JO March, 1910.] Bacchus Marsh Farm Competition. 145 



soil loose, prevent evaporation, keep down weeds and give the growing 

 ■crop a chance to stool. 



There seemed to be no regular rotation followed by any competitor, 

 except Mr. Kerr, who, on his graded flats, grew oats, barley, maize, and 

 Jucerne in the order mentioned. The others seemed to confine themselves 

 to oats, barley and wheat, no rye having been grown at all. Few farmers' 

 jealize the value of rye as a rotation crop. This cereal, besides leaving a 

 much larger amount of organic matter in the form of roots and stubble 

 than either wheat, oats, or barley, provides sufficient available plant food 

 for a succeeding cereal crop. If sown in the autumn it can be fed 

 off with sheep, and either threshed for seed (which brings about 4s. per 

 bushel) or ploughed in for green manure. 



Red Clover {Trifoliiim pratense) is also a good rotation crop, being 

 known in America as the King of Soiling Crops ; sown with wheat 

 or barley as a nurse crop, it does remarkably well, and provides splendid 

 summer feed in the stubble. Being a legume it has the power of 

 ■obtaining the free nitrogen from the air. besides making a tremendous 

 amount of root matter. 



C. Cleanest and best Crop of any kind. — Mr. Burgess' crop of 40 

 acres Algerian oats gained the maximum points in this section. Being 

 ^rown on new ground it had every appearance of making a very fine 

 clean sample of seed oats if kept for grain. He also had 100 acres of 

 Federation wheat of good colour, and well stooled, but in places it had 

 suffered from the wet winter. Mr. Urquhart also had a verv good oat 

 crop, but it lost points from having patches of Cape Weed through it, as 

 did also Mr. James Lidgett's crop. 



D. Mac hitler y and Implements. — The implements on the whole were 

 very complete. Mr. James Lidgett has a verv hand\' oil engine, which 

 seems to do practicallv everything except milk the cows. Mr. Urquhart's 

 implements were exceptionally well cared for. A binder, which had been 

 in use for six years, looked as if :"t had only cut about 10 acres, and I 

 was pleased to see the ploughs and harrows had their regular place in 

 the shed on this farm. Manv farmers think that because an implerrient 

 is made of steel or iron, exposure to the weather does it no harm ; it not 

 ■only rusts all the bolts and mould-boards, but destroys the temper of the 

 material it is made of as well. Mr. Dickson lost many points in this 

 section, as he had sold all his implements some time ago, and has now 

 to depend on outside work for his cultivation, which has the disadvan- 

 tage of often not being able to get the work done at the right time. 



E. Fencing. — The fences on the majority of the faiins were in good 

 order, and appeared to be regularly attended to, judging bv the supplies 

 of posts and rails available for repairs. I should, however, have liked 

 to have seen more subdivision fences on some of the Mvrniong farms. 

 It is far better to divide some of the larger paddocks in two, and spell 

 one half while the other is being grazed, than have the stock running 

 over the whole paddock and getting no chance of fresh grass periodically. 

 The gates on the winning farm deserve .special mention ; they are well 

 hung on separate posts and nearly all neatlv painted. 



F. Orchard and Vegetable Garden. — All the farms, I was pleased to 

 see, grew their own vegetables, and also possessed a few useful fruit 

 trees. Mr. Kerr'.s garden was the best seen, water being laid on every- 

 where. Besides a regular supply of fresh vegetables, there is a good 

 flower garden and shrubbery surrounding the house. Mr Burgess also 

 ■deserves credit for a young orchard of about sixty trees, planted last vear, 

 vhich ought to do well in that class of country. 



