AGRICULTURAL EDITCATION IN AUSTRALIA. 219 



Werribee railway station. The farm possesses comparatively good 

 lands, as well as definitely poor soil. Of the 1,167 acres, which 

 constitute the farm lands, alx)ut 837 are poor or fair clays or 

 stony loams; the remainder is fair to good red volcanic loam 

 overlying clay. Of the latter 2,000 acres are irrigable. 



On arrival at the farm gates, a halt was made, and all 

 gathered round one of the large drags which had conveyed us 

 thither, and from which a few words of welcome to the State 

 of Victoria, and particularly to Werribee Central Research farm, 

 were then addressed to us by the State Minister of Aiiriculture, 

 Mr. W. J. Hutchinson, who had accompanied the party from 

 Melbourne. The Director of the Research Station explained 

 the purpose of the wheat investigations which constitute the 

 principal work of the Station. At present, he said, the varieties 

 of wheatr" cultivated in Australia are not sufficiently drought- 

 resistant, and so endeavours are being made to obtain drought- 

 resistant wheats, by importing these, not from humid climates, 

 like Europe, whence the wheat cultivated in Australia was orig- 

 inally imported, but from the driest possible countries ; and then 

 it is sought either to acclimatize the wheat so imported, or by 

 cross-breeding, to set about procuring grain suited to the coun- 

 try's special conditions. 



In addition to research work and investigation experiments, 

 the Werribee farm undertakes practical demonstrations in agri- 

 cukure and livestock luisbandry. Of the investigations the 

 chief heads are: — 



{a) Improvement of wheat and other cereals, grasses, and 

 economic plants, by selection, stud-breeding, and hy- 

 bridising ; 



(b) Soil renovation, fertilising, and tillage methods; 



(f) Rotation of crops, and improved cropping practices; 



(d) Irrigation practices, drainage and aeration of soils; 



(e) Improvement of natural pastures, and trials of artificial 



grassing with exotic and native grasses ; 



(/) The breeding and feeding of livestock, improvement of 

 milk-yields, and production of standard export types 

 of lambs; 



ig) Research concerning soil-moisture, temperature, bio- 

 logical conditions, and nitrification processes, and the 

 nutrition of plants ; 



ill) Meteorological observations relating to agriculture. 



Broadly speaking, all these investigations may be grouped 

 under the three heads of dry-farming investigations, irrigation 

 investigations and livestock investigations. 



The dry-farming experimental work is carried on in nine 

 sections. These are: (i) Permanent rotation tests, (2) cereal 

 experiment fields, (3) grass seeding trials, (4) top-dressing of 

 natural pastures, (5) legumes for soil-renovation, (6) top- 

 dressing of cereals with nitrates, (7) pot experiments, (8) modes 

 and depths of ploughing, (9) bulk wheats for seed 



