I06 /YFJV SnUTIT WALES. 



'Kavokeshuv]] AgriciiUnrnl College. 



Perhaps tlie great importance attaclied to education of the people in 

 ao-ricultural matters is best evidenced in the establishment of the 

 Hawkesbury Agricultural College, at Richmond, 38 miles from 

 Sydney. Opened in March, 1891, with 25 students, six months later 

 the number was doubled ; and the new buikling, to be occupied 

 February, 1896, will accommodate 98. Three thousand acres of bush 

 land have been converted into a first-class farm, with cultivation 

 paddocks (GOO acres), orchard (30 acres), vineyard (10 acres), mulberry 

 plantation for silkworm-rearing (10 acres), bee and poultry farm (15 

 acres), grass (1,000 acres), the balance beiug uncleared at present. The 

 buildings contain lecture halls, chemical and botanical laboratories, 

 museum, library, offices, houses for principal and resident masters ; 

 each student has a separate bedroom-study ; and electric light is to 

 be used throughout. All necessary fai'm buildings are provided. The 

 dairy is most complete, and the stock varied. Carpentering-, black- 

 smithing, farming, orchard, dair}^, and other kinds of work are con- 

 stantly in full swing. The crops are varied and extensive, including 

 wheat, oats, maize, tobacco, potatoes, sweet potato, pumpkins, melons, 

 buckwheat, turnips, mangel, and rape. ExjDerimental work is always 

 going on, and larg-e numbers of economic plants are to be seen 

 growing. The orchard contains stone-fruits, pomes, fig, guava, citrus 

 fruits, persimmons, and a large vegetable garden. An irrigation 

 farm of 100 acres is in contemplation. Students take out-door work 

 and lectui*es on alternate days ; the latter comprise principles of ag-ri- 

 culture, agricultural chemistry, botany (including vegetable path- 

 ology), geology, physics, mechanics, surveying*, entomology, farm 

 book-keeping, veterinary science and practice, arithmetic and English. 

 The course of study covers two years, and to take a diploma, examina- 

 tions must be passed in eig-ht subjects ; the three first-named being 

 compulsory, together with practical work and good conduct. 



Ei'perhnental Farms. 



Experimental farms are to be established in every distinct climatic 

 region in the Colony; at Wagga Wagga (southern tableland), Lismore 

 (sub-tropical coastal), and Bathurst (central tableland), work has been 

 commenced ; tests are being made as to the best crops and methods of 

 work for the special district. 



The water running from numerous artesian bores, put down by 

 Government in the western districts — chiefly Avest of the Darling — 

 has been largely made use of for demonstrating possibilities of culti- 

 vation in the dry interior, 500 miles from the coast, and with 

 gratifying results; lucerne, maize, wheat, tobacco, bananas, melons, 

 pumpkins, stone-fruits, quinces, date palms, poplars, willows, and 

 other plants grow remarkably well, showing that the hot interior, 

 Avhen water is available, can be made to support a large population. 



It ma}' be remarked that, as yet, town sewage and ashpit refuse are 

 rarely used for irrigation and mauurial purposes ; there is great room 

 for the utilisation of this material, properly prepared, as an economical 

 and useful fertilizer. 



