710 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



But it is mainly with wheat, oats and barley that I have been 

 experimenting, and the results are very encouraging. In a wheat 

 that is to replace some of those already grown, it is necessary at least 

 to have rust resistance, early ripening, good yielding and milling 

 qualities. Eerraf has so far fulfilled these conditions, and it was 

 extensively distributed by the Department last season in small 

 quantities. The celebrated Garton breeds of cereals have also been 

 imported by the Director of Agriculture, and so far the Abundance 

 oat and the Brewer's Favourite barley promise well. 



It is most important to have a good malting barley, especially for 

 the northern areas, and a more vigorous and better quality of seed 

 is much to be desired. 



Garten's No. 2 six-rowed barley was tried on a small scale, and 

 found to be early and the grain very thin skinned. With reference 

 to this barley, I am favoured with the following through Mr. Barrett, 

 maltster, who takes a lively interest in the subject : — 



" It may interest you to hear that we wrote to a friend of ours in 

 England about this barley, and he said that, speaking to a very large 

 barley grower in Mark Lane this morning (April t)th), 'there was a 

 very small acreage of it grown in England last 3^ear, as the maltsters 

 paid such low prices for it in consequence of its size, but the yield is 

 higher per acre than the ordinary Chevalier.' Our friend also said, 

 'that one very large maltster told him that personally he liked the 

 barley as it made very nice malt/ but here again the brewers objected 

 to it because the malt was so small. Our friend also said ' that 

 personally I have no doubt but later on this six-rowed barley will be 

 the thing, as with careful cultivation it will reproduce in larger size, 

 something between the big sizes and it, as the big sizes now develop 

 to too great a size.' " 



There can be no doubt of the value of testing the difi'erent 

 varieties of wheat suited to particular districts, for each agricultural 

 region with its distinct climate must stand on its own. This was 

 strikingly shown in the experiments conducted in the Mallee for three 

 successive seasons 1899-1901, where one of the crosses introduced 

 (Outpost) yielded an average for the three years of 17 bushels 54 lbs. 

 In 1901 when the total rainfall between dates of sowing and ripening 

 was only .V98 inches, Rerraf yielded at the rate of 10 bushels per acre, 

 and the farmer who grew it wrote : — " Very few farmers will get an 

 average yield of 4 bushels per acre, while some are barely getting 

 back the quantity of seed sown. I got 10 bushels per acre of Rerraf 

 off an exceptionally gdod 2-acre piece of fallowed land, and this is the 

 best yield I have yet heard of." 



Grasses for Fodder. 



Another promising field in which experiments are being conducted 

 is that of fodder plants and principally grasses. The importance to 

 the dairying industry of having a good supply of succulent and 

 nutritious feed is self-evident, and not only have our native grasses 



