THE WOMBAT. 17 



To carry out such a code of observations as I have 

 suggested, it would be necessary to cut the colony into divisions, 

 as was suggested by Baron von Mueller in hisi^y to Victorian 

 Plants, Part 2. Schedules for the work would have to be 

 drawn out, and a few persons in each division, skilled in the 

 various departments under review, engaged to fill them in. The 

 whole thing would not cost more than £5, including postage. 

 To sum up the advantages of carrying out such a scheme, I 

 would point out to you that as regards plants — natural and 

 cultivated — we would know at a glance the earliest flowering 

 dates for various districts ; with regard to insects, a very 

 important part, we would have accurate data which, with the 

 meteorological tables at hand, would enable us to anticipate 

 their appearance, and to take preventive measures before they 

 had produced their usual ravages ; the codlin moth, woolly 

 aphis, and locust for example. With regard to the recording 

 of the nesting, song, and migration of our native birds, it 

 would, in time, lead to a proper estimate of the close seasons 

 to be adopted for the various localities of the colony ; as the 

 present Act stands, it is the same for the whole of the colony, 

 and is, consequently, inoperative. 



Such are the results which may be anticipated if such a 

 suggestion be carried into performance, and although I have 

 merely reviewed the outlines of the subject, I hope that enough 

 has been said to give you a fair idea of the importance and 

 advantage of a systematic arrangement of phenological obser- 

 vations. 



The Study of Natural History Applied to Rural 



Pursuits. 



It is not very difficult for the student of Natural History 

 to apply his subject of inquiry to rural pursuits in practice,, 

 but it is somewhat difficult, in a short paper like this, to know 

 where to begin when dealing with the subject of its application 

 to rural pursuits in general ; I shall only refer to one or two 

 points this evening. 



In order to understand the composition, and properties of 

 arable land, it is necessary to know something about geology; 

 at all events, from the fact that it is supposed that the 

 earth's surface was once a naked mass of rock, and has, 

 through various agencies, in the course of thousands of years, 

 crumbled away and formed what we call soil, which is generally 

 understood to mean a mixture of crumbled and partly dissolved 

 rocks mixed with the remains of vegetable and animal matter. 



The disintegration of ordinary rocks can easily be observed 

 at the present day ; though the process is slow, it is sure and 

 incessant. Let me illustrate for a moment the effect which 



