10 CEREALS 



records that the rainfall in the four months, May, June, 

 July, and August, which covers the period from sowing 

 to earing, was 1*55 in., and that from the end of August 

 till October, when the crop was harvested, it was 2*18 in. 

 Detailed figures as to soil moisture are also recorded. 

 For the four months the average figures for the top 6 in. 

 are : Ordinary cultivation, 675 per cent. ; Campbell's 

 farming, 10*07 P er cent.; for the following six weeks the 

 figures are 9*83 and 14*61 per cent, respectively. The 

 records I have seen do not say what yield was obtained 

 from the same variety grown by ordinary methods, but 

 the manager writes as follows: "So far the results do 

 not point in favour of the Campbell's system as advocated, 

 as the annual yields have been equal to, and in some 

 instances better, than the biennial yields off the Campbell 

 block for half the labour expended in preparation." The 

 verdict so far appears to be unfavourable, but I have 

 thought it desirable to mention the record, because it is 

 the first I have seen referring to such tests made almost 

 within the tropics, and labour in some parts of them is 

 cheap . 



Northern Territory. Mr. F. B. Guthrie, of Sydney, 

 from whom at intervals I receive appreciated letters, tells 

 me that the late Director of Agriculture for New South 

 Wales, who recently returned from a trip in the Northern 

 Territory, found (i) that a " Swedish farmer ninety miles 

 inland from Port Darwin obtained some seed from India, 

 and got good grain on light sandy soil and without rain 

 for six months. 



" (2) That he saw some wheats grown on the Roper 

 River about 300 miles further inland, results satisfactory, 

 but only experimental. 



" (3) That lie considers there is plenty of good wheat 

 land in the Territory, especially further south in the 

 Barkley Tablelands." 



Western Australia. The Commissioner for Tropical 

 Agriculture, Mr. A. Despeissis, made in 1909 and 1910 

 an overland tour through tropical Australia to examine 

 at first hand the conditions prevailing there. He writes 

 that " wheat promises in an average season to be a profit- 

 able crop as far north as the Gascoyne, and sheaves of 



