In this chapter I proceed to give the progress in farming operations and the successive annual yields of grain (estimated) from the number of acres cropped. By this record it will be proved how soon a small band of agriculturists changed the condition of the colony from importation to exportation of breadstuffs, after suitable land was procurable by them, yet still under hindrances.

In the year 1838-9 a crop from about 20 acres was gathered, grown within the city, yield nominal. Harvest 1839-40, about 120 acres were cropped, yield, say, 26 bushels to the acre, nearly all in Adelaide or district. Harvest 1840-1, the breadth under wheat, 1,059 acres, estimated, yield 21,180 bushels ; in barley, 388 acres, as 7,760 bushels ; in oats, 424 acres, as 12,720 bushels ; under maize, 192 acres, as 2,880 bushels. Total acreage, 2,503 acres. At this harvest I had good crops on my small patches of wheat and potatoes ; my seed wheat, which had been raised on town acres, had cost me 15s. a bushel. I had a few bushels of this, my first harvest, beyond what I required for domestic use and seed, for which I got 9s. a bushel. We now obtained our flour by the use at home of a handmill, which some neighbors also used, and so commenced private independence as to bread-food against imported flour. To turn this mill was a change of work, either before or after ordinary long hours of daily labor.

Harvest 1841-2. As cultivation in this and subsequent years was chiefly confined to the growth of wheat, it is only necessary to furnish returns of that cereal—farmers had found out what grain was most saleable. In this season the number of acres in wheat was a little over 4,200, and the estimated yield I give as 84,000 bushels. I had a good crop of 30 bushels to the acre. I sold at 8s. 3d. a bushel.

Harvest 1842-3. Number of acres under wheat 14,000 ; yield not less than 280,000 bushels. The troubles this season were great and universal, labor being so inefficient and expensive.

Harvest 1843-4. No. of acres 23,000 ; quantity of yield, at a reduced average, 276,000 bushels.

Harvest 1844-5. No. of acres 18,980: bushels 189,800. Harvest 1845-6. No. of acres 19,500; bushels 195,000.

I will now return to give an account of my own experiences at harvest 1842-3, and in the transit of the crop to market. Prices had fallen and buyers were scarce. My crop was in condition for hand-reaping before the end of December, but I could not procure reapers before the 24th, as men had been earning large wages on the plains. The soldiers had been allowed to lay down their arms and take up sickles, and many soft-handed gentlemen had also turned out to give their doubtful but well-intended assistance in the emergency.

On the 24th December, 1842, I was able to induce five men to accompany me, and I conveyed them to the farm. I did not allow them to work on Christmas Day, but they had Christmas fare. I engaged to give them 15s. and one bottle of rum an acre, with rations, for hand-reaping. The crop was dead ripe, the heads drooping with the weight of the plump grain. On the 25th a fiery hot wind was blowing, and continued on the following day, when I expected the reapers to start work, but they were missing. I found them at the nearest grog-shop. After some trouble I got them away to start work on the following morning. Before a sickle was put into the crop the loss in shed wheat was over one bushel to the acre, and a further loss followed in harvesting. Before carrying and stacking was undertaken, I had to consider how I could get over the thrashing, as a thrashing machine was not procurable, and the price asked for hand-thrashing was a shilling a bushel, cleaning and bagging extra.

I had anticipated a great fall in price, as well as the other troubles I have to describe, and had procured a large number of store and breeding pigs. I decided to have the grain beaten out of the heads of the sheaves only, without unbinding them, and engaged several German women from Hahndorf, with their curious flails, and a number of blacks to supply the thrashers with the sheaves, to remove them as so partly thrashed, and to place them on frames around a large contiguous pig-yard, to be ready to be thrown to the pigs in fattening them.

The sheaves were left out in shocks in the field, and were brought in to the unskilled thrashers as required, and so the expense of stacking was saved. I counted the cost by this novel process, and of cleaning and bagging to be about 6d. a bushel. In the absence of a winnowing-machine I had the assistance of natives, and got up a good sample by casting the work against the wind.

Next came carting the wheat to town, over the hills on the natural surface, with very little improvement from the hand of man. Now, bullock-drivers demanded 10s. a day and expenses, so I undertook to drive one team myself, and started with a driver to conduct a second team. This was my first attempt to pilot a team of eight bullocks over such a chain of hills. I could comfortably handle a four-in-hand team of horses, but was not up to the skilful management of a team of eight bullocks, although I had, as a matter of course, the handiest cattle for myself. The first rises accomplished successfully, in going down a steep pitch my polers fell, and Larry, a favorite beast, sticking his horns into the ground, went heels and body over head, and his neck was broken.

The next job I and my man had to do was to prepare and dress the carcase, to avoid a total loss; and then to seek purchasers amongst the nearest splitters, to whom I had to dispose of the beef at a nominal price, although the bullock was in prime condition. He cost me £20, so my loss was considerable. With this delay we were unable to reach Adelaide that day. In making other trips that season I had sundry other accidents, but shortly after-wards improvements in the roads were made.

