130 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS—SECTION G. 
contain a low percentage of phosphoric acid, and our lands 
that have been submitted through a long period of years are, 
my experience leads me to believe, extremely deficient in that 
indispensable ingredient. Accordingly, as phosphatic dressings 
repl nish this deficiency, and as they enable the plant to succeed 
with less moisture if-applied in soluble form, the inference can 
he drawn a priorv that they must have special utility in our 
practice. And that, I take it, experiment and practice proves 
to the full. Our soils contain abundance of potash and lime, 
speaking generally; nitrates are formed by our . practice of 
fallowing ; and, accordingly, we tind, in spite of the orthodoxy 
based on European traditions and experience, that phosphatic 
manures can be used for a number of years with the very best 
results. ; 
Again, the climate nee ies that. in ihe selection of 
varieties of wheat we should favour spring rather than winter 
wheats—early rather than late—for late wheats in our relatively 
short growing season are liable to suffer.from heat strokes in 
the early summer. One hot wind day. may work most serious 
mischief on such if they do not practically succumb to it. But 
early wheats, generally speaking, are among the less prolific. 
There are exceptions, but these are few, and as this subject is 
to be discussed in one of the papers to be read before this sec- 
tion, I will not encroach on it further than to say that in our 
climate it is a most important gain, though one that. is very fre- 
quently neglected, to sow at the very earhest opportunity. 
There may be danger from occasional spring frosts, but on the 
average it is a disti..ct gain to increase the length of time that 
the crop is growing at ‘the autumn end. The “plant enters on 
the winter period of its life with a more vigorous root system, 
and benefits from this right through to “seedtime. In this 
relation also does phosphatic manuring aid the farmer in over- 
coming climatic difficulties. In some seasons rains come very 
late, and seeding, on lighter lands at least, has to be postponed, 
for the working of light lands dry is too. frequently hurtful. 
But the use of even a light dressing of superphosphate has a 
very marked effect in favouring the arly development of the 
plant, both above and below the | ‘ground, giving it vigour, which 
is well sustained through the winter, and tells a joyful tale at 
harvest. The period of ripening is also, without doubt, hastened, 
and there is no question that this is a great advantage, for the 
risk of heat stroke is lessened, and ome danger rust is 
diminished. I will put this in another way. The climate com- 
pels us to grow earlier varieties of wheat, but in these the root 
system is less developed than in winter wheat proper. I refer 
those who may doubt this general statement to the researches 
of Garola. With a relatively feeble apparatus of assimilation to 
draw nutritive material from the soil it is the more necessary 
