The Avondale Research Station is situated on land typical of many thousands of -*- acres of the Avon Valley—jam, wattle and York-gum country liberally dotted with stony outcrops. Despite the expenditure over the years of many man-hours on stone-picking:, the cutting of meadow hay was always a task involving frayed tempers, loss of time and a heavy bill for replacements of mower parts. Small stones, which were of no consequence in the working of a paddock with other types of machinery, jammed the mower knives with exasperating frequency.
It was not a practicable proposition to make hundreds of acres entirely stone-free, so following upon consultations with experienced farmers and engineers it was decided to test a heavy roller to press the stones into the ground before mowing, and incidentally to level out minor irregularities on the soil surface
