Disease.^' of Cereals : Rust and Take-all in Wheat. 709 



DISEASES OF CEREALS: RUST AND TAKE- 

 ALL IN WHEAT.* 



By D. Mc Alpine. 



It is a privilege to have the opportunity of addressing a body of 

 producers whose interest it is to turn to the best account the various 

 natural advantages which our soil and climate offer, and as a repre- 

 sentative of one of the numerous branches which necessarily go to 

 the making of an up-to-date Agricultural Department, I desire to lay 

 before you some of the means whereby production may be increased 

 and losses diminished. 



The Agricultural Chemist has already shown you how, by the 

 judicious application of manures in the right quantities, the ordinary 

 yields may be considerably increased, and how in comparatively poor 

 land crops may be grown to advantage which would otherwise be 

 unprofitable. This however is one, but not the only one, of the 

 numerous measures which the farmer may employ to obtain an 

 increased return from the cultivation of the soil, and I will mention 

 just a few of those which have given good results in connection with 

 the experimental work carried out by the Pathologist's Branch. 



Variety Tests. 



It is a well known fact that among the numerous varieties, it may 

 be of cereals, of fruit trees or vines, there are some better adapted to 

 certain districts than others. The soil and climate, heat and moisture 

 vary, and it should be one of the objects of the successful cultivator 

 to study his surroundings and grow the particular varieties which 

 give him the best return for labour expended. This, of course, can 

 only be satisfactorily settled by actual tibial, and the Department for 

 a number of years past has been conducting experiments in this 

 direction. There is an unlimited field hero for experiment in order to 

 determine the sorts best suited to our conditions, for in a compara- 

 tively young country like ours, with its vast possibilities of varied and 

 extensive culture, there is plenty of room for the introduction of new 

 varieties and the improvement of those already in existence. 



As an example in connection with the hop industry, hop sets have 

 been imported from California where the climate is somewhat similar 

 to our own, and after a thorough trial an old and experienced hop 

 grower writes: — "The introduction of the Californian hop to Victoria 

 is, I feel confident, a step in the right direction, which ought to have 

 been taken many years ago." 



''An address delivered before the Kyneton Convention of Farmers and Producers, 30th June, 1904. 



