434 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



Be the original sources seven or one only, is of secondary import- 

 ance to the facts I have to bring forward concerning the 

 deterioration of wheat in this country — deterioi'ation in both 

 quality and quantity. 



To understand the situation clearly, it is necessary to examine 

 into the character of wheat, in the practical and chemical sense ; 

 then to see in what manner the very existence of this grain is 

 dependent upon the soil in which it is grown, and the methods of 

 cultivation followed. I purpose dealing with each point bi'iefly, 

 only, and it will be my fault if the matter becomes wearisome. 



It may be accepted as correct that, so far as climate is concerned, 

 there are enormous areas of all the Australasian colonies situated 

 in the very be>t position for wheat. I sometimes think that it has 

 been a misfortune for this country, that we are so very favourably 

 situated for many things — the production of wheat amongst them. 

 The first efforts for wheat production in Australia were not 

 fortunate. The classic slo|ies of Woolloomooloo, it is said, saw 

 the first grain of edible Triticuta sown in Australia. It was 

 sorry poor seed, no doubt, for after a long voyage it arrived from 

 the Cape of Good Hope, where weevils were as lively at that time 

 as they are with us to-day. The season was dry too, the cultiva- 

 tion was slipshod likely enough, for we are told that the expert 

 sent out specially to instruct the colonists in agriculture, was 

 pensioned oft', as an incapable, more fond of rum than steady work. 



We need not wonder now that the first efforts at wheat growing 

 were not successful. The land on which it was sown, we know, 

 from its very nature was poor in wheat yielding qualities. Soil 

 analyses, were not usual then, and it may be, unfortunately, before 

 efforts had been made to get over the difficnlty of soil poverty by 

 manuring the ground, that historical stampede of cattle took place 

 which led on to the discovery of that exceptionally fine stretch of 

 country, the Cow Pastures, the districts of what are now Camden, 

 Campbelltown, and others. There the soil, in its virgin state, was 

 good enough to yield crops of wheat, so the grain was grown and 

 crops reaped year after year • and the want of system was com- 

 menced which has gone on and on till the present wheat season of 

 1888. That is, the "Tickle the soil and it will laugh a harvest" 

 process — some of the said harvests, all the time, making the ticklers 

 weep wliile they gathered in about as much grain as the seed sown 

 amounted to. The fact is that wheit is an exhausting crop. It 

 extracts heavily certain materials from the soil, of which only 

 very few places on earth have a big supply, and of which — it is 

 well that the real state of the case should be known, and as widely 

 as possible — there are but few localities with us that contain more 

 than a moderate supply. Hence it is, that the locust like 



