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PRINCIPLES OF 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
.^^)<i^ 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., Liauted 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY - CALCUTTA 
 MELBOURNE 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO 
 DALLAS • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
PRINCIPLES 
 
 OF 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 BY 
 
 W. CATTON GRASBY, F.L.S. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "teaching IN THREE CONTINENTS,'' "CINCTURING THE CURRANT VINE,' 
 
 "farming in western AUSTRALIA," ETC. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL EDITOR OF THE "WESTERN MAIL" 
 
 LECTURER IN AGRICULTURE AND FRUIT-GROWING, PERTH TECHNICAL SCHOOL 
 
 ONE TIME HEADMASTER, ROSEWORTHY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 COMMISSIONER FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT TO REPORT ON 
 
 FRUIT-GROWING INDUSTRIES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN, ETC. 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED 
 ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 
 
 191 2 
 
s 
 
 308952 
 
 COPYRIGHT 
 
A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT 
 
 TO AUSTRALIA'S B'AR-SEEING PATRIOT PIONEERS 
 
 OF ADVANCED AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Spurned as " Cranks " and " Faddists," or at best 
 derided as " Theorists " or " Dreamers,'' they ring- 
 barked the forests of prejudice with the axe of reason, 
 cleared the scrub of ignorance with the mattock of 
 persistency, consumed the rubbish of obsolete methods 
 with the fire of enthusiasm, and turned with the plough 
 of research the virgin land of progress. Ridiculed or 
 abused, and often in penury, they sowed the fields of 
 Public Opinion with the seeds of new ideas, and we 
 are reaping the harvest of their unselfish labours. 
 
 Thus the visions of the past become the fruitful 
 realities of to-day, and the nation prospers. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In 1892, the then Minister for Education and Agri- 
 culture in South Australia convened a conference of 
 members of Parliament, the editors of the leading 
 papers, agriculturists and educationists, to discuss 
 the best means for promoting agricultural education. 
 The writer was chairman of the committee appointed 
 to draw up a scheme. Among the recommendations 
 adopted by the conference was one affirming the 
 necessity for a text book on Australian agriculture. 
 
 The duty of preparing such a book was many 
 times urged upon the writer, and he in turn en- 
 deavoured to induce others to undertake it ; but after 
 nearly twenty years the work remained undone. The 
 author has now attempted to meet the want. The 
 task has proved even greater than was anticipated, 
 for new ground had to be broken with no examples 
 to follow or avoid. In addition, the requirements of 
 at least three classes of readers had to be considered 
 within the limits of one small book. If the writer 
 has not wholly succeeded, his effort may at least 
 stimulate others, and make the way easier for them. 
 
 The writer desires to acknowledge the assistance 
 he has received from all who have by advice and 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 criticism aided him in his work. The official journals 
 of the various Departments of Agriculture have been 
 utilised. The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology 
 has taken much trouble in furnishing data in regard 
 to temperature questions. Professor David, of the 
 Sydney University, kindly assisted with advice about 
 the geology of New South Wales, and the Government 
 Geologist of Western Australia, Mr. Gibb Maitland, 
 rendered similar assistance with regard to Queens- 
 land and Western Australia, while to his old teacher 
 of geology, the late Professor Tate, the author is 
 indebted for his general knowledge of the geological 
 history of South Australia and Victoria. The writer 
 is of opinion that the importance of geology to agri- 
 culture is not appreciated as it should be. The relation 
 of chemistry to agriculture is generally recognised, and 
 the writer desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to 
 Mr. A. E. Mann, Government Analyst and Agricultural 
 Chemist for Western Australia, for help and advice. 
 The mechanical analysis of soils, and the importance of 
 a study of their physical conditions has not yet received 
 the attention it deserves, and the work now being 
 done by the chemical branch of the Department of 
 Agriculture in New South Wales in connection with 
 the relationship between the chemical and physical 
 properties of soils and their geological origin should 
 be more widely extended in all the States. 
 
 The author has been in touch with the various 
 Departments of Agriculture for many years, and has 
 found the field experiment work of the officials 
 helpful in explaining the general results obtained by 
 farmers. He has also received much help from time 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 to time from Mr. D. M'Alpine, Government Vege- 
 table Pathologist, and Mr. C. French, Government 
 Entomologist. One pleasing feature in connection 
 with the work of specialists in Australia is the fact 
 that they do not recognise State boundaries when 
 assistance can be given to anyone seeking informa- 
 tion. The author is a native of South Australia, was 
 brought up on a mixed farm, and since boyhood has 
 been associated with its agricultural development. As 
 a member of the Central Bureau of Agriculture, and 
 editor of the Garden and Field, he has been in close 
 touch with the progressive movements in that State. 
 
 Since the manuscript of this book was ready 
 for the printer. Dr. Howell's work. Soil Problems 
 in Wheat Growing, has been published and has been 
 carefully studied. It is pleasing to find that the 
 writer's teaching is in accord with Dr. Howell's con- 
 clusions, after many years of investigation. 
 
