president's address. SECTION G". 579 



stated tiiat : '' Some 1 7 years ago the ' Dons ' of Cambridge University, 

 when assembled in conclave, laughed at the idea of introducing the 

 \eaching of agi-icultural science into the university curriculum, and 

 the undergraduates' organ (' The Grauta ') had a derisive article on 

 the occasion, set off with classical quotations. A ver\'" great change 

 has come over matters since then, and now at that seat of learning 

 Agriculture is one of the most important departments, and the infor- 

 mation given is likely to be of infinitely more value to those who 

 receive it than the cramming up of Latin and Greek for an M.A. 

 ' pass.'" 



To provide agricultural education in its various stages from the 

 primary school to the university involves two momentous problems — 



1st. To define the exact scope and limitations of the subjects 



to be taught in these schools. 

 I'nd. To select and train teiachers possessing aptitude, 



enthusiasm, and teaching instincts. 



The highly important work of experimentation and research 

 demands men of specific scientific attainments. In this our Australian 

 Universities can offer all the facilities for training. 



We have expected too much from the teachers in our agricultural 

 schools and colleges in the past in asking them to conduct experi- 

 mental work whilst associated with fixed duties in teaching. 



Thoroughness and exactness of detail are the mainstays of sound 

 investigations, and teachers cannot devote proper attention to classes 

 of work demanding such diverse characteristics. 



Another point that has to be jealously guarded against is the 

 possibility of teachers in primary schools failing to grasp the true 

 mental expansion following on Nature study, and stultifying its real 

 aims in their eagerness to give the teaching an industrial aspect. 



In refen-ing to the statistics prepared by Mr. Coghlan, Agent- 

 General for New South Wales, we find that 500,000 square miles of 

 Australian territoiy are considered well watered, and of the remaining 

 2.000,000 stjuare miles about one^fourth is practically rainless, and 

 the other three-fourths insufficiently supplied for agricultural purposes. 



Mr. Coghlan points out in regard to the acknowledged quality of 

 the soil that aridity and fertility, far from being accidental, are in 

 reality cause and effect, and that analysis of the arid soils have sufi&- 

 ciently established their relationship of di'}'Tiess and feiiiility. 



About .'^00,000 square miles of this fertile but arid soil is available 

 for reclamation in Australia. We have only 200,000 acres under the 

 influence of ii'rigation in Australia. The outlook in this connection is 

 (•ne of profitable expansion. Contrast this small area with those under 

 the influence of irrigation in other countries — India, 33,000,000 acres ; 

 the American Republic, 7,600,000 acres; Eg\'pt, 6.000,000 acres; and 

 Spain, 2,800,000 acres. 



Mr. Coghlan states, in referring to benefits arising from irriga- 

 tion — " It is not too much to state that millions of acres in the arid 

 and semi-arid districts in Australia, now given over to pasturage and 

 dependent upon precarious rainfall, will carry a large agricultural 

 population for whom drought will have no terrors." 



The Murray tributaries have together an average annual flow of 

 530,000 million cubic feet. The flow of the Murrav itself before it is 



