48 



GENEKAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. |>mc l^ 6 ' 



iii one case the loan was for a period of months, in four 

 cases it was for 10 years. On an average, a loan is for about 

 five to six years. The loan obtained does not necessarily repre- 

 sent the whole cost of the purchase, &c. ; a farmer may, of course, 

 have asked only for a sum sufficient to make up, with his own 

 savings, the amount he required. 



Besides the purposes mentioned in the above account, money 

 has been lent by the rural banks to their members in other 

 communes for such objects as the installation of a co-operative 

 dairy ; the purchase of agricultural implements, or of manures ; 

 the payment of legal costs incurred in dividing property ; the 

 purchase of wood, of young pigs, fodder, flour, a horse, &c. 



Hitherto the cattle, as a rule, have not belonged to the small 

 farmers, who have been obliged to hire it under very onerous 

 conditions. By means of these loans the small farmers have 

 now been enabled to acquire a cow or an ox. In these instances 

 the loans are only granted upon good security ; the bank obliging 

 the proprietor to insure the cattle. 



At the outset, the Rillaer Bank borrowed 40£. from the General 

 Savings and Annuity Bank. This is the only association which 

 has been thus compelled to borrow ; in all other cases the de- 

 posits have been sufficient to meet the loans. It is worth notice 

 that up to the present all the loans have been met by the debtors 

 as soon as due, and in some instances even before they were due. 



Fruit Growing in Victoria. 



The fruit-growing industry of Victoria has not made the pro- 

 gress that was anticipated, not only by the growers themselves, 

 but by the general community. When the Victorian Govern- 

 ment, some six years ago, set apart a large sum of money for 

 the encouragement of fruit-growing, it was fully expected that a 

 large and profitable industry would quickly be established. 

 Bonuses amounting to Si. per acre were offered and paid for all 

 land planted with fruit to the satisfaction of the Department of 

 Agriculture. Bonuses were also offered for both canned and 

 dried fruits exported. For a time there was a great fruit 

 planting boom, and hundreds of people rushed into the industry 

 in the full expectation that it in a few years it would furnish 

 highly remunerative returns for themselves and their families. 



But according to the Melbourne Weekly Times, it is not going 

 too far to say that 75 per cent, of the individuals who took up 

 the industry have been sadly disappointed. Fruit-growing, so 

 far, has not proved the lucrative occupation enthusiasts predicted 

 it would be. The fault, however, does not lie with the produc- 

 tion of fruit crops. The cause of this failure is attributed 

 mainly to the want of knowledge on the part of the growers as 

 to the best means of picking, packing, and marketing their crops. 

 There is said to be a general want of uniformity in the methods 

 of picking fruit, and also of its packing for market. It is urged 



