458 



]oiir)tal of A.gricuUiirc. Xiclt 



[lo Aug., 1912. 





the first week in June with six of 

 Adamson's 22-ft. broadcast machines, 

 sowing 40 acres a day each. The 

 pickling used is bluestone, and an in- 

 genious dipping apparatus is used by 

 which a bag at a time can be done with 

 great rapidity. The lands are ploughed 

 in I -chain widths, and harrowed by 

 fifteen sets of six-leaved harrows, doing 

 a land in two turns. The harrowing is 

 done at the rate of 500 acres a day. 

 As harvest approaches, 2-chain wide 

 strips are cut by mowing machines, at 

 intervals, cutting the wheat into 200-acre 

 blocks, and then the strips are ploughed, 

 for the prevention of fi.re. Thirty-seven 

 strippers are u.sed to take off the crop 

 (1874). Three crops were taken off in 

 succession, and then the land was laid 

 down to pasture.'' 



Four years later, there were 850 

 working horses fed under cover every 

 day; the amount of land under crop was 

 11,000 acres per annum; and 65 

 strippers were used in taking it off. I 

 am indebted to Mr. John Emery, of 

 Adelaide, formely Resident Manager of 

 the estate, for the photographs illus- 

 trating the teams at work. 



From continuous cropping to bare- 

 fallowing is a natural transition, 

 especially in a relativelv drv district. 

 Continual cropping with the same crop 

 encourages weeds to such an extent as to 

 ultimately render a period of rest and 

 cleaning absolutely necessary. 



The marked advantages of this period 

 of rest and cleaning must have appealed 

 \ery strongly to the early pioneers. So 

 far as barefallowing is concerned, we 

 have already seen that it is an indis- 

 pensable preparation for a maximum 

 crop in all districts where the rainfall 

 is relatively low, and that it enables the 

 wheat crop to make the \ery utmost use 

 of a limited rainfall. It was noted, 

 too, that in the more humid districts 

 ]iroblems relating to moisture con- 

 serxation are of minor importance, 

 and that barefallowing is unnecessary, 

 and should be replaced by a .skilled 

 system of catch cropping and rota- 

 tion. Finally, it was noted that 

 in the dry districts no system of 

 cultivation can be permanently effective 



