ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 45 
but must experiment for ourselves. In the first place, as far as T 
know, but little has been done in regard to the examination of 
indigenous Australian leguminous plants for root-tubercles. Dr. 
T. L. Bancroft has published a note’ on the subject. We require 
bulky growing plants of rapid growth which are capable of 
assimilating large quantities of nitrogen from the air, and mene 
rapidly disintegrate when ploughed under as “green manure.’ 
In this respect, also, we are at a disadvantage in comparison with 
northern climes; our vegetation is, as a rule, more fibrous, and 
our soil is less continuously moist, and thus rapid disintegration 
ishindered. The subject in its many bearings is of great practical 
importance, and perhaps our various experiment farms may take 
up the matter on an even larger scale than they have hitherto done. 
Nor must we lose sight of the great value of many leguminous 
plants as fodders ; they are thus of double utility. While testing 
our native species we require to experiment with as large a variety 
as possible of exotic Leguminosx, not forgetting that we have 
numerous climates, so that if one species will not flourish in a 
district, it is possible it may do so in another. In addition to 
work in this direction undertaken in Government establishments 
IT must not omit reference to the researches of Mr. W. Farrer of 
Queanbeyan, who has, at his own expense, introduced many 
Leguminose for his experimental plots. The colony is extensive, 
and there is room for many more experimenters. 
I would invite attention to a recent paper by Dr. Bernard 
Dyer,” on this subject, which gives an excellent resumé of work 
in this field, particularly that of Dr. Schultz of Lupitz, Saxony, 
who has, in the course of forty years, converted an estate of poor 
soil (manured with dung procured elsewhere), into one producing 
valuable crops. 
“The basis of this transformation has been the culture of leguminous 
Steen crops, notably lupines, with the aid of mineral manures—lime, 
2. OE A ME 
1 “ Note on bacterial diseases of the roots of the Leguminosw.” roe. 
bape Soc., N.S.W., [2] vitt., 51, (1893). 
“Green Manuring.”—Journ. Roy. Agric. Soc., ViI., 778, ante 
