22p AGRICULTURAL KDUCATJON IN AUS'1RALL\. 



It is impossible to refer to these experiments with anything 

 Hke detail in a paper such as this, but it may sufifice to say that, 

 as the farm was so recently acquired, much pioneering work 

 had to be done in each case in order to get the various experi- 

 mental plots set going. For instance, the permanent rotation 

 tests comprise ten different systems of rotation, and these again 

 are divided amongst 26 half-acre plots, but in every one of these 

 the earliest sowing took ])lace during the 19 13 season, so that 

 obviously there had been no time for any results. 



The ibulk of the farm lands, as already indicated, is poor; 

 oats have been grown on the land for nearly 30 years without a 

 rest, and the lands are evidently worn out. The soil is floury 

 after dry cultivation, sets hard on drying after rain, and is 

 plainly deficient in humus. Two methods of supplying this 

 deficiency in the quickest ]>ossible manner are being investigated : 

 these are the feeding off and the ploughing in of ,u'reen-crops. 



The irrigation experiments are carried on in two sections, 

 one being devoted to forage-crops and grasses, and the other to 

 lucerne fields. The latter is sub-divided into five sub-sections hav- 

 ing reference respectively to the efiicacy of various to])-dressings 

 on established lucerne, soil liming and inoculation trials, fertiliser 

 trials, lucerne variety and seeding tests, etc. 



In this connection it was of interest to learn that a 15-acre 

 pk)t. sown with lucerne two years ago, and flood-irrigated from 

 a wide concrete canal, yielded a croj) of six and a half tons of 

 lucerne per acre over its entire area, and sufficed to feed 850 

 sheep for eight days. The irrigation-canal leads by gravitation 

 from an elevated circular tank of reinforced concrete, to which 

 the water is pumped up from the Werribee River, about a quar- 

 ter of a mile away. 



The meteorological observations taken at Werribee comprise 

 records of rainfall, loss by evajjoration, simshine records, earth 

 temperature, etc. The temperature of the soil during the summer 

 months averages ()0 deg. F.. and to this fact was ascribed the 

 nitrogen activity of the soil, and the common experience, here, 

 as in South Australia, that the artificial su])ply oi nitrogen is un- 

 necessary. The annual rainfall of the station averages 19.5 

 inches, and a thoroughly representative sample of every fall of 

 rain is collected and regular!)' analysed. 



While the farm livestock was being inspected by the visit- 

 ing party, Dr. S. S. Cameron, Chief Veterinary Officer of the 

 Victorian Department of x\griculture, said that 12 head of red 

 hornless cattle had recently been imported, and that only one 

 of these had since been found to average less than 600 gallons 

 of milk per annum. Endeavours are being made to establish 

 a breed of cows which will be not only hornless, but also good 

 milkers and good meat-producers ; and the Red- Poll cattle that 

 con.stitute the dairy herd on the farm have proved in every 

 case to put on flesh rapidly as soon as the lactation period comes 

 to an end. 



The Werribee Red-Poll herd now consists of 22 cows and 



