Journal of Agriculture. [ii Jan., 1909. 



Solution of the Problem. 

 The utilization of the Mallee must be looked upon as a separate 

 problem owing to the fact that the extent to which it can be made use of 

 profitably is dependent upon the rainfall. \\'liere the rainfall is over 

 15 inches or where water can be supplied for irrigation, all Mallee soils 

 respond in a most satisf actor) way to treatment. On the coastal plain 

 and in the hill lands the rainfall is ample, in some places too copious, and 

 the problem becomes somewhat more complicated. in the first place 

 drainage must always be looked to. Much of the poor grass tree plain 

 country requires draining before anything can ije done to it. On the 

 average the question of clearing the timber and scrub is not a formidable 

 one. The ploughing of the surface, however, has been one of the great 

 obstacles to the profitable utilization of this country in the past. The 

 introduction of steam ploughing and the stump jump disc plough has, 

 however, put an entirely new complexion on the matter, and it may be 

 safely stated that no land in Victoria which is not too steep to carry an 

 engine presents any great ob.stacles in the way of being brought readily 

 under the plough. So much for the mechanical difficulties of ploughing 

 and draining. In the general management of farms on such land the great 

 fact which 1 wish to emphasize is that grazing does comparatively little to 

 ameliorate the condition of the soil while cultivation rapidly causes it to 

 assume an entirely new character. Three unanswerable reasons may be 

 given why large areas of every farm on such land should be continually 

 under cultivation : — 



1. In the old days the peculiar value of phosphatic manures on 



Victorian soils was not known ; consequently such lands 

 became easily exhausted and we were not able to lay down 

 with certainty the conditions requiring to Le fulfilled in order 

 to maintain and increase their fertility. Artificial manures 

 used were usually nitrogenous in character, the most expen- 

 sive kind to purchase and the sort which themselves pro- 

 duce the least effect upon such land. Consequentlv large 

 areas after being cropped for a year or two were allowed to 

 go back to the state of nature. The experience and the 

 experiments of the last 10 years have clearly demonstrated 

 that with the judicious use of phosphatic manures the fer- 

 tility of this land can not only be maintained but rapidly 

 increased. 



2. Ten years ago it was a well known fact that the keeping of 



live stock on the farm tended to maintain and increase its 

 fertility. The full explanation of this fact was, however, 

 unknown. Researches carried oat during the last few years 

 have demonstrated the peculiar functions of the manure of 

 all kinds of animals not only in enriching the land bat also 

 in setting free the stored up pla.nt food of the soil and in 

 increa.sing its water holding capacity. In other words, 

 farm-yard manure not only su])plies the crop with plant 

 food but it also carries with it something which enables the 

 growing crop to draw upon the locked-up plant food origi- 

 nally present in the soil. We are not therefore dealing 

 with theory. The scientific fact is clearly proved as any 

 fact of science when we state that by means of cultivation, 

 the use of phosphatic manures, the feeding of the produce 



