214 Agricultural Joiirnal of Victoria. 



to all such similar questions. It is work which of necessity must 

 grow by leaps and bounds. With every new development in field 

 work there will be corresponding demands in analytical investigation. 

 In the examination of manui-es, especially, I anticipate large develop- 

 ments. The present Fertilizers' Act does not, in my opinion, offer 

 sufficient protection to the farmer. That protection ought to be 

 given if we wish farmers to engage in the fertilization of their 

 lands with confidence. To give that necessary protection it will 

 require the analysis of at least 500 samples a year. 



Future field experimental work will, apart from the fanner's 

 demands, largely add to the work of the laboratory. For the 

 manurial requirements of the many crops possible in the South we 

 must look to field experiinent, and with field experiment soil 

 analysis should go hand in hand. From the results obtained by 

 the growing crop in the field, and from the soil analysis of the 

 laboratory, we shall secure data for forming opinions as to the 

 proper treatment of similar soil areas of wide extent, and their 

 adaptability for special cultures. As the statement also shows, a 

 large number of water analyses is carried out in this laboratory, 

 many of them to decide the suitability of the samples for ag- 

 ricultural purposes. It is essential to agricultural development, 

 especially in the arid or semi-arid portions of Victoria, that the 

 struggling settler should be freely assisted in this matter. A well 

 or a bore in the far North may be a veritable gold mine or it 

 may be a source of absolute danger. The agricultural laboratory 

 should be at the service of every farmer to inform him of the 

 suitability of his supply for domestic use, for stock requirements, 

 and for irrigation purposes. In the interests, also, of the continued 

 development of the dairy industry, it is essential that the water 

 supply of all butter factories should be under constant chemical 

 supervision by the Department. The use of a pure water in the 

 dairy is of vital importance to both our local and foreign markets. 

 The bluestone used by the farmer in the pickling of his wheat, 

 and the insecticides and fungicides so extensively employed by the 

 fruit grower in the orchard are liable to adulterations which render 

 them useless for the purposes intended. Not only the individual 

 using them, but the whole country might suffer seriously fi-om the 

 effects of such adulterations. The chemical analysis of our various 

 agricultural products, vegetable and animal, requires to be system- 

 atically taken up. Profitable farming depends as much upon the 

 quality of what a farmer produces as upon the quantity. To send 

 away wheat or barley or flour deficient in important constituents 

 means going under in the severe struggle for the world's market, 

 when a better article is able to compete. We might send away in 

 unlimited quantities, jams, pulps, preserves, canned meats, and various 

 other articles, but to export these, either wilfully adulterated or unin- 

 tentionally contaminated with dangerous metallic salts owing to im- 

 proper methods of canning, is to seriously imperil our prospects of 

 ever building up a great export trade in these lines. This is a 

 matter closely affecting our producers, and every such shipment 



