PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS—SECTION G. 127 
ture will not be secured; the ploughing will turn up a fresh 
moist surface for evaporation ; the land will be sufficiently open 
to allow of its drying to the bottom of the plough furrow ; 
difficulty occurs in securing a tilth of a mellow character, for 
the land will work into dust, and also there is some danger 
that a sufficient state of consolidation in the soil, to provide a 
desirable seed bed in the autumn for wheat, will not be ob- 
tained; and lastly, but by no means of least importance, the 
provision of conditions the most favourable to the action of 
the soil ferments wii! be missed, and much of their valuable 
ameliorating influence lost for the year. 
The fact that our climate offers facility for the securing of 
conditions favourable to rapid nitrification has to be considered 
from another point of view—that of manuring. My predecessor, 
Prof. Custance, seventeen or eighteen years ago published re- 
ports of experiments, with the deduction from the results that 
phosphatic manures were specially advantageous, and the results 
of experiments which I have carried out at Roseworthy confirm 
the inference. I will instance some results which have just been 
harvested :— 
I. 
5 2 cwts. Lawes’ Superphosphate, 36 to 38%... 18 53 
12 (2 cwts. Lawes’ Superphosphate, 36 to 38 ee 19 4 
* (+ 2ewt. sulphate of ammonia ... 
23 1 ewt. Lawes’ Superphosphate ... HY a8 14 48 
14 Nomanure ... . ¥. ; ate Usd 6 2 
5 2 ewts. Ohlendorff’s eae . guano... bk 19 55 
A, 
24 2ewts. basic slag... he a as 15 3 
7 te ewts. basic slag 
“2 | + 1 ewt. nitrate of soda 
a a 2 ewts. basic slag 
“2 7 + 1 ewt. muriate of potash — 
2 ewts. basic slag 
24 ) + lewt. nitrate of soda 
{ + 1 ecwt. muriate of potash ae 
24 Nomanure ... tes ee ee ha ea 6 14 
Saas See eo 
— 
w 
oa 
wo) 
The field in which these blocks were laid out was purchased 
for the College farm two years ago, and had been severely 
cropped for many years with wheat after fallow, but had re- 
ceived during that time no manure. It therefore showed to 
advantage the effects of manures. I should also mention that 
the season was exceptionally adverse. The total rainfall for the 
year was 14.8 in., but of that amount 4.7 in. fell up to the 
