2o8 Journal of Agriculture. [8 April, 1907 



of life and death ; lucerne, although a deep rooter, is rather a gross feeder, 

 while the annuals are content with a much shallower root system. They 

 do not need such a perfect system as the orchards. For them a system 

 sufficient to keep the soil bacteria lively, to keep the soil particles small, 

 and to prevent the accumulation of the soluble salts — principallv soda and 

 lime — at the surface bv capillary action, should suffice. Such a result 

 should be capable of attainment by, first, better methods of watering — the 

 use of furrows for watering or properly graded and small checks, if flood- 

 ing be adhered to<; secondly, by sub-soiling — breaking up of the " plough- 

 pan " — and allowing the water into the sub-soil, along with its fertilizing 

 agencies; and, thirdly, combining with the sub-soiling a few open or closed 

 drains to insure movement of the water in the sub-soil. Such a system, 

 on a very elaborate scale, is employed at the Werribee Sewage Farm, ISIel- 

 bourne, and has proved highly successful both from the financial and 

 hygienic stand-points, in dealing with a moist difficult problem — the disposal 

 of large volumes of sewage matter, which, unless an efficient system of 

 drainage were in vogue, would form most objectionable and useless 

 marshes. 



In our shallow soils, with sub-soils of a highlv clavey nature, great 

 care must be taken in sub-soiling not to bring much — none, if possible — 

 of the sub-soil to the surface, as the sub-soil, though chemical analvsis 

 shows it practicallv as rich in plant foods as the surface soil, is known by 

 bitter experience to be useless to plants for many years. The effect of sub- 

 soiling to a considerable depth upon the unlocking of these unavailable 

 plant foods is a problem which, apart from the question of drainage, offers 

 considerable allurement to the in^•estigator. and profitable returns to the 

 communitv, should it be successfullv solved. It mav be predicted that 

 sub-soiling, combined with proper surface cultivation and sub-surface 

 packing, will render as much service to our farming community as the 

 introduction of phosphatic manuring. 



Experiments to determine the movements of the soil moisture in the 

 surface and sub-.soils are being carried on at the Wyuna Government Irri- 

 gation Farm in the Goulbum Valley District, Victoria. Samples of the 

 soil at the surface, and at every 6 inches in depth down to z feet, are 

 taken at frequent intervals of time, depending upon climatic conditions, to 

 ascertain the amount of moisture present. The samples are taken from 

 virgin land of various classes, land cultivated on ordinary methods, land 

 subsoiled, and land irrigated, embracing as far as possible all cases of 

 variation of soil moisture mo\'ements due to man's interference. These in- 

 vestigations are, as yet, in their initial stages onlv ; but thev promise to 

 yield much of interest. 



Reference has been made above to American ideas as to the relati\-e 

 importance of drainage and irrigation. An authoritative Indian Commis- 

 sion on the effects and causes of alkali in the Aligarh district of Northern 

 India reported in effect that the introduction of irrigation iricreased the 

 alkali areas, both by seepage from the channels, and by excessive use 

 of water in irrigating, and that where the removal of such excess Avaters 

 was mainly due to evaporation, the result was a destructive accumulation 

 of alkali. The remedy proposed bv the Commission was subsoil drainage. 

 Apart from the injury to the productive power of the soil, much ill effect on 

 the health of the residents has been caused throughout the irrigation dis- 

 tricts of India. " The high fever death rate is largelv due to the 

 stagnating water in the soil." Mr. D. H. Anderson, editor of the 



