292 Journal of Agriculture. [8 May. ipo'; 



DAIRYING IJ^DER DIFFICULTIES. 



(From Report to the Chief Veterinary Officer on an Inspection of 

 Dairies in the Fern Tree Gully Shire.) 



/. .S'. McFadzeaii, Dairy Supervisor. 



Acreage Farmed. 

 That the Fern Tree Gullv Shire is limited in its present dairying ca;-a- 

 bilities can be understood when it is noted that, out of an aggregate area 

 of about 21,000 acres on which this is the principal branch of farming 

 engaged in. only some 3.000 acres have been cleared for cultivation. About 

 1,500 acres of this are laid down in grass, 900 acres are used for the growing 

 of hay and green feed, the balance (600 acres) being taken up by fruit 

 trees and potato crops. Of the remaining 18,000 acres which form the 

 larger portion of the farms held, practically the whole is as yet rough 

 bush land. 



Necessity for Cultivation and Rotation. 



Considerable portion of this is from time to time subjected to a burning- 

 off, which temjjorarilv clears the ground of brush and leaves, and encou- 

 rages la fresh growth of native grass, having in its young green stage some 

 nutritious quality. Some attempts have been made in a rough way to 

 introduce English grasses tO' these areas bv sowing the seed on the burnt 

 ground in the autumn ; l)ut, though the seed germinates f reelv under these 

 conditions, the strong growth of scrub and ferns that springs up com- 

 pletely smothers the young grass. The only effectual wa\ to establish 

 pasture land here is bv first bringing it under the plough ; even then the 

 paddocks need constant attention to keep down the scrub that inevitablv re- 

 appears after the ground has rested a few .seasons, and which, if neglected, 

 soon develops into a forest of saplings. This really means that to keep 

 the pasture land at its 1 est it requires re-cultivating and re-sowing peri- 

 odically ; and this is what the Department of Agriculture has always 

 advocated as being most profitablv effected in connexion with the rotation 

 system of cropping. 



Besides the farms which together form the abo\'e acreage there are 

 several places cleared, and others partiv so, that are used for grazing pur- 

 poses for sheep and voung cattle. These latter are usuallv the propertv 

 of dairymen carrying on business nearer the metroDolis, and whose limited 

 home accommodation necessitates their looking further afield for pasture for 

 their growing stock. 



The Class of Soil. 



In a general wav the soil of the shire mav i)e classed as from fair to 

 good. Of this latter class, the valleys lying between Fern Tree Gully 

 township and Lysterfield are exceptional. The bulk of the hillv country 

 that runs between Upper Fern Tree Gullv and Menzies Creek, and across 

 the Sassafras to Olinda, is of a loose chocolate-coloured volcanic nature, and 

 may also be classed as above the average. The more low-lving portion of 

 the shire extending from Eavswater through Scoresbv towards Dandenong 

 is generall\ more of .a gre\ -coloured, slightlv sandv, but hard setting soil, 



