10 Jan., 1917.] 



Wheat Experiments. 



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it made excellent silage, especially if mixed with a few ]>eas or vetches. 



Over 100 tens of silage had this year been gathered from 10 acres of 



college land sown to barley 

 and peas. 



The silage could be made be- 

 fore hay cutting was com- 

 menced. Again, barley made 

 excellent hay if cut at the right 

 stage. To get the best results 

 for hay, it must be cut before 

 any grain is formed. If left 

 until the grain was formed, the 

 hay became indigestible, and 

 would be wasted by stock. If 

 properly cured, however, it was 

 eaten readily by all classes of 

 stock. In California, barley 

 hay was largely used for feed- 

 ing all kinds of stock. Mr. 

 .Jacob, a successful dairyman 

 at Mildura, regularly used 

 barley hay for his milking 

 herd. 



Finally, barley might al- 

 ways be relied on to give more 

 grain per acre than wheat. 

 Over 80 bushels of barley per 

 acre have been obtained from 

 the experimental plots at 

 Longerenong. 



The Wimmera would not 

 produce an ideal malting bar- 

 ley except in favorable sea- 

 sous. So long as stock were 

 at their present price, how- 

 ever, there was a fine oppor- 

 tunity for the profitable utili- 

 zation of crops of Oregon and 

 Cape barley, either for green 

 feed, ensilage, hay, or for 

 grain. 



The rate of sowing and time 

 of seeding trials awakened 

 considerable interest. In the 

 time of sowing plots, six dif- 

 ferent varieties of wheat were 

 sown on 13th May — before the 

 rain — and the same were sown 

 late, 13th July. Two early 

 (Bunyip and King's Early), 

 two midseason (Federation and 

 Dart's Imperial), and two late 

 varieties (Yandilla King and 



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