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THe JOURNAt^ 



or 



7^6 ©eparfment of Mgriculture 



or 



VICTORIA. 



Vol. XVII. Papt 1. 10th January, 1919. 



AGRICULTURE. /• 



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AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA COMPARED. 





A lecture comparing agricultural methods in America with those in 

 Australia, arranged by the Royal Agricultural Society, was delivered 

 by Mr. A. E. V. Eichardson, M.A., B.Sc, Agricultural Superintendent,, 

 at the Playhouse, Melbourne, on the 9th December last, to a large 

 audience, including His Excellency the Governor (Sir Arthur Stanley). ■ 



Mr. Eichardson said : — Before dealing with the subject-matter of my 

 addresSj I would like to review briefly some features of American life 

 and organization which appeal to the Australian. 



No one visiting the United States could fail to be impressed with the 

 optimism of the Americans — the faith they have in the destiny of their 

 country, the enthusiasm with which they enter into all national projects- 

 in peace or in war, and the remarkable organizing power shown in 

 almost every branch of national activity, and the adaptive ability of 

 the American people. 



My visit synchronized with the period when the American nation 

 was beginning to exert its full measure of strength in the Allied cause; 

 when their great testing period came — the mobilization and preparation 

 of the army — the transportation of that army and its equipment abroad 

 — and the trial of its manhood in the trenches of France. 



The Americans poured the full flood of their resources into the- 

 Allied reservoir; they provided men, money, munitions, food, and ships 

 without stint. 



Pine work was done in connexion with the production and conserva- 

 tion of foodstuffs. During the past year America sent 300,000,000 

 bushels of cereal foodstuffs to the Allies, and at a critical time last 

 autumn 90,000,000 bushels of wheat, conserved by voluntary rationing- 

 cn of the American nation, were rushed across the Atlantic to meet the 



urgent requirements of the Allies. 

 '^'' 19157, 



