A Review of the Yearns Work. 201 



ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT 

 OF AGRICULTURE. 



LIBRARY 



NBW YORK 



A REVIEW OF THE YEAR'S WORK. «'^tanical 



By S. Williamson Wallact', Director of Agriculture. 



The past year will long be reraernberert by the rural population of 

 this State as being the year of the severest drought ever experienced 

 since the countr}' north of the Dividing Range lias been brought into 

 cultivation. Though severe droughts have previously been recorded, 

 these affected only the flocks and herds which then occupied the dry 

 areas. The diought of this year has fallen heavily on the people 

 ■who more recently settled in that country and devoted their atten- 

 tion chiefly to wheat production, instead of stock raising. 



Excepting the irrigated portions of the Goulburn Valley, and a 

 few patches near- the South Australian border which were favoui'ed 

 with passing thunder showers, the wheat crop was ahnost a complete 

 failure over the whole country north of the Dividing Range. Not a 

 vestige ofgrass was to be seen on the pastures, and the country became 

 almost denuded of stock which had died or had been removed south 

 to be pastured in Gippsland and the Western district. 



The Government advanced £100,000 as loans to farmers to enable 

 them to buy seed wheat, and fodder for working horses. Although 

 this sum was far short of the requirements of those who had not the 

 money to purchase seed for themselves, yet a very large area of 

 wheat has been put in and promises to be the best crop grov^n for 

 years. 



The drought which proved so disastrous in the north raised the 

 price of fodder and rent of grazing areas in the south, so that, excep- 

 ting for those engaged in dairying, the southern farmers benefited 

 largely from the drought in the north of Victoria, and in New South 

 Wales. 



At no time have the advantages of irrigation been so clearly de- 

 monstrated in the State. In the Goulburn Valley, where irrigation 

 was possible, the luxuriant growth of lucerne and heavy crops of hay 

 stood out in vivid contiast to the barren paddocks which had not 

 been watered, and where crops had entirely failed. The lesson has 

 been a severe one, but the conversions to the advantages of irrigation 

 have been more numerous than they would have been in several 

 years with average seasons. To me it has always been a puzzle why 

 anyone should decry irrigation, yet 1 have met many in Victoria who 

 do so. I can only explain this by the fact that the farmers have not 

 been long accustomed to the use of water, and where mistakes were 



^made, with failure as the result, irrigation has been blamed, not the 



oxnis-use of the water. 



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