108 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Feb., 1917. 



To secure the most suitable types of wheat for the arid conditions, 

 two factors should be especially considered — 



1. Low transpiration ratio, particularly for grain. These are 



characterized by sparse stooling, short-strawed varieties, con- 

 taining a large percentage of gram compared with straw. 



2. Early maturity, so that the variety may be well on to maturity 



when the first hot winds set in. 

 There are three ways of securing these^ — 



1. Acclimatization. — Scouring the earth for types accustomed to 



grow for generations in an arid environment, and testing these 

 types in each of the climatically different districts of the 

 State. 



2. Selection. — Selection from existing types varieties which show in 



the highest degree the special character's we are seeking. 



3. Crossbreeding, and the production of new types containing in 



the one variety the desirable unit characters from several 

 varieties. 



This is now an important phase of the work of the Vic- 

 torian Department. At Werribee and Dookie a large number 

 of new crossbreds at all stages of growth are undergoing trials 

 in competition with the best of our local varieties, and the 

 results already obtained suggest that new and prolific varie- 

 ties, adapted to the drier districts, can be produced with a 

 fair degree of certainty. 

 So much for the problem of pushing back the margin of cultivation. 

 It will be solved by the general adoption of better methods of farming, 

 increasing the acreage under fallow, the use of superphosphate, but most 

 of all by the production of hardy varieties of wheat. 



Increasing the efliciency of the areas already under cultivation. This 

 is even more important than the former, because on it rests tlie possi- 

 bility of keeping the agricultural community permanently prosperous. 

 It is of more importance to a State like Victoria — the most densely 

 populated of all the States in the Commonwealth. Here, future pros- 

 perity depends, not so much on the multiplication of acreage under crop 

 as on increasing the production per acre. 



Top-dressing Pasture Lands. 



First consider the grazing or pasture lands of the State. These, 

 according to the Year-Book, occupy an area of 32,000,000 acres out of 

 a total of 37,000,000 acres. These pasture lands are the areas on which 

 the normal carrying capacity ol 12,000,000 sheep and 1,500,000 cattle 

 of the State are grazed. Approximately, two-thirds of these lands are 

 in districts of fairly heavy rainfall, i.e., 20 inches and over. 



Experiments on the top-dressing of pastures carried out by the 

 Department for the past four years show that the stock-carrying 

 capacity of ordinary grazing land can be increased from 50 to 100 per 

 cent, by the application of suitable combinations of pliosphates and lime. 



Australian soils are noted for their deficiency in phosphoric acid, and 

 many of our Victorian soils, especially in Gippsland, are deficient in 

 lime. Top-dressing of natural pastures with dressings of phosphates and 

 lime is practised by an occasional land-cwner. There are no figures avail- 

 able as to the extent to which pastures are top-dressed, but it is safe to 

 say that 90 per'cent. of the area is not treated in any way by the land- 

 owners. 



