10 Makch, 1919.] 



Nhill Farm Competitions. 



lai 



The contour of the whole country is, in general, undulating; the 

 rising ground is often of a red clayey nature, somewhat deficient in 

 lime as compared with the 'black soils, and ratJier difficult to work, 

 except where it contains a high proportion of sand; but the majority 

 of the land comprises extensive areas of rich black soil. It is friable 

 and possesses a characteristic quality of being workable almost at any 

 time of the year. Occasional swamps are met with. 



The rainfall at Nhill averages 16.59 inches. The stock carrying 

 capacity of the land in the district is about two sheep to three acres. 



The area was originally thrown open for selection in 320 acre lots, 

 but to-day farms of this size are rarely &Q&a. The areas range from 640 

 acres to several thousands of acres. The average size of ten farms 

 inspected was close on 1,500 acres. 



The Farming METiioos — -General Rotation Practised. 



With the type of farming as practised at present it is general to 

 regard wheat (after fallow) as the cash crop. The sowing of a portion 



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A Wiminera Farmstead. 



of the wheat stubbles to oats, partly for horse feed and partly as a 

 general policy to grow an occasional crop of this cereal after wheat as 

 a preventative of wheat diseases such as flag-smut and take-all, is 

 routine practice. The rest of tlie farm, usually the largest portion, com- 

 prises paddocks resting after one or other of the above cereal crops. 

 This becomes clothed with self-sown native grasses such as wallaby 

 grass, trefoil, and with wild oats. It is possible to maintain up to a 

 sheep to the acre on these paddocks, the feed being supplemented, of 

 course, by wheat stubbles, and often, should the condition of the cereal 

 crop warrant it, by the feeding off of this crop too. 



On a 'typical 640-acre farm at Nhill, probably 250 acres would be 

 annually sown to wheat and oats, a common proportion being 180 of 

 wheat to 70 of oats. There would also be 180 acres of fallow, and on 

 the rest, 210 acres, about 200 sheep would be maintained. On a farm 



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