CHAPTER XVIT. 

 ON SOILS. 



We have had ample evidence of what Illawarra and the Shoalhaven 

 Valleys could produce in the 'form of grasses and fodder plants in the 

 past. We have proof enough that owing to careless relations between 

 landlords and tenants bad examples in farming have been set and even 

 followed by those who farmed their own lands. Every practical dairy- 

 man should know that manure is the mother of all crops, so therefore 

 it ought to be resorted to as the first step to 'iarm with success. The 

 more manure we make the more crops we can raise, and the heavier 

 our crops the larger our manure heap. Our maxim should be to 

 plough deep and bury the manure firmly in the soil, as our system of 

 farming must be different to other countries owing to the dry weather 

 and heavy falls of rain occurring alternately. Cultivate if possible 

 when the weather is dry never wait for a set day. Much better to 

 plough a little at a time and do it well, than hurry over it and leave 

 i. hale finished. 



Soils vary very much in their composition. Even in the South Coast 

 districts we have a great variety of soils, and what is more important 

 still to know is that the composition of any particular soil is so diffi- 

 cult to ascertain accurately. In fact, the composition of a soil and 

 the mineral salts contained in the grass and -fodder plants growing 

 on it will be an investigation of the greatest possible difficulty to fol- 

 low up by our younger dairy farmers. The difficulty is increased by 

 the action of our climate on the rich soil, and by the fact that the 

 proportions of the ash ingredients in plants is most difficult to esti- 

 mate correctly. It is a research that will hardly be carried through 

 during the li-letime of the present generation unless the Germans 

 come to our assistance either directly or indirectly with their scientific 

 knowledge. 



The South Coast districts were different in the period 

 1856 to 1866, with their salubrious and balmy atmosphere, 

 fine skies, 'fertile fields, fine orchards, healthy, vigorous, pro- 

 ductive dairy herds, magnificent scenery important in its 

 place as being essential to human happiness, if not an element of 

 prosperity. In those days no part of Australia could compare even 

 favourably with it as regards forms o-f animal and vegetable life. The 

 beauty of its dairy stock, though eminently belonging to many other 

 objects to be found there, was a prominent and apparently prevailing 

 feature of every 'farm. Nor was their utility lessened by their beauty. 

 This all arose from the fertility of the soil and the genial nature of 

 its climate. As will be shown elsewhere, there were droughts during 

 'the decade just mentioned, but not severe ones, and crops grew 

 abundantly. And until we can return to the soil of the South Coast 

 all the varied elements that have been either taken or washed out of 

 it during the past fifty years we need not expect to see the South 

 Coast as others saw it exactly half a century ago. There are those in 

 our midst who may contend that the soil of the South Coast is just 

 as rich to-day as it was fifty years ago. This may be true enough 

 in a sense, as a soil that is naturally rich in plant food will remain 

 so provided it is compensated for what has been taken from it. But 

 if we look around we can soon see for ourselves that low-lying flats 

 and swampy lands have been filled up by the wash from the hills dur- 

 ing all those years ; and as the top layer of our soils contained all 

 the humus, the formation of ages, which when washed away cannot 

 be easily or cheaply replaced, we must conclude that our soil is only 

 as rich as its base, as the sur-face has nearly all disappeared. 



Before, therefore, we can recommend tenant farmers to run the risk 



305. T 



