146 president's address — section g. 



Many of our orchardists, after treating their orange trees with 

 bonedust for ten or twenty years in succession, found this phos- 

 phatic manure beginning to lose its efficacy ; but they could not 

 agree as to the cause, some blaming the manufacturers, others the 

 sheep and cattle which were not building up their bc^nes with the 

 same phosjihate of lime and gelatine as in the good old days. If, 

 perchance, some enthusiastic experimenter hinted that perhaps the 

 soil and the tree needed some potash to make its diet more com- 

 plete he was laughed at as a harmless lunatic, and invited to offer 

 his kainit and other foreign stuff to those who knew no better. 



Our dairy farmers were finding their pastures deteriorate, and 

 though they were vaguely conscious that our indigenous grasses — 

 Eraqroslis leptostachya., Danthonia pallida, Cynodon dactylon, 

 Andropogon sericeus, Astrebla triticoides, Chloris trimcuta, Pappo- 

 phortim nigricans, and a hundred others — stood by them well in 

 their droughty seasons, they all with one accord sowed the Lolivms, 

 Foas, Fe.scties, and other tender European grasses, alike on the 

 dry hill sides, the hot western plains, the sub-tropical river banks, 

 and the New England tablelands, because perhaps our dairy 

 farmers in the south coast district, with its mild climate, regular 

 rainfall, and rich deep soils, had found these grasses do well in any 

 average season. 



In short, so many troublesome problems were presenting them- 

 selves to our farmers, graziers, orchardists, and vignerons with 

 reference to their soils, their crops, their stock, their insect pests 

 and fungus diseases, and many other matters of vital importance, 

 that the more intelligent of our agriculturists, recognising that 

 they could expect no light from their neighbors — no more en- 

 lightened than themselves — asked for the formation of a Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Each of the other Australian Colonies had 

 such an educational agency, in one form or another. Victoria had 

 two agricultural colleges in full working order, South Australia 

 had her Roseworthy, but the mother-colony had done almost 

 nothing for the agricultural community. 



In February, 1890, the Hon. Sydney Smith, M. P., was appointed 

 the first Minister of Agriculture, and at once entered with vigor 

 upon the work of forming a department adapted to the needs of 

 the men whose interests it had to serve. The objects were stated 

 as follows : — 



To obtain data necessary to complete the history of agriculture 



in New South Wales. 

 To collect, arrange, publish, and disseminate for the benefit of 



the agriculturists of the colony all useful information in 



regard to agriculture in its many branches. 

 To recommend, by gathering together the highest agricultural 



experience of other lands, the best methods of culture, the 



choicest grasses, cereals, plants, vegetables, fruit, and other 