 The standard works on soils, fertilisers, and 
 principles of agriculture have been consulted and 
 where possible used. For the rest, the writer has 
 relied on his experience and that of the thousands of 
 farmers, in the various States, with whom he has 
 come in contact either personally or by corre- 
 spondence in the course of his work as lecturer and 
 agricultural writer. To Sir Walter James, K.C., and 
 Messrs. J. M. Hattrick, N.D.A., and Prescott Harper, 
 B.A., he is indebted for reading the manuscript and 
 offering advice and criticism. 
 
 W. CATTON GRASBY. 
 Perth, October, 191 1. 
 
FOREWORDS 
 
 The Scottish Agricultural Commissioners, who spent 
 some seven months in Australia last year, have 
 recently reported in very complimentary terms with 
 regard to the attention given to agricultural education. 
 They were impressed with the supremely practical 
 character of the Agricultural Colleges, and state that 
 " It is possible for Britain to learn much from the 
 system of Agricultural High Schools in Victoria," 
 which, by -the way, was outlined and strongly urged 
 by the writer in his evidence before the Victorian 
 Royal Commission on Technical Education in 1900. 
 The Agricultural High School movement is spreading, 
 but there is at present no text book on Australian 
 agriculture available for pupils, and teachers must 
 either make use of English and American works or 
 depend on lectures and the scattered literature of the 
 official and other agricultural journals. The same 
 want is felt in other directions. The Departments of 
 Agriculture of some of the States conduct classes for 
 agricultural teaching in the country districts. The 
 Technical schools also devote praiseworthy attention 
 to this all-important subject, and the absence of a 
 text book is frequently mentioned. 
 
xii FOREWORDS 
 
 Australian farmers are, taken as a class, progressive, 
 and in their Agricultural Bureaux, progress associa- 
 tions, agricultural societies, farmers' associations and 
 so forth, give evidence of a strong desire to under- 
 stand the all-important as well as most interesting 
 principles underlying their practical daily work, but 
 those, who are willing to study and seek a text book, 
 find that they must depend on English and American 
 works. 
 
 There is throughout Australia, among many city 
 men, a yearning to get " back to the land." This 
 sounds strange in the face of the concentration of the 
 population in the towns, but it is a fact. Some think 
 of the property accumulated by many farmers, while 
 others are largely influenced by sentiment. Their 
 desire is for a simple country life, free from the worries 
 of business, with visions of 
 
 "The fall of waters, and the song of birds, 
 And hills that echo to the distant herds." 
 
 The idea is good and should be encouraged in these 
 days of rush and bustle, motors and telephones ; but 
 not many are prepared to pay the price. Usually 
 the determined man may get what he is prepared to 
 pay for ; but many things besides money count. 
 Most men who talk of the simple country life have 
 in view the richly appointed pastoralist's country 
 home, with most of the luxuries of the city plus 
 plenty of horses and men to look after them, and miles 
 of country well stocked with sheep ; or may be, more 
 modestly, their aim is a comfortable commodious farm- 
 house, with a thousand or two acres of rich freehold 
 land. After all, not many fulfil Pope's description : 
 
FOREWOEDS xiii 
 
 " Happy the man whose wish and care, 
 A few paternal acres bound, 
 Content to breathe his native air, 
 In his own ground." 
 
 When such a man is found it is safe to say that the 
 world will call him a non-progressive sleepy old fossil, 
 or something to the same effect. 
 
 Leaving out the visionaries, whose ideas of farm life 
 are based on a pleasant holiday in the country, we 
 undoubtedly have many level-headed practical, thrifty 
 men who seek to go on the land because it affords 
 opportunities for earning a good living while enjoying 
 the most healthy physical and moral life. Australia 
 affords examples of thousands of such men who have 
 attained success in various branches of agriculture, 
 and there will be many more. Much of the splendid 
 pioneering work of this new continent has been done 
 by men who never touched a plough until they settled 
 on the land to carve out a home in the primeval 
 forest. The history of settlement in every State 
 proves that adaptability, intelligence and industry, are 
 better qualifications than mere routine experience on 
 a farm. 
 
 Those who desire to make the venture seek books 
 to guide them. The old pioneers had no such help 
 in paving the way for the much more simple work of 
 the present day, and the men going on the land 
 cannot be too often told that the technical work of 
 the farm, be it devoted to wheat growing and sheep, 
 mixed farming, fruit growing, or market gardening, 
 can only be learned by actual practice on the farm ; 
 but the difference between the man who studies why, 
 
xiv FOREWORDS 
 
 as well as learns how, and the man who is satisfied 
 with "rule of thumb" and " follow-my-leader " 
 methods is the difference between the old and the new 
 agriculture. It is greater than that, for the, old-time 
 English farmer who did things as his father and 
 grandfathers for many generations did them, worked 
 under one set of conditions, and he was really guided 
 by the accumulated experience of generations. It is 
 true that he either never troubled himself about 
 reasons, or if he did was often wrong : but the science 
 of agriculture is largely the explanation of the methods 
 of centuries. By accident, or through unavoidable 
 circumstances, or through laziness, variations in the 
 old recognised practices were continually being made 
 by the old-time farmers, and when these gave good 
 results they were tried again and adopted if proved 
 good. If the old farmer stuck to his old ways he had 
 usually good practical reasons for so doing. When 
 the town man goes on the land with the conviction 
 that he can " teach the cockle " up-to-date farming, 
 he has no such accumulation of empirical knowledge. 
 If he does not study the principles of agriculture he 
 is working against unnecessary odds, and usually finds 
 his capital vanishing more rapidly than his experience 
 accumulates. To such, one would in all sincerity 
 recall the couplet : 
 
