706 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [15 Dec, 1919. 



the first settlers has been to secure from the cropping, sufficient cash 

 returns to clear their block, and erect the necessary improvements. 

 Practically all the competitors, starting with green mallee blocks, have 

 been able to clear them, erect substantial improvements, and maintain 

 an average of over 1,000 bags of wheat annually for each year of 

 occupation, notwitlistanding the 3 914 drought, when very little wheat 

 was harvested. 



The clearing of the scrub and the growing of the first three or four 

 crops of wheat are achieved at an exceedingly low expense, because both 

 operations go hand in hand, so that, paradoxical as it may seem, there 

 is probably no virgin country in Victoria which has so readily paid its 

 way during the pioneering stages as this apparently arid region, with 

 its dense thickets of scrub. 



Mr. Tyers, of Galah (donor of the prize), and the Judging 

 Stevrards. ( Mr. Tyers is standing between the two cars). 



But it must be recognised that once the block is freed of mallee 

 shoots the maximum crops cannot be produced on a 12 to 14-inch rain- 

 fall by sowing wheat year after year on the stubble, and that careful 

 attention to the seed, to the use of manure, and crop rotation, is even 

 more necessary than in more favoured districts further south. 



Other points that need special attention in the Mallee are fodder 

 conservation and water storage for the home and the live stock. Again, 

 if the natural herbage is to be most profitably utilized, if weeds like wild 

 oats and wild mustard are to be kept in check, if the light, sandy soils 

 are to be compacted and fertility maintained, sheep are essential. 



These farms in the newer Mallee arc to-day just at the parting of 

 the ways — much of the pioneering work has been done, the need for 

 the stubble burn is passing, the financial pressure is easing — yet many 

 find it difficult to break away from the traditional continuous cropping 

 methods which in the past have served them well. 



But hore and there are a few who have made the change, and this 

 Competition, if it does nothing else, will have succeeded admirably if 

 it serves to direct attention to the newer methods which are being shown 

 to be most ])rofitable. 



