i 4 WHEATGROWING IN AUSTRALIA. 



What can be achieved in dry districts with a limited and inter- 

 mittent rainfall has been most forcibly proved by experience. At 

 Messrs. Gagie Bros.' farm, Spy Hill, West Wyalong, New South 

 Wales, a yield of 24 bushels of wheat was obtained in the 1911-12 

 season on a rainfall of 668 points less than 7 in. ! Of course, such 

 a crop could not be grown on such a rainfall alone, as a much 

 larger quantity of water would be required to produce that amount 

 of wheat. The crop during the growing period only received 668 

 points of rain, but in the land on which it was grown, and which 

 was fallowed and properly worked, a large quantity of moisture 

 was stored from the previous year, and on this reserve the growing 

 crop grew, and with the additional 668 points that fell during the 

 growing period a yield of 24 bushels per acre was obtained. 



Still more remarkable were the results obtained in the same 

 season from experiment plots on the farm of Mr. Carew, Deniliquin, 

 in the same State. The seed was sown on well-worked fallow land 

 in which a good amount of the previous year's rainfall had been 

 conserved. The rainfall during the growing period was 322 points, 

 distributed as follows: May, 210; June, 60; July, 12; August, nil; 

 September, 37; October, 3 points. Under ordinary conditions such 

 a rainfall would meam utter failure of a wheat crop, yet in this case 

 a yield of 14 bushels per acre was obtained. 



A FINE CROP OF WHEAT. 



