December, 1911.] 523 Scientific Agriculture. 



Table Showing a few Results op Test Plots in Victoria 





>> 

 u 















V Port Fai 

 Goldie. 



n PTvlr) c; 



•t Fairy. 

 Ritchis. 

 ;atoes. 



Iders. 

 Whelan. 



iatoes. 



jimuk, 

 McOomas 

 teat. 



pang. 

 Patchell 

 leat. 

 igated. 





ce <s 



i 



- O 









1889. 



1892. 



1893. 



1890. 



1896. 



1893. 



Plot. 



1 Light dressing 



2 Medium dressing 



3 No manure ... 



4 Heavy dressing 



5 No nitrogen ... 



6 No phosphoric acid 



7 No potash ... 



8 No manure ... 



9 Lime and same as 1 

 10 Lime and same as 5 



tons- 

 il 



m 

 4 



31 

 5 



2h 

 5f 

 4 



tons. 



50 

 65£ 

 14i 

 79 



65 iV 

 29 

 63 

 16 



38* 

 73+ 



tons. 

 31 

 6i 

 1*4 

 5tV 

 1! 



■ 9 



6i? 



It't 



51 

 2| 



tons, 



41s 

 5| 

 3i 

 7 



4| 



31 

 51 

 3 



bushels. 



8§ 

 15* 



4f 

 19* 

 14 



1? 



2* 

 13i 



bushels. 



26 



32f 



18| 



33 



28$ 



22-| 



3li 



12 



23i 



15 



* '20 tons farmyard manure, f 20 tons seaweed and I cwt. superphospate. 



was only 13 bushels per acre. The gain 

 due to irrigation was so slight that it 

 generally did not repay the cost of the 

 irrigation. Mr. Patchell, of Kerang, 

 tested the effect of irrigation combined 

 with manuring, and these figures show 

 the result. The irrigated bin. uomanur- 

 ed soil on plot 3 yielded 18§ bushels per 

 acre. This was 5| bushels in excess of 

 the colony's average of irrigated wheat, 

 but still was nothing to boast of. Oa 

 plots 2 and 4, which were manured as 

 well as irrigated, he obtained 33 bushels 

 per acre, a higher yield, in fact, than 

 the English average. In a letter to me, 

 Mr. Patchell explained that he was 

 unable to irrigate these experimental 

 plots sufficiently, owing to short supply 

 of water ; with more water he believed 

 he could have obtained still better 

 results, and very probably he could. I 

 have under conditions of favorable rain- 

 fall obtained as high as 54 bushels per 

 acre, and crops of even 70 bushels have 

 been known. 



Our table of test field results gives us 

 no returns from oat crops, but let us 

 turn to the potatoes. Here we see that 

 in 1890 from plot 3, the untreated 

 soil at Childers, Mr. Whelan obtained a 

 crop of 3-J- tons per acre, that is to say, 

 practically the same as the average for 

 the whole colony, which in that year 

 was3£ tons per acre, But from the two 

 adjoining treated plots he obtained 

 5f tons and 7 tons respectively, there 

 being in the latter case a gain of close 

 on 4 tons due to the treatment of the 

 soil. I may say that, during the last yea? 



The facts shown in this table are of 

 very great practical interest and import- 

 ance. On plot 3 the corps were grown 

 on the soils in their natural condition 

 without the artificial addition of plant 

 food. This is how the vast majority of 

 crops in this colony are grown. Of the 

 SI million acres under cultivation, only 

 about 226,000 acres, or one-fourteenth of 

 the whole were manured in 1897. Now, 

 in 1896 the average wheat yield of the 

 colony was 4'01 bushels per acre. Turn- 

 ing to the experimental plots of wheat 

 at Natimuk in that year we find that, 

 on plot 3, the soil yielded 4f bushels per 

 acre, or approximately the same as the 

 average of the colony. That year was 

 a year of drought, and the low, average 

 yield of wheat was almost universally 

 regarded as the maximum obtainable 

 with such unfavourable climatic condi- 

 tions. But let us look at the other 

 plots. In that same year, plot 2 with a 

 medium dressing of manure, yielded 

 15J bushels per acre, or three and a 

 quarter times as much as the manured ; 

 and plot 4, with the heavy dressing, 

 yielded 19 J bushels, or four times as 

 much as the unmanured. It was exceed- 

 ingly interesting to see over 19 bushels 

 of wheat per acre obtained at a time 

 when many of the sunrounding farmers 

 had crops too poor to be worth, harvest- 

 ing. 



The results from Kerang were also of 

 special interest. A few years ago, when 

 irrigation began to attract attention in 

 this colony, it was found that the aver- 

 age yield of our irrigated wheat crops 



