WHEAT CULTURE. 2*7 



however limited, and the wild oats furnished the evidence in quick time. 

 We know of no better proof of the value of the change of crops than thai 

 abandoned experiment at Cowra. 



The influence of rotation on insect pests is, perhaps, less conspicuous in the 

 oase of wheat than of almost any other crop, though even there it has its 

 value. As to fungus diseases, especially "take-all," there is no room for 

 doubt; indeed, it will be found that a change to oats is quite essential 

 where a paddock contains badly infected patches. 



Limitations of the Position. 



The importance of rotation being thus indicated, the question presents 

 itself, " What crops can be used in connection with wheat under New South 

 "Wales conditions 1 " 



It has to be confessed at once that there is no crop that wholly serves the 

 purpose. Wheat is grown on such a large scale and under such extensive 

 cultural conditions in this State that there is no other crop that offers such 

 a certain market at remunerative prices, or that can be grown in such large 

 areas. Barley and oats have not the sure market awaiting theui in large 

 quantities, even if they could be relied upon to yield as well in all parts of 

 the State where wheat is profitable ; and the same objection applies with even 

 greater force to potatoes, turnips, and the other root crops which in nearly 

 all other agricultural countries are considered most desirable as changes from 

 grain. 



Rape in combination with either bailey or oats, or by itself, is a valuable 

 soil renovator and fodder crop, but to recommend it as a rotation crop on 

 a large scale under our conditions would be to presuppose that the farmer 

 would have at certain times of the year a far larger number of sheep than 

 can be carried on any average wheat farm. 



It is essential, as we have said, that any change recommended in rotation 

 with wheat should be a profitable one ; in other words, it should be such as 

 will not only improve the condition of the soil, but also improve the condition 

 of the banking account. 



Fallow as a Rotation. 



The rotation this Department would advise in respect of large portions of 

 the wheat belt is simply wheat, alternated with fallow, with such occasional 

 variations as the circumstances require or permit. The period of fallow not 

 only enables the farmer to increase the store of moisture, but it also allows 

 the soil to recuperate, and additional plant food to be made available, and it 

 gives an opportunity for cultivating the surface for the destruction of weeds 

 and certain fungus and insect pests. The value of fallow in connection with 

 wheat has been discussed again and again in the Agricultural Gazette and in 

 other publications of the Department, but in this recommendation of fallow 

 as an alternative to wheat in a rotation, it is not out of place to refer again 

 to the experiment at Cowra. In the six years of that experiment the " wheat- 

 every-year " section averaged 16*8 bushels per acre, the "wheat-after-bare- 

 fallow" section averaged 24*8 bushels, and the " wheat-and-fodder-crop " 

 section, 26*4 bushels. 



Various Suitable Crops. 



Variations should certainly be made from time to time, however, for a 

 simple rotation of wheat and fallow indefinitely is likely eventually to 

 exhaust the hum as content of the soil. The store of this important soil 

 constituent may be maintained in two ways, both associated with the 



