106 



Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



advising- farmers to go in for the crop extensively. Kale, wliicli was 

 also tried, succeeded well, but the impossibility of having an officer 

 present on every occasion to strip the leaves as required, prevented 

 full returns being obtained. 



Pumpkins. 



In juidition to the crops already dealt with there were a few fields 

 in which ]iunipkins, mangels, cow peas, soy beans, and Florida beans 

 were included. In only one instance were returns for pumpkins and 

 mangels procurable. In the case of cow peas the returns from two crops 

 were obtained, while the few fields of soy beans and Florida beans 

 failed almost entirely. The returns from one plot of pumpkins were so 

 good as to suggest the advisability of a far greater attention being 

 given to the crop especially on lighter soils, which seem to show a 

 very marked response to manures in the case of this crop. The 

 difference between the yields of the unmanured and the manured 

 sections was more striking in the case of this crop than any other 

 tried. On the unmanured section a yield at the rate of 4'86 tons only 

 to the acre was obtained, while the manured section, showing the 

 maximum returns, gave figures exceeding 36 tons. There was evi- 

 dence in the earlier stages of growth of the section with the complete 

 manure even considerably exceeding these figures ; but a rather long- 

 spell of dr}- weather caused, in this instance, many of the fruits to fall 

 off, appreciably reducing the yield. The pumpkin is certainly a watery 

 food, but taken in conjunction with the immense yields obtainable, 

 the chemical composition is such as to indicate that it is a fodder by 

 no means to be despised, and one for which a special purpose might 

 also be found on every farm. The analyses of the ])umpkin from 

 American sources show the following figures : — 



But the succulency of a food often increases its nutritive value 

 beyond that ascribed on the basis of chemical analysis. 



Mangels. 



The mangel is a crop whose qualities are fairly well-known to 

 every farmer. To parade figures showing the very large, yields 

 obtainable from the crop would serve little purpose. Its large yield- 

 ing power is generally recognised. But the advisability of experi- 

 ments to determine the varying yields procurable under similar 

 conditions of growth from new and untried varieties is of course very 

 patent. In the one test made where the Long Red and Yellow Globe 

 were grown side by side, the advantage seemed very much in favour 

 of the Yellow Globe. The maximum yield in the Long Red figured 