Immediately the thrashing commenced, the fattening of the pigs on the partly thrashed sheaves began, and so the preparation for the knife and salting trough began. The pigs had water at hand, and whilst feeding themselves were doing good work in treading their bedding into a macerated bulk, as a valuable return to the land for crop taken off. Here is presented a striking change from famine prices for consumers to unremunerative prices for growers, with the ruinous rates of wages necessitating the introduction of machinery, about which I shall have some thing to say before I conclude this number.

I sold my wheat of this harvest, part at 4s. and remainder at 3s. 6d. a bushel. I estimated that about one-third was left in the sheaves and given to the pigs.

It was not long before I commenced to kill and cure hams arid bacon, and used a smoking house. When I had about three tons ready for the market, I carted the same to Adelaide, where, on going wearily about from store to store, I found I could get no offer for the lot, and only for small quantities at less than 4d. a pound, and to take part out in stores. I declined these conditions, and when at a loss what to do I met Mr. A. Elder, who on hearing of my unsuccessful attempts to obtain a customer, ordered me to take the lot to his small warehouse, then in Hindley-street, and offered me 4d. a pound, cash, for the lot, which he shipped to the Mauritius. I was glad to hear from him some time afterwards that the shipment met with a good market.

I may here mention that at this time prime beef and mutton were procurable at from 1d. to 3d. a pound. I now return to an incident which occurred at this harvest, when I brought one of the reapers to the crop to see its over-ripe state after I had fetched them from the public-house, and it will be seen how providentially out of the difficulties of the situation the ideas flashed upon me, which have since been brought to maturity and have wrought such a beneficial result for the colony at large.

On my return with the men, I took one of the most sober of them to the crop, and pointed out to him its over-ripeness and how careful they would have to be in performing their work, in handling the standing crop and in binding, calling his attention to the shed grain on the ground. I was standing a little in the crop, and to show how tender the heads were, with the full grain staring us in the face out of the gaping chaff, I passed my left hand with my fingers spread, under and just below the ears, allowing the straws to pass between my fingers, the ears being close to the palm of my hand. I then struck the heads with a sweep of the edge of my right hand, and held out my open hand for the man to see the clean thrashed wheat in the hollow of it, most of the chaff having been carried away.

Before this occurred, I had for many weeks been pondering over plans for applying machinery to a standing crop, and had passed many sleepless hours in bed, and had been remonstrated with by my good wife, who said I should lose my senses.

Before I moved from my position in the standing corn, I stood in a sort of amazement, and looked along and across the fine even crop of wheat. The ideas I had in vain sought for suddenly occurred to me, and I felt an almost overwhelming thankfulness. I did not move, but sent the man for a reaphook, and caused him to cut me a small sheaf, which I took into the barn, there holding it in a perpendicular position, struck the ears with a circular sweeping blow, using a flat piece of wood, and found the thrashed grain to fly upwards and across the floor, and thus I satisfied myself that the grain would bodily fly at a tangent up an inclined plane, and would not require a drum to complete the thrashing ; and so I felt I had gained the correct ideas for a travelling field-thrasher.

All this occurred in the year 1842. I lost no time in exhibiting a rough drawing to many of my neighbors (whose certificates I hold), but got no encouragement ; but from my oft recurrence to the subject was sometimes told I had lost my senses.

After harvest work was done and I had time to visit Adelaide, I met with the same lack of encouragement wherever I spoke of my discovery, except from one individual only at that time. A sort of club had been formed of town gentlemen, who, with farmers, used to dine together at an ordinary at Payne's Hotel (now known as the Exchange Hotel), and here discussions on agricultural subjects used to be introduced. Out of this gathering a committee was formed, called the " Corn Exchange Committee." I can remember some of the names: — Alderman Peacock, Bentham Neales, Joseph Johnson (of the Reedbeds), Hamilton and his partner Henderson, corn merchants, their managing clerk, Thornber, G. Stevenson, Weaver, Southam, Herbert, Robert Smith, Hogarth, and others.

The necessity of some contrivance to aid farmers in harvesting having been made so apparent at the previous harvest, the committeemen who had been appointed took the matter up with zeal, and gave notice in the paper that they would be prepared to give a reward for the best invention to be exhibited to the committee, and advertised a day for the first meeting to be in the month of September following (1843), so as to allow time for the construction of machines before the coming harvest.

At this time more than one machinist was engaged in constructing ordinary fixed thrashing machines, and in consequence the direction of all those who were setting their wits at work to bring out a field machine gave their energies and thoughts to the principle of a mower or cutter, except myself.

I did not waver; I had placed my ideas and plan before the late Mr. Thomas Hudson Beare, and he was the person to whom I have alluded as the only one who saw the correctness of my plan, and he set to work to oblige me, and constructed for me a working model entirely on my own principle, and was with me when it was exhibited before the Corn Exchange Committee on the appointed day, when a number of models and plans were also presented ; but deal with the heads only, as see the reports in the Observer and Register papers. At this meeting Alderman Peacock was in the chair, and the committee passed the resolution at the end of this paper.

