lo June. 1912.] W/ieai and its Cultivation. 335 



state of tilth to receive the seed, as soon as the weather conditions are 

 favorable for seeding. This is a matter of considerable importance in the 

 drier portions of the State where the normal seeding season is so 

 restricted. 



When favorable conditions for seeding exist, it is necessary for the 

 Victorian farmer to concentrate his energy, not on the ploughs, but upon 

 the drills. 



If ploughing has to be done at seed time, the subsequent seeding must 

 be delayed, and danger arises from the ill effects of a non-consolidated 

 seed bed. 



Those who relied this season on the early autumn rains to get their 

 ploughing done, have had an experience they will not readily forget. Such 

 an abnormally dry autumn as we have just experienced brings home very 

 forciblv tne benefits obtained by having land ready for seeding when the 

 rains fall, 



(4) Subsidiary advantages of bare fallowing are that it cleans the land 

 of weeds, increases the amount of available plant food formed in the 

 soil, and enables a consolidated seed bed to be formed. 



The experienced wheat-grower knows the value of a firm, consolidated 

 seed bed for the wheat crop. The consolidation necessary for success is 

 not effected in a week or a month. Time is a necessary factor of the 

 process. The consolidation is effected by the packing action of the rain 

 and frequent cultivation, and is one of the benefits accruing from early 

 fallowing. A firm seed bed is an essential for the effective utilization of 

 the subsoil moisture bv capillarity. 



Limitations of Bare Fallow under Australian Conditions. 

 I. Unnecessary and Unprofitable in Humid Districts. 



It must be obvious, from the recital of the advantages of fallowing that 

 it can only be completely successful in the drier portions of this State, 

 and in a relatively dry climate. Obviously the most serious drawback to 

 bare fallowing is that only one crop can be grown in two years, and the 

 crop must be debited with two vears' rental value of the land. Wherever 

 large areas of land are held, and land values are low, and the climate 

 relativeh dry, this is not really a very serious matter, for the difference 

 between the crop grown on fallow and that grown on stubble land may be 

 so great as to make the two years' rental which the fallow crop bears an 

 item of little importance. 



On the other hand, in districts where land values are high, the loss 

 of a crop is a matter of great importance. High land values, however, 

 are restricted to the relatively humid areas of the State, where considera- 

 tions of moisture conservation are of secondary importance. In such cases, 

 where the annual rainfall is sufficiently high to enable heavy crops to be 

 taken off annually fallowing is unnecessary, and even unprofitable, and 

 should be substituted by a skilled system of rotation and catch cropping, 

 if the soil resources are to be fully utilized. What must be remembered 

 in such cases is that the nitrates formed during the process of bare fallow- 

 ing are, on the one hand, extremely soluble in water, and, on the other, 

 the soil has no power to hold them. Unless bare fallow, therefore, is 

 supplanted by a fallow crop, or by a catch crop, the practice must result 

 in a loss of the soil nitrates. 



Evidence both of the extent to which bare fallowing is practised and 

 the effectiveness in various districts may be gathered from figures collected 

 from the Year-Book of Victoria. 



