620 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Sept. 2, 1920. 



increased bacterial action. Some soils remain cloddy throughout the season, 

 but others are self-mulchinir, the clods gradually crumbling and providing 

 fine moist soil some 3 inches down where it is most required by the rootlets. 



A new light has been thrown on the subject of cultivalion by Mr. C. M. 

 Hutchinson, Imperial Agricultural Bacteriologist, at Pusa, India. Tn 

 Bulletin 68, he says : — " During the cold weather in Bihar, when the rabi 

 crops are, in the ground, the nitrate formed in the soil is brought to tlip 

 surface by the capillary rise and ev aporation of soil water, so that in an 

 untilled soil about 90 per cent, of the whole nitrate present in the first 18 

 inches of soil is concentrated in the first quarter-inch. This emphasises the 

 need for cultivation during this period of the year, not only to minimise loss 

 of water by evaporation, but to prevent the concentration of the available 

 nitrogenous plnnt food in such a superficial layer, and the consequent forma- 

 tion of a shallow root system so characteristic of plants in a badly cultivated 

 soil, and speciallj' noticeable in the case of cold weather cereals of normally 

 deep-rooting habit, such as wheat." The restriction of giowth by caking 

 of the surface is therefore not alone due to lack of soil aeration. 



It has been remarked that seeds sown in a depression do not germinate nearly 

 so well as those surmounted by a convex soil surface. The cause would appear 

 to be lack of aeration and drainage. The ordinary wheat drill deposits the 

 seed in a tiny hollow, with a ridge on either side of a row of gr^^in. It has 

 been our experience in hand-sowings of wheat tliat seed under a slight ridge 

 comes up better than that sown in a hollow. If the drill was so constructe<i 

 that the seed was deposited under a ridged surface a better germination would 

 certainly follow in circumstances wliere a good fall of rain succeeded the 

 sowing. Judgment must be exercised in regard to deep cultivation when 

 the warm weather begins. If the lumps are too large, it mf?ans considerable 

 evaporating surface and loss of moisture at a time when the crop can ill 

 afford it. 



It may seem like going into fine points and unnecessary expense for a 

 fai-mer to have more than one type of plough and cultivator on his place, 

 but we cannot expect fertilisers to do everything. Successful soil manage- 

 ment consists in using the right class of implement just at the right time. 

 With good selected seed and fertiliser, and reasonably good land, the farmer 

 can be fairly sure of getting the best returns possible, provided he uses 

 judgment in the working of his land. The mechanical condition of the soil 

 is being more studied in conjunction with bacteriology, as we are coming to 

 realise that it is by no means the lifeless, inert matter we used to think. 



Negro County Agents. 



Extension work among negroes is now undertaken in the United States by 

 the DepHrtmeiit of Agriculture, 220 negro agents (KJ.'i men and 57 women) 

 working for tli(> increase of the agricultural output oi" their ccjloured people. 

 The result is increasingly beneficial ; an officer of the Dej)artment records 

 that the negro agent's work last year, in twenty-three counties of Virginia, 

 reached 14,000 neyro farmers. 



