138 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo March, 1909. 



are slow to absorb moisture ; hence it often happens that wheat sown on stiff 

 land is drowned out by water lying on the surface during the winter. Deeper 

 cultivation, as is the case in subsoiling, facilitates the passage of moisture 

 into the subsoil, and there is reason to believe from the evidence of these 

 fields that this system has certain advantages in altering the texture of the 

 soil. Something of the same nature can be effected by the growth of deeply 

 rooted plants, such as rape, peas, &c. It would be worth any farmer's 

 while to carry out a variety of experiments in cultivation methods on the 

 stiff clay soils on his farm in order to arri\e at a better understanding of 

 the behaviour under certain conditions. 



I hold the opinion that the most that can be expected from these fields 

 is a suggestion towards improvement in any direction. It necessitates a 

 wider sphere and greater variety of conditions to test the utility of any 

 alteration in cultural methods before a linal conclusion can be come to. 

 Farmers are somewhat cautious in adopting changes of method, but there 

 seems to me sufficient logic in the chemical and mechanical analyses quoted 

 from a typical wheat-growing district, to make it worth while the attention 

 of some large wheat-grower, who has soil of a stiff clayey character, ta 

 approach the question of an alteration in soil treatment as a possible and 

 probable means towards increased production of grain. 



Ordinary Cultivation versus Subsoiling for Hay. 

 One of the dangers attendant on constant cropping with wheat only, is 

 the introiluction of " take-all." To minimize this possibility and at the 

 same time to afford the soil an opportunity to recuperate its store of nitrogen, 

 a crop of Algerian oats and field peas was sow-n on Section A (ordinary cul- 

 tivation) and Section B (subsoiled). The results below indicate that for hay 

 growing in the Mallee, Wimmera, and Northern Plains the subsoiling has 

 been of negative value. It was pointed out in a report on these same fields- 

 in the March, 1907, Journal, that as regards increase in the yield of grain, 

 the subsoiling was beneficial in the Northern Plain country only. 



YIELD PER acre OF ALGERIAN OATS AND PEA VINE HAY. 



It will be noted that of the fields representing the Mallee and fringe no less 

 than 7 out of 12 show^ an increased yield on the subsoiled land ; in 4 cases 

 the vields are identical, and in only one is the yield superior on the land 

 cultivated in the ordinary manner. In the Wimmera, the effect of the 

 deeper cultivation has been responsible for an increa.sed yield in 2 cases 

 out of 5. In the Northern Plains the balance of fields is in favour of the 

 ordinarv cultivation, although there is practically little difference between 

 the yields of hay under both methods. 



Returns of Varieties, Season 1908. 

 Some allowance must be made for the poor returns of Bunyip and 

 • Comeback, both of which w^ere on the outside edges of the fields, and both 

 being early varieties received more attention from the sparrow^s than the 

 varieties in the centre. 



