750 Journal of AyririiHan . Victoria. [15 Dec, 1919. 



FARMERS' FIELD DAY AT LOXGERENONG 

 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



(Extracted from the Wimmera Star.) 



There was a large gathering of farmers from all parts of the district 

 at the Longerenong Agricultural College on Saturday afternoon, when 

 the annual field day was held. The Council of Agricultural Education 

 was represented by Messrs. G. A. Sinclair, G, Osborne, T. Grant, and T. 

 J. Purvis, the secretary. The visitors were welcomed at the entrance 

 to the experimental fields by Mr. G. H. Osborne, who outlined the inten- 

 tions of the council regarding the forwjird policy in connexion with 

 agricultural education. 



Mr. J. McRae, on behalf of the Uorsham Agricultural Society, 

 introduced Mr. A. E. V. Kicliardson, the Superintendent of Agriculture, 

 who gave an exposition of the results obtained on tlie experimental plots 

 at Longerenong for the past six years. 



Mr. Richardson, in the course of an interesting series of lecturettes, 

 piloted the visitors through the various experimental plots, explaining 

 the objectives of each group, and summarized the results which had 

 been obtained. He stated that the season had been abnormally dry, 

 the rainfall for- the past year having been only 10.44 inches, whilst the 

 fall during the grooving period of the ci'Op was but 3.vS6 inches. This 

 was the kind of year which gave a crucial te^t of the merits of good and 

 indifferent methods of farming. Only those who practised thorough 

 methods of cultivation i-ould expect to secure satisfactory crops in a 

 season such as the present. In favorable seasons a man could fling 

 seed on indifterentlv-prepared land and expect to reap a profitable c^oo, 

 but in a season such as this only those who worked the land thoroughly 

 \vould show profitable returns. The use of moisture-saving fallows was 

 the foundation for profitable cropping in the Wimmera. Early fallow- 

 ing and thorough working cf the fallows were of fundamental imj3ortance 

 for raising crops. But more than this was essential for complete success. 

 Liberal manuring, a good system of crop rotation, the use of suitable 

 rypes of wheat, and judgment both in the time and rate of seeding are 

 also essential. The experimental plots at the college wei-e designed to 

 test the merits of the various methods of cultivation and to bring home 

 to the farmer in concrete fashion the results which would follow the 

 adoption of the various methods. In addition, the Department sought 

 to test the value of crops not generally grown in the district, and, if 

 possible, to produce new and more prolific varieties to replace tliose now 

 in cultivation. 



The rotation plots were tben described by Mr. Ilichardson. The 

 rotation field was divided into 2.3 |-acre plots, arranged to test the merits 

 of eight different systems of crop rotation. There were really eight 

 different methods of farming being tested on these plots. They were 

 designed to test what yield of wheat might be expected when the wheat 

 was grown in different ways. The rotations under test were (1) wheat 

 continuously; (2) wheat after hare fallow; (8) Avbeat after bare fallow, 



