86 Journal of Agriculture. [lo Feb., 1909. 



NHILL FARM COMPETITION, 1908. 



H. Ross. Field OiJicer. 



Report to the Secretary, Nhill Agricultural Society. 



I have much pleasure in forwarding my report and awards in connexion 

 with the recent Farm Competition held under the auspices of your Society. 

 It is most gratifying to have had such a large number of entries (31), and 

 while the number of entries for the large competition was rather small, the 

 entries for crops grown on INlallee and fallowed land exceeded those of 

 the previous year. A healthy spirit of rivalry has been evoked by these 

 competitions, and your Society is to be complimented upon the fact that it 

 has for years past taken the lead in such matters. A revised scale of points 

 from last year gives greater prominence to water conservation and permits 

 of more detailed criticism in regard to stock. In reviewing the whole of 

 the farms and crops inspected, I trust that my comments will be accepted 

 in the light of friendly criticism. 



Best Worked and Managed Farm of 640 Acres and Over. 



(A) Best System of Cropping, including Cultivation Methods, Rotation, 

 and Manures — 2j points. — The system usually adopted by Wimmera 

 farmers, that is — wheat, then oats, followed by two or three years in 

 grass and fallow again leaves very little to be desired. I have been shown 

 some excellent results obtained by a system of wheat, then barley, followed 

 by oats — in fact some of the best oat crops seen were those which had been 

 sown on barley stubble. The question of manuring, kind of manure to 

 use and quantity per acre has been settled, at all events for some years. 

 The superiority of superphosphate over other manures is an established fact 

 upon which Wimmera farmers appear to have agreed. The usual practice 

 of early winter fallow is universal. 



(B) Cleanest and Best Crop, including Oats — 20 points. — The varieties 

 of wheat favoured most by competitors were Federation, Dart's Imperial, 

 Purple Straw ; and the oat varieties — Algerian for seed, and Calcutta oats 

 for hay. The majority of the crops were more or less dirty with wild oats, 

 mustard, poppy, and wild daisy, take-all and white-heads also having made 

 their appearance in some of the fields. A remarkably clean crop, however, 

 promising to yield about 20 bushels per acre, was exhibited by Mr. W. 

 Sanders. Trueness to type and freedom from foreign heads still leaves a 

 good deal to be desired and more attention should be given by farmers to 

 the purity of seed wheat. A point which struck me as being worthy of 

 notice is that white-heads had made their appearance far more in late 

 worked fallow than in the earlier worked fallow. Very little smut was 

 met with in wheat and this no doubt can be attributed to the almost 

 universal practice of pickling. On the other hand smut was evident in 

 some of the oat crops and it may be well for farmers to consider the 

 advisability of pickling oats as we'l as wheat. 



(C) The Fallow in Best Order, Area to he Considered — 20 points. — 

 The fallowed land on the whole reflects credit upon the competitors. In 

 most cases it was well worked, the exception being the red land which of 

 course will not stand the same amount of working as the black land. Mr. 

 G. Crouch exhibited 460 acres of fallow in first-class order, well-worked 

 without being too fine, and very clean. 



