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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18758, 11 January 1923, Page 6

“Ono man could sow and harvest 300 acres of .wheat without employing any labour, ’ said a AVanganui resident, who recently returned from Australia, to a Chronicle reporter, when referring to farming in Australia. As was to be expected, the reporter questioned the statement. The traveller said it had been put to him in this way: Suppose a man takes up a section covered with light scrubby bush. He gets 500 acres ready and ploughs jt with an eight-furrow- disc plough, peculiarly equipped with eight springs, which allow the discs to jump any obstructions. This land is then allowed io lie fallow for twelve months, after which wheat is drilled in and covered over by spring ryne harrows. When the wheat is ripe, a stripping machine, with an Bfl beam, is employed to collect the heads of wheat. This stripping machine is im effect a threshing machine as well, for ; t winnows the grain and bags it. By this method it is possible for one man to farm 300 acres of wheat without employing extra manual labour, and explains why a. crop of 12 bushels to the acre in Australia can bo made to-, pay better than a 30-bushel crop in Now Zealand. The land which grows wheat this year is not cropped again next season, but another SCO acres are dealt with. And so on. F.very 300 acres takes its turn to fallow.