484 Joiinial of A f^ri culture, Victoria. [lo Aug., 1912. 



BENEFITS OF BARE FALLOW— 



It is a deplorahle fact that proportionately less land was fallowed last 

 year in the Southern district than there was in 1909 and 1910. The reason 

 for this is that the phenomenal seasons of 1909 and 1910 have made 

 farmers careless in their methods. Fair crops were obtained in these two 

 years on unfallowed land, but surely practical men must know that such 

 seasons are abnormal and not likely to recur often. The season just con- 

 cluded has been a bitter lesson to those who put their faith in non-fallowed 

 land. Thousands of acres have yielded less than 6 bushels per acre, not 

 sufficient to cover cost of putting in and taking off the crops. Side by 

 side in every district in the south are to be met instances where the crop 

 on non-fallowed land is hardly worth stripping, whereas the yield on 

 adjoining fallowed land is 20 bushels or more per acre. . . . Let 

 every wheat farmer make a firm resolution, no- matter what happens, to 

 fallow at least two-thirds of the area he is prepared to put under crop. — 

 Aii^ric. Gazette, New South Wales. 



HIGH-GRADE BUTTER— 



To jDroduce high-grade butter the cream must be free from faults and 

 taints, and an extension of the system whereby cream is graded and paid 

 for according to quality at the butter factory appears to be most desirable. 

 A system of uniform prices for butter fat removes the incentive to care 

 and cleanliness on the farm, and helps towards a general low^ering down 

 rather than towards improvement in the condition of cream deliveries. 

 This important matter is discussed by Mr. E. Graham in the Queensland 

 Agricultural Journal for April, and the following extracts indicate the 

 line of argument : — " Most factories receiving at least three distinct quali- 

 ties of cream from their patrons pay a uniform price for the resultant 

 butters. This method of making average payments to cream suppliers is 

 not equitable, and positively destroys the chief incentive to- produce high- 

 quality cream. It is not surprising to find producers negligent in the 

 production and handling of milk-products while the above custom of pay- 

 ments prevails. Milk or cream should be graded and paid for by the 

 factories in strict accordance with its quality. The redemption of quality 

 requires a united effort. At the height of the season, fully 80 per cent. 

 of the butter manufactured in Queensland is sold on the over-sea markets. 

 It is particularly under the stress of export conditions that the butters made 

 from creams of inferior quality behave unsatisfactorily, and unduly 

 deteriorate in quality. The local consumption of low-grade butter is very 

 limited, and it naturally follows that almost all the butter of this charactei 

 is forced into the export list. Although such butters have a market value, 

 they are not of sufficient merit to build up anv good reputation for the 

 State." 



Many Victorian soils contain about i ton each of nitrogen, phosphoric 

 acid, and potash per acre in the top 9 inches of soil, but by far the greater 

 bulk is in a form which the crop cannot utilize. 



The nitrogen in humus must be changed into ammonia and nitrates 

 before it is available to crops. Fresh vegetable residues undergo this change 

 more readily than old humus matters. Lin:ie hastens the change. 



