Sept. 1896.] GENERAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



171 



being reached last year with 647,483 acres, with an average yield 

 of 10 * 9 bushels per acre, or 2 • 6 bushels below the average of the 

 previous thirty years, viz., 13 ■ 5 bushels. During this period 

 the lowest yield was 4* 8 bushels, obtained in 1888-89, and the 

 most bountiful, 17 • 4 bushels per acre, gathered during 1886-7. 

 During the six years, from 1866 to 1872, the yield per acre 

 appears to have been comparatively a small one, the mean being 

 only 11 '13 bushels. Then followed a period of fair seasons, 

 extending over seventeen years, when the average fluctuated 

 between a minimum of 10 * /> bushels obtained in the season of 

 1885-6, and a maximum of 17 1 4 in the season 1886-7. In 

 1889 the average descended to 4 * 8 bushels per acre, while the 

 mean for the whole period extending from 1871-2 to 1894-5 

 was 1 3 • 3 bushels to the acre. 



Dividing the last quarter of a century into quinquennial 

 periods, the average yields per acre have been as follow : — 



Quinquennial 



Average 



Quinquennial 



Average 



Period. 



per Acre. 



Period. 



per Acre. 





...... 



Bushels. 





Bushels. 



1871-1875 



12-93 



1886-1890 



12-42 



1876-1880 



15-02 



1891-1895 



11-74 



1881-1885 



15-37 







In spite of the lower average for the last five years, it is 

 believed that from equal qualities of soil, a better yield is now 

 obtained than twenty years ago, a result due largely to im- 

 proved farming. At the same time it is pointed out that the 

 occurrence of rust, smut, and other forms of disease in wheat 

 has been less frequent and less general in recent years. 



It is interesting to note that agriculture is gaining ground in 

 those districts where the greater number of the huge freehold 

 estates, accumulated by pastoralists under the auction sales and 

 improvement clauses of the Land Act of 1861, are situated. It 

 is in the valleys of the Murray, the Murrumbidgee, and the 

 Lachlan that the straggle between squatter and selector has 

 been fiercest, and where the most remarkable increase of 

 agricultural settlement, both as regards wheat-growing and 

 agriculture generally, is now exhibited. 



There are said to be unmistakable signs that in the near future 

 increased attention will be directed to the cultivation of wheat 

 in the Colony, and there is evidence that the yield is sufficient 

 to make the crop payable. 



If the average production of wheat per acre in New South 

 Wales be compared with that of the other Colonies of the 

 Australasian group, it will be found that this Colony occupies 

 a satisfactory place, its average being exceeded by that of only 

 one Colony of continental Australia, viz., Queensland. 



