524 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



retaining, for though it was very late it stooled well and the bearded 

 ears were very long, up to seven or eight inches. The Hag was 

 rnsty but the straw was comparatively clean. 



The oats were likewise very late, but Abundance was the earliest 

 of all and the only one retained. 



Of the barleys tried they were all rather late, but No. 2 six-rowed 

 biirley, grown in a patch as well as in the Single Seed Plots, was 

 further advanced than the rest and consequently retained. It is 

 absolutely necessary to have an early barley for this district, in order 

 to escape the caterpillars, which are very prevalent. This variety is 

 verv thin-skinned, and likely to prove a good malting barley. 



American varieties. — These were all evidently too late for this 

 district, and besides some of them were very rusty. 



Farrer's crosses, etc. — John Brown was tried but it was too late 

 and too rusty to be retained. Bobs was sown on a patch of over 

 l-40th of an acre and turned out well. It is a little late and a poor 

 stool er, but it is upright and wiry, with good grain. The rust is 

 mainly on Hag, and there is a comparatively clean straw. About 

 three acres were sown with Rerraf at the latter end of June on the 

 Blackwoods, where the black soil is subject to floods and the- 

 conditions particularly favourable to rust. The land was not 

 manured, but mangels had been grown the previous season, which 

 received a manuring of 2 cwt. Florida superphosphate, 1^ cwt. nitrate 

 of soda, and 1 cwt. salt to the acre. About 80 tons of mangels per 

 acre were harvested. The ground was ploughed to a depth of 

 five inches for the wheat and the seed sown broadcast and harrowed 

 in. The result was a nice clean crop with only a few specks of rust 

 occasionally on the straw, although it appeared on the flag. It 

 stooled and headed well, and the yield will be given later when the 

 wheat is threshed. A crop of Algerian oats growing alongside was 

 badlv rusted with Puccinia gra7ninis both on stem and flag. 



Dart's Imperial was also badly afi:"ected, so that it had to be cut 

 for hay. In order to test the effect of late sowing on the develop- 

 ment of rust, a small patch of Rerraf was sown under the same 

 conditions late in September. On inspecting this plot on 23rd 

 December the straw was found to be quite clean and only a very 

 little rust on the flag. 



2.— Rutherglen. 



The soil on which the plots were grown is a light red loam with a 

 yellow clay subsoil, and the previous crop was wheat without manure. 

 The sowing took place on 2(5th May, under favourable weather 

 conditions. 



Gartons cross-hreds. — The wheats were all rather late, and for some 

 reason Red King did not germinate at all, so that it will be tried 

 again next season. New Era was the only wheat deemed worthy of 

 further trial. The oats seemed to suit this district better than Port 