But there was one person present at the exhibition, not on the committee or an exhibitor (Mr. John Ridley) who approved of my principle and a short time before the next harvest (1843) constructed one machine, which embraced my ideas of a horizontal projecting comb, and revolving beaters driven by belts from the carriage wheels.

Old colonists will remember that this first reaper was propelled by horses working behind the machine, harnessed to a long pole ; but even with this awkward rig, the principle of taking the grain and leaving the straw, standing was proved to be the right thing for the country and climate.

Harvest 1843-4. I have given the estimated yield of this season to have been 280,000 bushels. I had a fine crop of over 30 bushels an acre. A few standing crops were gathered by Mr. Ridley's first machine, the only one constructed that season. Mr. Ridley after employing it on a few of the standing crops he had purchased, as well as some of his own near Adelaide, was kind enough to send me a man with horses and machine, and by this means my crop was gathered. Prices fell materially after the first field-machine samples reached the market. Several fixed thrashing machines had been constructed, and were at work at the stacks.

I may here mention that one of the arguments against the stripper, and which was much dwelt on was that the crop having to remain until fully ripe and being harvested and bagged in such a dry state became flinty. Well, as soon as the way of shipping to England was found to answer, the dryness of our grain became an advantage, as it arrived in such good condition as to maintain the top price in London, as it has always done against the world. It has also been said the land by the use of this system of harvesting is both exhausted and rendered foul. To these complaints is answered the fault is in growing wheat after wheat, which is neither necessary nor wise, and was only adopted as a necessity when the farms were small, and now under more liberal land laws, is inexcusable.

December, 1843.— As I have mentioned I had been favored by Mr. Ridley with the use of the first machine which was constructed to thrash a standing crop. I explain I had a large yield, and sold part of it at 3s. 6d. a bushel, but could not dispose of more than a few loads, and was advised to ship the remainder of the crop I had for sale by a vessel about to start to New Zealand, and I hurried the stock down, and consigned the same through an Adelaide firm to a house in New Zealand. After patiently waiting for the return, which to my great inconvenience proved a blank, the report came that the whole cargo was condemned as unsound. A large quantity of smutty wheat being placed on board above mine, the whole was condemned and sold as a damaged cargo, and I got no return, and had only to console myself that the proceeds of the sale was admitted to have covered freight and charges, and so the bulk of my crop was a total loss of as fine a sample of wheat as was ever shipped.

Before the following harvest Mr. Marshal constructed my first machine, and Mr. Ridley built more than one machine ; other colonists also took advantage of my public gift of the invention, which I made the day after the Committee gave their decision on the merits of the plans presented, as appears at the end of this paper. To Mr. Thornber the Honorary Secretary of the Corn Exchange Committee, I entrusted my model, with the expression that it was at the service of the public, and so it has remained.

The machine built for me by Mr. Marshal differed from all others at first built, as I dispensed with a drum and had a long inclined plane, which was in accordance with my first ideas, and has since been generally approached.

Copy of reports extracted from Register, September 23, 1842 :— " At a meeting of the Corn Exchange Committee, held at Payne's Hotel on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, when thirteen drawings and plans (models) were exhibited, it was resolved that this meeting, having carefully examined the models and plans submitted to it, is of opinion that no machine has been exhibited which the Committee feel justified in recommending for general adoption; but the plan of Mr. Swingler presenting some ideas which the Committee is desirous of seeing developed in a working model, they have awarded him the sum of three pounds to place one at their disposal. (Signed) Wm. Peacock, Chairman of Committee."

Note. — No notice of any action as to the plan they considered worthy of support was ever made public. A. few of the exhibitors shortly after the meeting constructed cutting machines, which were never successfully used. The one designed to gather the grain only, as has been shown, was adopted by Mr. Ridley in the first instance, and its valued proved by him. The originator of it has been spared to rejoice in the yearly increasing benefit the same has conferred on the inhabitants of South Australia.

In concluding this number I would wish to contrast 1839-40, 120 acres, yield 25 bushels each acre=3,000 at 15s. a bushel, £2,250, with 1874-75, 839,638 acres, yield 11 bush. 451bs.=9,862,693 at 5s.5d. a bushel, £2,670,729.

It must not be forgotten that the first of these crops was from good virgin soil. The second from a large proportion of second and third rate land, and much of it reduced in productiveness after years of the usual colonial exhausting courses of wheat after wheat, as long as a fractional yield can be got.

Remember also that this result was not obtained until after Mr. Strangways succeeded in carrying his Land Reform Bill, with the principle of credit to agriculturists, by which the land sharks ware baffled and farmers enabled to obtain larger quantities of land direct from the Government, prices per acre also ruling higher, to the benefit of the land fund.

See also Wikipedia: Bull was known for his creation of the agricultural stripping machine which he developed but was controversially beaten to the title of the inventor by John Ridley. The controversy was revived in 1875, when the University of Adelaide proposed to establish a "Ridley" chair of agriculture. Bull successful petitioned parliament in 1880 for a grant of recognition of his invention and after a long inquiry, was given £250 in 1882 "for services in improving agricultural machinery". Later research has supported Ridley's claim. ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wrathall_Bull
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ridley_(inventor)}