THe JOURNAL 



OF 



T^fie $)epartm6nt of Mgricufture 



OF 



VICTORIA 



Vol. XVII. Part 12. 15th December, 1919. 



OUYEN FARM COMPETmON. 



Beport of the Judge, H. A. Mullett. B.Ag.Sc, Chief Field Officer, 

 Department of Agriculture. 



TEN YEARS' PROGRESS. 



Ten years ago the inhabitants of that vast tract of land between 

 Woomelang and the Murray, bounded on the west by the South Aus- 

 tralian border, could (if Mildura were excluded) probably have been 

 counted on the fingers of one hand. At that time the railway between 

 Woomelang and Mildura passed through what seemed an unbroken 

 sandy wilderness of mallee scrub. 



To-day, for miles along this line and along the newer Ouyen- 

 Murraj'ville line, the bush has been pushed back, often as far ae tLe 

 eye can see, disclosing typical rolling mallee country, dotted with farm- 

 steads. In 1909, in the whole area, there were but 200 acres under 

 cultivation; in 1910, 60,000; while by 1918 it could be said that a new 

 province had been definitely added to our wheat belt, with some 350,000 

 acres under cult'vation, yielding several million bushels of wheat. Such 

 is the way settlement proceeds in the Mallee. 



The pace at which these Mallee farms have been imj^roved, though 

 severely handicapped during the war period, has not been less rapid. 

 It is a striking indication of their present status that the Ouyen Agri- 

 cultural Society has been able this year to inaugurate a successful 

 Farm Competition, in which one or two of the farms exhibited would 

 compare quite favorably with those in districts settled for the past half- 

 century. Incidentally, the holding of the competition reflects the keen 

 spirit of enterprise and progress that pervades the newer Mallee 

 Settlements. • 



Special Conditions in the Mallee. 



In judging the farms one could not but be impressed with the fact 

 that here conditions and requirements differ materially from those in 

 the older settled wheat districts, but, as elsewhere, the main problem of 



18156. 



