302 Proceedings, &c, for 1882. 



20th April, 1882. 



The President in the Chair — Present, 19 members and associates. 



The following members signed their names in the members' book: 

 — Mr. J. Stirling, Mr. Lane, and Mr. Chesney. 



Mr. Spencer R. Deverill was nominated for membership. Mr. 0. 

 R. Rule and Professor Halford were elected members. Mr. W. 

 Luplan, Mr. E. F. Pittman, Mr. J. Oddie, Mr. M'Lelland were 

 elected country members. 



Mr. H. V. Champion and Mr. H. M'Lean were elected associates. 

 Mr. Stirling then read a paper on the " Phanerogamia of the 

 Mitta Mitta Source Basin," and exhibited a collection of plants 

 made by him. 



In answer to questions, Mr. Stirling said that the pepper-tree 

 grows at the height of 5000 feet on the Australian Alps, and bears 

 a dark bluish-black berry. There is a shrub with a large bushy top 

 and woolly leaves called the "flannel plant," whose properties are as 

 yet quite unknown. When cut down, and left for two or three days, 

 horses and cattle will eat it as fodder. The clematis often climbs to 

 the top of eucalypti 200 feet in height. 



The President then laid on the table a paper on the " Mosses of 

 Australia," by Mr. Mitten, of Sussex, England, which that gentle- 

 man had forwarded to Baron von Mueller for presentation to the 

 Society. 



Mr. Culcheth then read his paper entitled " Notes on Irrigation." 

 Mr. Kernot said the countries in which irrigation is most used in 

 cultivation are Northern Italy and India. There the channels are 

 placed 30 feet apart, and the ground between is cut up into small 

 beds, surrounded by little trenches, which fill up when the channels 

 overflow. In both these countries labour is so cheap that irrigation 

 pays, but circumstances are very different here. 



Mr. Ellery and Mr. Culcheth agreed that with a population so 

 widely scattered as ours irrigation would be very costly, and would 

 not give adequate returns. 



Mr. Kernot said that he had recently noticed that the fall from 

 Sheppartonto Numurkah was only one foot in a thousand ; the evapo- 

 ration in excessively warm weather amounts to only one-eighth of an 

 inch per day; the soil is of a retentive, basaltic character, and offers 

 every facility for irrigation. 



Mr. Culcheth considered that the cheapest kind of irrigation was 

 that of the water channels of India, where beds of about 500 to the 

 acre are arranged on a gentle slope. As soon as the seed is sown, 

 men admit the water to the different beds in succession by opening 

 sluices in the channels. 



Mr. Lane remarked that in America for small areas they irrigate 

 by means of pipes let down below the surface, and containing 



