518 president's address — section G2. 



practically ruin thousands of acres of wheat crop in a single season. 

 The alarming thing about it is that it is spreading throughout the 

 State, and is not confined entirely to the older or longer developed 

 districts. I beheve, too, that it is firmly established in the wheat 

 areas of the other States, especially Victoria, and it is most 

 desirable just at this stage to endeavour to do something to check 

 the spread of this virulent wheat pest. Really good work has been 

 done by Mr. McAlpine in definitely determining the cause of the 

 disease. By careful investigation he has proved the presence of 

 Ophiobolus graminis ; by exhaustive infection experiments he has 

 shown that this is capable of causing the trouble ; but the work 

 requires to be carried further, and it is with the intention of taking 

 up the investigation just at the point where Mr. McAlpine stopped 

 off that I mention the matter to this Association. It seems to 

 me that much good would result if this Section were to take some 

 active part in the investigation of this disease, which, if it exists 

 in the other States as it does in South Australia, will cause great 

 loss to the Commonwealth. I am also of opinion that the co- 

 operation of several specialists will do more towards the solution 

 of a matter of this kind than any one individual working at it can 

 do. Doubtless the pathologist will be most in evidence, but I 

 feel that the chemist will also be helpful, as well as the agricul- 

 turist. I mean by the latter, one who has considerable know- 

 ledge in working and handling soils. If a committee were formed, 

 say, of the Government Pathologist of Victoria, the Government 

 Micro-Biologist of New South Wales, the Government Agricultural 

 Chemists of Sydney and Adelaide, together with someone with 

 a knowledge of South Australian soils and of the districts in which 

 the disease is most active, I am satisfied some real practical work 

 could be done to check this fast-spreading pest, and such action 

 would not only bring credit to this Section of the Association, 

 but would also be of real benefit to Australian agriculture. 



2. " Bitter Pit " in Apples. — This disease, not yet investigated 

 and causing great loss to the fruit industry, is now requiring imme- 

 diate attention. There has been some talk recently of this being 

 undertaken, and what would appear to have been most needed 

 was initiative, which could well have come from this Association. 

 It would not be out of place even now to try and make some start 

 with it by forming a committee of the pathologists and fruit experts 

 of the States who are members of this Association to report to it 

 and suggest a scheme of work. If the investigation is ultimately 

 taken up in another quarter, certainly no harm could come from 

 our dealing with it, and our action may help on that larger investi- 

 gation which is at present under consideration. 



3. Dry Farming. — In Australia there is a vast tract of splendid 

 country just outside what we call, according to our present light — 

 " the area of profitable wheat production." This line is of course 

 extending as our farming practice improves, and to-day hundreds 

 of thousands, indeed millions, of acres of land are being thrown open 



