46 



Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Jan., 1919. 



90 per cent, of the wheat was sown on stubble land — land which had 

 borne a wheat crop last year. Despite the fact that the rainfall of 

 Weeah averaged 3 to 5 inches less than the county of Borung, yet the 

 amount fallowed in 1917 was but 10 per cent, of the total area sown 

 in wheat in 1918. This failure to practise fallowing in the north-west 

 Mallee, was, of course, partly due to the fact that the new Mallee was in 

 the pioneering stages, and needed more or less continuous cropping to 

 get rid of the mallee shoots. But in the older settled areas, where normal 

 farming conditions prevailed, bare fallowing was a necessity for heavy 

 yields, especially where the rainfall was less than 18 inches. The 

 second essential was thorough working of the fallows. Horsham 

 farmers should know the value of thorough working, for there were 

 probably no wheat districts in the wheat belt of Australia where 

 thorough working of the fallow was so carefully attended to as in this 

 area of the Wiramera. Some men were lengthening the period of fal- 

 lowing by discing up their lands in summer, ploughing them in June or 

 July, working them through the summer months, and finally sowing 

 in the following May or June. In other words, there were many who 

 were working their fallows for fifteen months prior to seeding, in order 

 to increase the amount of soil-conserved moisture to a maximum. The 

 third factor in successful wheat-growing was liberal manuring, and on 

 this point, the results of the experiments for the past five years were of 

 particular interest. The results of the experiments he^e conclusively 

 demonstrated that superphosphate was the most profitable of all manures 

 to apply, and that the quantities used could be largely increased. Mr. 

 Richardson then showed on a blackboard the yields for the past five 

 years. These are sum m arized in the following table: — 



These results, Mr. Richardson pointed out, showed conclusively 

 that — 



(1) Superphosphate was the most profitable fertilizer. 



(2) That it could be applied in quantities far greater than were 

 customarily applied in the district. 



(3) That the application of lime was actually harmful, and depressed 

 the yields. 



(4) That neither basic slag nor a mixture of basic slag and super, 

 was as efioctive as super, alone. 



