194 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[8 April, 1907 



Department with the object of finding what crop can be best substituted for 

 rape in districts where the rainfall is below 17 inches. 



Exports of certain Rural Products to other Australian States. 



General advance has been made in farm methods during the past three 

 years. The yield of wheat has averaged 12 bushels per acre, as against 

 "jo.6 bushels in 1892-4, which were the three highest consecutive crops for 

 any period during the past 20 years. This result is still more striking 

 when it is considered that at the former period there was very little wheat 

 grown in the Mallee. The advance in wheat is paralleled bv similar ad- 

 vances in sheep, cattle, and dairy farming. The results now obtained are 

 far more profitable than a few years ago. Part of this result is attribut- 

 able toi the use of phosphatic manuring and improved methods of cultiva- 

 tion and fallowing, and the greater number of live stock kept on farms is 

 also producing its effect in keeping up the fertility of the land. Ujiwards 

 of 15,000 farmers are now keeping flocks of sheep less than 2,000 in 

 number, representing 43.5 per cent, of all the sheep in the State. It is 

 this steadv advance in mixed farming which is the best assurance of the 

 permanence of our agricultural prosperity. 



With this satisfactory record of progress there is, howe\er, another 

 side to the question. The number of live stock, especially sheep, horses 

 and pigs, in Victoria has shown comparatively little expansion during the 

 last 25 vears; while the poultry industry is still looked upon by the 

 majoritv of farmers as being too insignificant to be worth attention. We 

 have not vet realized that it is the area under cultivation which determines 

 the number of live stock that can be kept on a given farm and that on the 

 whole it is essential to keep large numb)ers of live stock in order to main- 

 tain the fertility of the land. 



With regard to wheat, while the yields appear to be increasing, there 

 is no steady advance in the area under crop, which has remained stationary 

 for the past eight years. The same remark is also true of oats, a crop 

 which should be grown chieflv for consumption on the farm, in the shape 

 of hav and grain, and of which comparativelv little should be put on the 

 m.arket at all. 



In regard to barlev we find that the present area is less than half what 

 it was in 1894, while the cultivation of peas and beans is only one-third 

 of what is was 25 years ago. There is a widespread tendencv amongst 

 farmers to trust to the returns that they are able to obtain from grazing 

 alone, and they have failed to realize that it is onlv bv a combination of 

 cultivation with grazing that the value of the grazina; land can be rrraduallv 



