798 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



extra labor entailed, the produce to be tlieir property. The Hon. the 

 Minister has decided to spend an equal amount on these fields to that 

 spent on experimental plots last year, and if more money be obtained 

 there will be mure fields. 



To get a true answer as to the needs of Victorian soils we should 

 have not only a field in each district but a field on each variety of 

 soil typical oi any large area in each district. 



The laboratory work of the Branch is ever increasing. Besides 

 analysing soils sent in by farmers, the Chemist for Agriculture is 

 also Chemist for Water Supply as well, which entails a great number 

 of analyses of water. Many exported products have to be dealt with 

 for the purpose of giving a guarantee of purity. These include 

 butter, preserved milk, tinned meats, jams, pulps, honey, &c., and all 

 have been found, with few exceptions, to be free from adulteration. 



In connection with the analysis of soils Dr. Howell is now carrying 

 out a work which will greatly increase the value of the advice given 

 to farmers. Previously when a farmer's soil was analysed the analysis 

 was compared with the analysis of what was known to be a fertile 

 soil in Europe, and from this comparison and from knowledge already 

 gained from experiments here advice was given. It is obviously 

 clear that before a perfect judgment on the analysis of any particular 

 soil can be pronounced we should have a standard analysis of a 

 fertile soil established, not only for the State but for each division of 

 the State where climatic conditions are vastly different. To establish 

 the standard analysis of fertile soils is a work which has been receiv- 

 ing- the attention of the Chemical Branch for some time. 



An amended Manure Act is greatly needed, and a bill, which I 

 hope will come before Parliament this session, has been prepared. 

 This will enable the Department of Agriculture to appoint an inspector 

 with powers to enter any store or farm building and take samples of 

 manure which, if found to be of a lower grade than they were 

 declared to be when sold or offered for sale, would enable the Depart- 

 ment to act. 



The present Act provides that farmers may take steps to have 

 manure merchants prosecuted, but as a matter of fact they never do. 

 The work of protecting the farmer from fraud should, therefore, be 

 done by the Chemical Branch. 



Pathologist's Branch. 



The principal work of the Vegetable Pathologist is to give 

 information to farmers, fruit-growers, market gardeners and 

 others as to diseases of crops due to fungi, together with 

 methods for their prevention. In this connection the branch has 

 examined, microscopically, 1,200 batches of diseased plants during 

 this year, and has furnished by letter the best known methods of 

 checking such diseases. Besides giving information which has been 

 gained in the past, research experiments are constantly being under- 

 taken to discover other facts which will be of value. For example. 



