-I PRESIDEXT S ADDRESS. 



to teach the man on the huul how to grow crops, or how to raise stock, primarily, 

 or how to accumulate shekels, or anythinir of that sort. Jt is to be a book solely 

 for the purpose of setting forth the complemental, theoretical side of the practical 

 activities of the man on the land, esjjecially in relation to drouaht-iJroblems. with 

 tlie object of enabling him to understand what it is he needs to learn in order to 

 make the most of his resources in providing against disaster; that is how to live 

 and keep in harmony with his somewliat erratic environment: and tu understand 

 that drought is not a curse, and that he is not called on to fight droughts, but 

 to fight his ignorance about how to cope with them, which ought to be. sooner 

 or later, enlightenaljle, provided that Science is afforded an opportunity of helping 

 him. 



Apart Ironi the fact that no such book, as 1 have i>roposed. is available at 

 ]>resent, the need nt such a book is not that nothing at all is known al)out 

 drought-problems, hut that so much of what is known is to lie found in back 

 numbers of newsijapers or in scientific .journals, where it is not accessible to 

 those who want it, and could make use of it; and that tliese contributions to 

 knowledge deal only with jiarticular aspects or cases, and not eomijrehensively 

 witli the subject in its entirety. What is wanted, as I think, is a selfcontained 

 Handbook of the complementary, theoretical side of drought-problems. I give 

 a sketch of the ground that, in my opinion, nught l)c covered by it, just as some- 

 thing for consideration and discussion: — ■ 



Synopsis. 



Nature and Man, Nature's Insurgent Son---Disturbance of Nature's Balance 

 by Settlement, and what that involves; the reckless or careless introduction of 

 undesirable Aliens, lil^e Rabbits, Prickly Pear, &c. ; and the reason why they 

 flourish in tlicir new environment — Droughts: their Histoi-y and Periodicity in 

 Australia — Droughts in South Africa, and Subtropical South America — Their 

 Cause and ]\reaning in the Economy of Nature: Nature's two ways of resting 

 or sweetening the land, and, at the same time, of clearing up. putting thing's 

 in order, and striking a balance, by (1) severe cold, or (2) more or less intense 

 aridity — The year after a drought, the bumper year for crops and lierbage. and the 

 scientific explanation of the resting and sweetening of the land — The Lessons to 

 be learned from the high level and low-level Flood-plains of the Hawkcsbury River 

 Valley, as in evidence at Richmond; and from the desiccated Lake Eyre Basin of 

 Central Australia, called by Gregory "The Dead Heart of Australia" — The Adap- 

 tations of the indigenous Plants and Animals to arid conditions, and the lessons 

 to.be learned from them — The Man on the Land in the Northern Hemisphere, with 

 an annually recurring liard winter, in harmony with his environment — The Man 

 on the Land in the Southern Ileniisjjhere. witli mild winters hut periodical 

 droughts, whose ]ieriodicity cannot at present be calculated, not yet wholly in 

 harmony with his environment — The need to conserve the fertility of the Soil, and 

 the indigenous grasses and fodder-plants — Disturbance of the Soil-organisms, and 

 of their long-standing association with the indigenous Plants, especially the 

 Acacias and Eu<alypts; the Bionomics of Soil-organisms in the arid portions of 

 the Continent; and the risks from strong, dry. Westerly Winds, in the absence 

 of a covering of Snow, when the natural covering of the ground has been re- 

 moved — Lessons from Droughts; and the Application of the Lessons — Bibliography, 

 as a guide to more detailed consideration of special subjects — Index, &c. 



Hap)>ily there have been and are men on the land in Australia, who have 

 leariicil tlijit droughts are not a cui'se, tliough rabbits and prickly pear may be; 



