Field Exferiments of the Past Year bi/ the Chemical Branch. 299 



four substances, however, which in the average soil were liable to 

 become exhausted. These four substances are nitroo-en, ])hosphoric 

 acid, jiotash and lime. All manuring has for its main object the 

 giving back to the soil of either one, two, three or four of these 

 ingredients. In giving farm-yard manure we give all of these 

 substances back. But if a soil were only deficient in one of 

 tliesc ingredients it would be folly to give a manure containing them 

 all. hi other words, it Avould be carrying coal to Newcastle. To 

 avoid this then, w(; have manures containing only one of the 

 ingredients, and the list here will show von what these manures 

 are : — 



PBOSPHORIC ACID is contained in Superphos])hate, Thomas 

 Phosphate (vStar Phosphate), Bonedust, Guano. 



NITROGEN is contained in Sulphate of Ammonia, Nitrate of 

 Soda, Dried Blood. 



POTASH is contained in Potash Chloride, Potash Sulphate, 

 Kainit, Ashes. 



LIME is contained in Lime and Gypsum. 



You will now know then what manures to apply if your soil is 

 deficient in a particular ingredient or ingredients. Should your soil 

 be deficient in three or four, then one from each group would require 

 to be taken. But what the farmer really first wants to know is, what 

 his soil is deficient in. And it is just here .where the Department of 

 Agriculture steps in. It has already taken the step with its 

 experimental fields in the North, and its work has been the solution 

 of this problem for the whole of the northern wheat area. The lands 

 of the Mallee, the black soils of the AVimmera, and the red plains of 

 the North have all been asked the question, and have all given the 

 same reply : — " Nitrogen we have in abundance, potash in plenty, 

 magnesia, soda, iron, chlorine, and the long list of all you say is 

 essential to the healthy growth of the crops we raise; all these are 

 with us in quantities above requirements. The one essential, failing 

 us all, is phosphoric acid. Give us a mere sprinkling of this substance, 

 and we promise you again crops e(}ual to those which followed the 

 first breaking with the plough." It was these facts then, facts 

 referring to the results of soil investigations in the North which 

 formed the bulk of the material contained in the paper I gave you 

 a twelvemonth ago at Shepparton. It is at this point we can pick up 

 the thread and treat of the work which followed. 



The main ])roblems of northern soils had then been solved, that 

 is, the more immediate problems. For I do not wish it to be 

 understood that there is nothing more to do in the investigation of 

 soil jn-oblems in the North. There is a very great deal to do. What 

 I mean is that the principal question of supreme importance for the 

 })resent to the farmer had received the consideration that it for the 

 moment required. The duty, however, of a Department of Agriculture 

 is not only to investigate immediate, but to anticipate future 

 requirements. Enough, however, for the present had been done in the 



