Agricultural and Horticultural Resources. 35 



Colac District. 



We learn from the Committee of the Colac Agricultural 

 Society that, although the land in the district might be 

 improved by irrigation, yet, in their opinion, the climate is 

 so humid as not to require a resort to an expensive operation 

 of this nature. 



Except the ravages of the caterpillar, there are no adverse 

 influences calculated to retard the progress of farming 

 throughout the district. All kinds of root crops flourish. 



The averages of the various crops are as follows : — 



Wheat ... ... 23 bushels per acre. 



Oats 30 „ 



Barley 30 „ 



Potatoes ... ... 2^ tons „ 



Burrumbeet and Lake Learmonth District. 



This tract of country is considerably elevated, supplying 

 streams to the basin of the Murray and to the southern coast. 

 A large proportion of the soil is of the fine description locally 

 termed chocolate soil, formed by the decomposition of the lava, 

 and is of great depth. 



The temperature here is said, in the report of the society, 

 to be cooler and the effects of the hot winds less felt than in 

 many other districts of the colony. All the English fruits 

 grow to perfection, while, although the grape ripens in some 

 localities, it is considered to be too cold, generally speaking, for 

 a wine producing district. The crops usually grown, and 

 found to succeed best, are wheat, oats, and potatoes, and the 

 average yields as follows : — 



Wheat ... ... 30 bushels per acre. 



Oats fully 35 „ 



Potatoes ... ... 3-g- tons „ 



The crops that have been experimentally cultivated are : 

 English barley, mangold wurzel, and sorghum ; but as it is 

 found that the potatoes and other vegetables sometimes suffer 

 from late frosts, the sorghum, as might be expected, has not 

 been found to succeed well in that climate. About one-fourth 

 of the district, or 30,000 acres, is under cultivation, and the 

 position of the lakes, such as Learmonth and others, offers every 

 facility for converting the land around them into irrigated 

 meadows. 



