THe JOURNAL 



or 



^fie department of Sgricufture 



OF 



VICTORIA. 



Vol. XVII. Part 2. lOth February, 1919. 



MINYIP CROP AND FALLOW COMPETITION. 



Report of Mr. H. A. Mullett, B.Ag.Sc, on the 1918 Crop 

 and Fallow Competition at Minyip. 



I have much pleasure in forw^arding you my report as judge of the 

 Crop and Fallow Competition inaugurated at Minyip this year by your 

 society. 



The Minyip district, possessing as it does, large areas of rich black 

 friable soil in the heart of the Wimmera wheat belt, impressed me 

 throughout the trip as one in which a competition should show satis- 

 factory results. 



In this, the report of the initial year, it might not be out of place to 

 review the objects of the competition, and, further, take a glance at 

 what has been achieved in other districts where similar work has been in 

 progress long enough to show definite results. 



Objects — " Better Farming, Better Business, Better Living.^' 

 The aim of a farm competition can be shortly expressed as better 

 farming, better business, and better living. It seeks first to bring about 

 that healthy interchange of ideas between the farmers themselves so 

 necessary for progress — in a word, to help the competitors to help 

 themselves. But it goes further than that: it seeks, in addition, to put 

 before each of the competitors personally some of the latest results of 

 accurate tests in such phases of wheat-growing as manuring, the use of 

 the best varieties of wheat, information concerning rotation of crops, 

 fallowing methods, &c., and also to import into the district for trial 

 any methods of outstanding merit of experienced farmers in similar 

 districts. Again, it will encourage that competitive spirit among 

 farmers, which alone can bring out keen thinking, enterprise, and 

 energy, which, when harnessed to sound knowledge, lines the pocket. 



The Crop and Fallow Competition idea does not aim beyond better 

 farming and better business, but, above all else, we should strive for 

 212. 



