Joufnal of Agriculture. [lo Aug., 1908. 



brackish as far as the falls above the present Queen's Park, some 

 5 miles higher up ; the river at that time being the water supply for 

 Geelong. During the dry summer of 1893, the district residents secured a 

 temporary breakwater on Reedy Lake below Sparrovale, as the river 

 had got very low, and the water was too brackish for stock; and this 

 construction has now been further strengthened by the Trust. About 

 opposite this point is the northern boundary of Lake View, one of the 

 purchased properties. This is practically all high ground of good farming 

 quality, the greater portion of which has been cultivated, and the crops 

 now are showing well on it. This property lies between Reedy Lake 

 and Lake Connewarre, and was purchased in order to have some high land 

 adjacent, from which to work these two swampy areas. Between two 

 high necks of land below the Lake View property, and at the junction of 

 the Reedy and Connewarre Lakes, the ri\er has been sounded to 30 feet. 

 From this, Connewarre opens out to a large sheet of shallow water, a 

 haunt of wild fowl and a spawning ground for sea fish ; and down the river, 

 to the sandhills near Barwon Heads, lies Salt Marsh, Murtnagurt, and 

 Riverland, which make up the balance of this 10, coo-acre drainage and 

 irrigation scheme that the Geelong Harbor Trust has thus methodically 

 entered upon. 



Reviewing the foregoing, the most noticeable point in connexion with 

 the work is the bearing which its successful carrying out must have on the 

 future of the surrounding district. The bulk of this area has never been 

 of any obvious value, except to those few individuals whose knowledge of 

 the locality enabled them to turn some portion of it more or less to their 

 own private use ; and none of these appear to have derived much benefit 

 from it ; but this scheme which is now well started, should eventually 

 raise the earning power of the greater portion of it from absolute insig- 

 nificance to an equality with that of the most favored farms in the district ; 

 turning thousands of acres of mud flats intO' cultivated fields, and cir- 

 culating a weekly sum in wages far exceeding its former yearly return. 

 Even at this early date, Sparrovale has been raised from a temporary 

 grazing area to a high class agricultural estate, and must be an object of 

 deep interest to all concerned in land reclamation. 



The ultimate success of the whole undertaking can be confidently fore- 

 casted and with it will come the triumph of Mr. G. F. Holden, M.L.A., 

 Chairman of the Geelong Harbor Trust, who, with his associate members 

 (Messrs. E. H. Lascelles and J. Hill) has been responsible for the con- 

 ception and elaboration of a scheme whereby the original endowment of 

 the Trust instead of being allowed to lie fallow, may be increased many 

 fold, and whereby also the economic potentiality of many thousands of 

 acres of apparently useless land may be demonstrated. 



MERINO RAMS. 



H. W. Ham, Sheep Expert. 



The establishment and further growth of the export lamb and mutton 

 trade will bring about the substantial improvement and maintenance of 

 pure merino flocks. The longwool merino cross will be from now, for 

 general purposes, the class of sheep most in demand, and to produce pro- 

 fitable crossbreds, the better classes of merinoes must remain the foundation 

 stock. 



