FirU E,'-2jcn'tiu'nfx oj the P(if<t Ye<ir hij the Cht'.niicud Branch. 819 



valuable addition to the forage crops of the .South. The beet is also a 

 fodder which has throughout done well. It is spoken of by many with 

 almost enthusiasm. In addition to its line feeding quaUties for the 

 dairy cow, it has the special advantage of filling the gap when other 

 «rops are done. The rape has given enormous yields, and has 

 generally proved so successful that there is pi-ol)ably no ])art of the 

 woi'ld better adapted for its growth. The possibilities of this crop in 

 the production of pork and mutton have not yet dawned upjon the 

 Southern farmer. If the experiments of the past year had done 

 nothing more than bring this crop into prominence, sufficient to 

 justify the expenditure of the wliole work would have been 

 accomplished. 



Conclusion. 



I have attempted in the time at my disposal to give some 

 •explanation of the field operations of last year. All this work was 

 carried out in co-operation with farmers, and without the opportunity 

 •of preliminary investigations of any kind at a Government Station. 

 The advantage of such a station will not be questioned. The farmer 

 is hardly the best judge of the value of experimeutal work. 

 Investigations which end successfully on his farm, and provide him 

 with new facts which can immediately enter into his agricultural 

 practice are naturally regarded with favour, but for the large 

 percentage of failures which of necessity must enter into all 

 ex])erimental work, he has little sympathy. He appears to forget 

 there is a great value attaching even lo neg'ative results. Where the 

 experimenter has to make leaps in the dark, he is apt to suffer some 

 injustice, and find his work discredited. But the splendid results of 

 the past year have even justified such risks, and the new crop of 

 facts which we can now offer the farmer will, I think, appeal to him 

 as of great value. It is important he should learn something of the 

 mauurial requirements of his soil for the various crops he 

 grows. The work of the past year has attempted to provide this 

 knowledge. It concerns him just as mucli to know the adaptabilities 

 of his district for untried crops, tending to advance industries already 

 established, as well as indicating possible developments in other 

 directions. Here also the Chemical Branch has been active, and I 

 think T can claim successful. The farmer, in the broad sense of the 

 word, the dairyman and the grazier in the narrower, must benefit by 

 every fact pointing to a possible increase in the productive power of 

 the soil. The increase in the yield of farm crops generally, as 

 indicated by the fertilization experiments, the improvements of 

 pasture lands following a similar treatment, the improved prosjiects 

 of the dairy industry through a proved, possible, continuous supply of 

 succulent forage through the long summer months, and the 

 conclusions to be drawn from the beet experiments are all facts 

 pointing towards the goal of a more progressive iVgriculture. I wish 

 you to regard these facts in this light, to support the efforts which are 

 being made by the Department to further your interests, and to ask 

 that there shall be no starving of institutions engaged in the great 

 work of agricultural education and investigation. 



