578 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 
now in a far better position to take in hand this problem 
than we ever were before in the world’s history. Not only 
is our knowledge of the nature of the processes upon which 
the fertility of the soil depends greater and more exact 
than it ever was before, but in the national experiment- 
farms which are now to be found in almost every civilized 
country, and in the staff of scientific workers who are 
attached to them, we are already equipped for the under- 
taking, which ought, I think, to engage the attention of 
every national experimental farm, and be made a standing 
investigation. We, in Australia, ought certainly to take it. 
in hand; and it is to be hoped that the proper function 
of experiment-farms has now become recognised sufficiently 
generally for this to be done at once. 
I shall now proceed to point out some directions in which 
experimental work is urgently needed for the farming of 
the dry interior of our country :— 
(1.) Subsoiding.—The practice of subsoiling has long 
been recommended by agricultural writers, but 
for some reason it has failed to secure more than 
very occasional adoption. At present its use 
appears to be confined almost entirely to the 
preparation of land for vineyards and orchards. 
When we hear, as we occasionally do, of its beg 
tried on the farm, the results are sometimes 
reported to have been good, but about as often 
disappointing, or even undesirable. As a 
matter of fact, we know no more about the 
practice now than we did thirty years ago, 
except, perhaps, that it is less often successful 
than we used to suppose. There can be no 
manner of doubt that on account of its loosening 
it to a greater depth, subsoiling increases greatly 
the capacity of the soil for storing the water of 
rainfalls. This alone is so important an advan- 
tage for our interior, that we cannot afford to 
neglect to make subsoiling the subject of special 
experimental study, and of systematic trials in 
different soils and subsoils. It may be that the 
adventages. of the operation do not always 
appear at once, and that under some conditions 
it appears at first to do more harm than good, 
and that its good effects are not seen until 
later on; until, probably, some such change has 
taken place in the subsoil as its having come to 
contain a sufficient quantity of the dead roots 
