SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. > 
__ One imperative reason for taking account of them henceforth is 
what is implied in the statement that ‘‘ Australia’s bid for greatness 
rests upon her agricultural possibilities”;* and that considerable 
progress has been made in this direct‘on since these words were recorded, 
with more to follow in the immediate future. The imperativeness of 
the reason referred to arises in this way. In the earliest days of 
settlement in the inland district, the man on the land was a pastoralist- 
solely. But now that he is devoting more and more attention to 
agriculture, it is necessary to remember that this means a steadily 
“Inereasing removal of the natural covering of the soil—in the shape of 
‘forest, or scrub, or grasses, or whatever it, may be—and that his 
operations necessitate, over a steadily increasing area, a profound dis- 
turbance of the soil-organisms and of their relations to the indigenous 
plants, which have come about as the result of Nature’s long-standing 
arrangements. Now these are matters which cannot be treated with — 
absolute indifference, for they mean much; and what they may do or 
mean it is necessary to learn. 
Nature has adopted two ways of resting and sweetening the land, 
and, at the same time, of generally clearing up and putting things in 
order, getting rid of weaklings and undesirables, and putting species 
that have got out of bounds back into their proper places. These are, 
(1) annually recurring, hard winters, as in the extra-tropical countries 
of the Northern Hemisphere, the hardness varying with, the latitude. 
This may be distinguished as the winter-sleep or resting of the land. 
And (2) periodical droughts in the sub-tropical countries of the 
Southern Hemisphere, like Australia, Sub-tropical South America, and 
South Africa, which have mild winters, not severe enough to give the 
land a thorough rest or sweetening. The arrears accumulate until, 
sooner or later, the drought comes, puts things straight again, strikes 
a balance, and makes way for a new start, the onset of the bumper year. 
This may be distingu*shed as the drought-sleep, or resting, or sweetening 
of the land. The difference between Nature’s two methods of doing 
the same king of thing depends on geographical position, and on 
eosmical condit‘ons of high and low pressure areas, sun-spots perhaps, 
and so on; and, of these, the meteorologist and the astronomer can give 
a scientific account. 
_ Therefore, to rail at droughts, to call them a curse, to speak of them 
as responsible for a relentless, cruel environment for the man who goes 
on the land in Australia, or as a demon who robs the squatter of his 
hard-earned wealth, some of it earned simply by allowing Nature to 
convert grass—her own grass—into wool and mutton, is to be as 
ignorantly foolish as to say night, the need of sleep and recreation, the 
Sabbath-day’s rest, and holidays are curses, unfriendly demons, because 
they nightly, weekly, or periodically interrupt his money-making activi- 
ties. And it might be supplemented by lamenting that man is such an 
imperfect creature, because a perfect man should have an iron consti- 
tution, which would enable him to dispense with sleep and rest, so that 
he m‘ght uninterruptedly be making money, twenty-four hours per diem, 
seven days per week, 365 days per annum, year in and year out. That 
would be the way to make money! 
*Gullett, H.S., ‘ Australia’s Development : the Coming of the Farmer,”’ Chambers’ Journal, January, 
1909. 
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