to provide for. It is necessary to have good holding ground and a good run before sinking a dam. Then the dam must be large enough to carry the farmer through a drought. The best idea is a good water scheme such as will supply a large area, and reticulate where most suitable. One trouble mallee farmers have to contend with is takeall, which is hard to beat, as there are so many different opinions concerning it. It is hard to say what the cause is, but I think it is largely due to working the land too little and working in the wrong manner. land should always be worked down fine and not left lumpy.

Seed used: Seed wheat used in the district is mostly of the late varieties, such as Marshall's No. 3, Yandilla King, etc.

JOHN GRAY, farmer, Parilla.

Location of holding: Section 67, Hundred of Parilla, County Chandos.

Original cost of land: From 3s. to 17s. per acre, according to the percentage of better class land the holding contained. The price of my own selection was about 7s. per acre. The Government valuation of similar land now is from 12s. to 14s. per acre. With about 1,450 acres cleared, divided into eight paddocks with good sheep-proof fences, and wire netted on three boundaries, with bore, windmill and tanks, and water laid on to house and yards, and with a substantial stone house, I think as a going concern, the farm is now worth £3 per acre.

Character of land: Holding consists of about half red sand loamy soil over stiff clay, and the balance is made up of hills of white sand. The hills run eastward and west, are well defined, and the flats between the hills vary in width from 10 to 20 chains, and in some cases they are 50 chains wide. The Survey Department originally described the selection as half arable, thus indicating that they placed no value on the white sand rises. The original vegetation consisted of mallee, broom and other bushes, and on some of the rises there was a fair amount of scrub pine. Some of the mallee was of a fair size from 15 to 20 feet high, whilst some of it was low and stunted. It may be said that it was all good rolling stuff.

Area held: 1,566 acres.

Present value: £3 per acre.

Method of clearing: The usual method of clearing the and in this district is to roll the scrub. A man with a team of seven horses and an iron roller 10 feet wide will do about 90 acres per week. On my own holding, with seven horses and a roller nine feet wide, we rolled 700 acres the first season, besides carting a lot of building material and chaff a distance of seven miles over a heavy road. This work is usually done in the winter months. The fire-break should be made before the summer sets in by throwing all the heavy mallee back from the boundary about half a chain and burning all the smaller mallee and bushes. The "spring backs" that are left by the roller are usually cut by the hand to assure a good burn. The burning season begins in this state on 1st February and ends on 15th October. A hot windy day is usually selected for burning off. Before the field is fired, it is usual to burn a break two or three chains wide on the lee side to prevent the fire getting out of bounds. If the burn has been a good one there will no be much clearing to be done. If the mallee is heavy, there will be snags to be cut and probably some picking up to be done. When the fire leaves a fair amount of mallee, etc., an ordinary hay rake is used to take the sticks into rows to be heaped up and burnt. Sometimes it is necessary to use a heavy scrub rake for this work. If the burn has been a good one there will be no shoots to cut the first year, but there will probably be small sticks and bushes to be cut. This work is done by a slasher while the crop is growing. For the second crop, if a good stubble burn has not been secured, there will be a lot of shoots to cut, and this is usually done while the crop is growing.

Cost of Clearing: The price is usually paid for rolling down the class of scrub I have described is about 3s. 6d. per acre. If there are many trees too strong to be pulled down with the roller, a man is usually put on ahead of the roller to nick them or, in other words, to partly cut them so that they will give way before the roller. This work will, of course, increase the cost. The cutting of "spring backs," preparing breaks, burning off, and clearing after the burn may be set down at another 3s. 6d. per acre, or 7s. per acre to get the land ready for seeding implements. In many instances where the land is farmed on the share system, the share farmer does this work for 5s. per acre, but I think he does it partly at his own expense. The price paid for shoot cutting varies from 9d to 3s. 6d. per acre, according to the age of the shoots and the quality on the land. The average cost will be about 1s. per acre. The cost of picking up the stump will be worth about 1s. per acre. At the present time, stumps are worth 14s to 15s per ton on trucks at Parilla, so that they will pay for stack-