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MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND AKT. 
The No. 2 of sometimes wheat and occasionally 
maize is a lit: ie improveneni, for maize is fully as ] 
exhausting a crop as wheat; hut under the maize | 
crop the laud may receive horse or hand hoeing in 
all moderation. The intervening months, instead 
of winter fallowing to the laud is liberally fertile 
of weeds, and occasionally we may see a most enor¬ 
mous growth of tall magwort, ten feet high, by way 
of alternate green crop, and the severest crop of 
any for the overtaxed ground. Such specimens of 
Australian farming too often meet the observant 
eye. The mode is, plough when delay is no longer 
possible, and plough badly ; sow any seed at hand; 
harrow as much as at least will cover in the seed, 
nearly ; and leave the rest to Providence. Talk of 
using manures ! A most visionary proposition, 
which none except fools fond of work would prac¬ 
tice ; although, extraordinary as it may appear, 
those same fools have always by far the best crops, 
which raises a doubt, which parties may after all 
prove the greatest ninnies. No land would pay a 
clear fallow and a foot deep ploughing better than 
the young Australian soils. The arable acres of 
few countries receive Jess. No woiraer, then, if 
our averages rise no higher than 15£ bushels for 
wheat, and IdX for barley ; they ought to be 
doubled under improved management. 
Experiments with hydrate of lime—not lime ! 
made from shells, but from compact limestone— 
would prove highly advantageous to the agriculture 
of this colony. Lime will V; always applied with 
best effect to clay loams or ferrugenous soils. On 
the other hand, for lighter lands let us apply 
crushed hones in the form of phosphate and car¬ 
bonate of lime, one half their constituents. It is 
discreditable to the colony that so great a waste of 
valuable manure from bones should yearly be 
thrown away, by families, by butchers, and especi¬ 
ally at Bouillant or fat melting establishments. 
Where also are our gelatin seups and gelatin bis¬ 
cuits to any extent, or the gelatin Brutfiu, made 
from the sculls, shankbones, &c. f of sheep ? Per¬ 
haps the time is at hand when Bouillant establish¬ 
ments may attach mills to crush the bones by their 
steam machinery, and construct presses for com 
pressing and then drying the muscular remains, or 
vegetamenta, for valuable manure, rather than have 
it east into the dunghill or washed away by floods. 
We certainly are not an economical people. 
Mr. Iluskisson, in 1829, estimated that £150,000, 
expended by the British farmers tor importing 
from the continent bones alone, were the fertile 
means of raising 500,000 quarters extra produce of 
wheat. And it may saleiy be hazarded that as 
much valuable matter is swept annually into the 
harbour of Sydney, or into various creeks and 
rivers adjoining towns or melting establishments, 
as would raise 20,000 additional quarters on any 
wheat growing lands in this colony, besides afford¬ 
ing nutrition to future crops. The quantity of 
hoof and horn exuviae thrown away would be of 
themselves worth a round sum, for the manufacture 
of the beautiful yellow prussiate of potass, which 
produces in the calico jirintcr’s hands so very 
showy blues and greens. 
Farther. The improvement of our gregarious 
animals, in a great pastoral country, is a subject 
second to none. All breeds have -a tendency to 
degenerate if not kept up by due attention. ~No 
occupation demands more skill; no avocation 
more attention. Hence so very few breeders have 
succeeded. In Australia the stockowners have far 
greater difficulties to contend with, especially, in 
managing cattle, than their confreres in Britain, 
France, or Germany, from the semi-wild state in 
which their beeves usually run. We have no suffi¬ 
ciently extended experiments upon tills subject, 
and no positive data for enabling us to determine 
the comparative proximity of any given breed with 
a legitimate zoological standard of the species. 
Some time ago the following question was pub¬ 
lished by the author in one of the daily papers, but 
never answered,—namely, “ What methods are es¬ 
sentially necessary to conduct successful breeding 
of domestic animals, for the purpose of raising and 
retaining them in a higher degree of physical im¬ 
provement?” It is by far easier talking widely 
than answering definitely and categorically, and so 
the subject dropped. 
Regarding an experimental farm, an affair, if 
rightly conducted, of-vast importance to all the 
colony; all the colony, therefore, ought to con¬ 
tribute towards its formation. It is indeed a Go¬ 
vernment measure. By applying the tunds of this 
Society for carrying on such a farm, the Com¬ 
mittees will soon find themselves hampered, 
crippled, and unable to promote objects of general 
usefulness in various other departments. Unless 
such a farm is made to support itself, its existence 
will not be so lasting as British cases of farms, for 
nineteen years, at a fair rent. All such concerns, 
if fully staked and started, ought to he made self- 
supporting—afterwards—or else their days will 
soon be numbered; and the history of too many 
experimental farms may serve as warning beacons. 
In a single essay of this kind the subjects are by far too 
numerous to find a place for even cursory notice. The 
pig itself seems to be treated with too much neglect. Let 
readers trace the rise of Cincinnati on the Ohio, and then 
learn what has and what may be done with this despised 
branch of rural Industry. Than Moreton Bay, no Austra¬ 
lian division is better adapted forprofitingby the gvs genus. 
Finally. If we are resolved to promote the best in¬ 
terests of this colony, its progressive advancement must 
be made uuder the influences and examples of leading 
men. Let us have able leaders. We may deem ourselves 
fortunate indeed to have found a talented leader in chief. 
But a numerous staff of subordinate officers are also re¬ 
quired, not all assembled in 'Sydney, but judiciously dis¬ 
tributed over the various districts of this extensive land. 
Hitherto horse racing constituted the principal colonial 
efforts for ostensibly improving that valuable kind of 
stock, if any improvement really ensued. Now, however, 
our serious endeavours should be directed to advance 
every interest of this embryo empire. To promote horti¬ 
culture, agriculture, and every other kind of culture, with 
good breeding in all its branches, will demand a combined 
system of operations, calling forth all our energies, and 
requiring all our wisdom. .And let it no longer be im¬ 
puted to us that we lack both abilities and vigour to 
expand the material resources of this giant eolony. But 
we require rules to regulate : precepts to guide ; compe¬ 
tition to arouse and stimulate wholesome emulation. We 
must instruct by example, and encourage by reward. 
Shall Britain boast of dOO Agricultural Associations, 
and 115 Farmers’ Clubs, and will we, in the oldest Aus¬ 
tralian colony, supinely look on, while others out juniors 
are pressing on a-head, and we incur the risk of being dis¬ 
tanced, without making strenuous exertions to do a little 
in our generation for a country which has done so much 
for many of us. Forbid it fate: prevent it public spirit. 
If men can afford to farm ill, then they can much better 
afford to farm well. If stockowners lire, under the pre¬ 
sent system of lilth management and less skill, how 
superior their position with improved runs, improved 
fleeces, improved carcases, and improved stamina in their 
flocks and herds ? And the writer hopes no one will 
imagine that he presumes to dictate. He only throws out 
suggestions. If one of'these will prove of utility, your 
co-member will feel amply rewarded for the trouble of 
composition, ROBERT MESTON. 
