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VICTORIA. 



Vol. XVI. Part 11. 11th November, 1918. 



FARMERS' FIELD DAY AT WERRIBEE. 



It was said many centuries simce, " Skill is of greater avail to the 

 Avoodiman than strength," and the march of events in recent times has 

 given the words a deeper meaning. Every year agriculture is demanding 

 a higher efficiency. Land has increased in price, wages have risen, and, 

 owing to the attraction of the city, labour is diffi(*ult to obtain. Conse- 

 quently, if the farmer of to-day is to be successful, he must adopt more 

 scientific methods than the farmer of the last generation. The large 

 underlying questions concerning the growing of crops and the rearing of 

 flocks and herds must be carefully considered, and efforts made not only 

 to control diseases and insect pests, but also to meet the demands imposed 

 by our uncertain climate. Some of the problems are, perhaps, elemen- 

 tary, and can be solved by individuals or by a few farmers working in 

 coujunction, but many of them involve long and difficult experiments, and 

 it was to deal with these that the Werribee Research Farm was estab- 

 lished. 



In 1913 an invitation was given to representative farmers and others 

 to visit the farm, and every year since it has been the custom to hold a 

 field day during Show week, so that the public may have an opportunity 

 of seeing some of the experiments that are being carried on in the ferti- 

 lization, cultivation, and rotation of crops, the cross-breeding of wheat, 

 oats, and barley, (Src. 



This year the field day was held on the 27th September, and over 400 

 — mostly farmers — accepted an invitation to visit the farm. The journey 

 to Werribee was made b}' special train, and local residents met the visi- 

 tors at the railway station, and conveyed them to the farm gate, where, 

 in the unavoidable absence of Mr. Oman, Minister of Agriculture, they 

 were welcomed by the Director of Agriculture (Dr. Cameron). 



The visitors were shown over portion of the plots where, experiments 

 are being made in the raising of new wheats and barleys, in testing the 

 value under Victorian conditions of cereals that have been found success- 

 ful in other countries, and in the results from the use of different manures 



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