 " Example is a living law, whose sway. 
 Men more than all the written laws obey." 
 
 Or, in other words, until they know better, they are 
 wise to follow the methods of men with local experi- 
 ence. 
 
 This book is intended to help the man who is 
 
FOREWORDS xv 
 
 going on the land, and for that reason it deliberately 
 omits any attempt to teach methods. The good 
 ploughman can command, say, 8s. a day or its equiva- 
 lent. A book is not needed to teach a man how to 
 earn labourer's wages. Ploughing is a mere detail, 
 absolutely essential, but a thing an apt man will learn 
 in a very short time, but the principles involved in 
 this and other tillage operations are far-reaching and 
 not yet fully understood in all their relations. The 
 point is, men often start to learn at the wrong end. 
 They want definite positive advice how to destroy 
 pests, what manure to use, and so forth. What they 
 should want to know first is why certain things are 
 pepts and why manures are needed. This book has 
 been written with this objective. Local experience 
 is the guide as to just what to do and where, how, and 
 when to do it. 
 
 Again, at the time of writing, immigrants are 
 coming into Australia from Britain, America and 
 elsewhere, at the rate of several thousands a week. 
 Many intend to go on the land. Some have had 
 experience elsewhere, but before that can be used it 
 is necessary that they should understand Australian 
 conditions. This they must pay for, because it is a 
 natural law that man never gets something for 
 nothing. Even when he wins a lottery or robs his 
 fellow he pays, and often dearly. This book is in- 
 tended to help such to understand the principles 
 governing success. The practical methods which 
 have been evolved to suit our Australian conditions, 
 he must learn in the particular State or district in 
 which he settles. The best way is to pay for experi- 
 
 G.A. h 
 
xvi FOREWORDS 
 
 ence by working for it, and the farmer who teaches a 
 " new chum " is entitled to payment in diligent, 
 honest effort. 
 
 The Departments of Agriculture in the various 
 States have, from time to time, issued many excellent 
 handbooks and special bulletins for farmers and 
 fruit growers. The existence and availability of this 
 literature has been considered in the preparation of 
 this book, and readers are recommended to procure 
 such publications. The author has endeavoured to 
 avoid duplicating work which has already been well 
 done. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING. 
 
 Farming, an art and a business. Value of scientific training, 
 plus practical work. Essentials of success. Agricul- 
 ture defined. Three classes of products. Primitive and 
 advanced agriculture. Good farming increases fertility. 
 Working on reserves. Force of habit and example. Theory 
 and practice. Practice ahead of theory. Experiment and 
 research. The interpreter pp. 1-12 
 
 THE SOIL, ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE. 
 
 Soil, the home of plants. Whence came the soil ? Soil, derived 
 from the decay of rocks. Factors determining the character 
 of soil. Ancestry of soils. Science involved in the study 
 of soils. The close relationship between rocks, soil, and 
 vegetation. Soils of transport. Transformation of rock 
 to soil - pp. 13-20 
 
 THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY AND SOIL-MAKING. 
 
 Denudation by water and wind. Denudation and transport 
 going on now. Effect of clearing and cultivation. Un- 
 ceasing change. The weathering of rocks. Departure 
 from old world text-books. Frost as an agent in disintegra- 
 tion of rocks. Variations of temperature. Expansion and 
 contraction. Chemical agencies of soil formation. Soil 
 
 G.A. b2 
 
xviii CONTENTS 
 
 full of life. From rock to soil. Special plant agencies. 
 Animals. Soil and subsoil. Humus and bacteria 
 
 pp. 21-43 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 
 
 Sand. Clay. "Colloid" clay. The relation of fineness to 
 richness. The weight of soils pp. 44-51 
 
 THE WATER IN SOIL. 
 
 Pore space. Hygroscopic moisture. Film water. Capillarity 
 
 pp. 52-57 
 
 THE TEMPERATURE OF SOILS. 
 
 Temperatures of germination. Temperature and soil bacteria. 
 Factors in soil temperature. Effect of colour on tempera- 
 ture. Other factors. Specific heat. Effect of drainage 
 on soil temperature. Aspect. Tillage. Soil ventilation. 
 How the ventilation of soil is improved pp. 58-68 
 
 SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE. 
 
 Nitrogen fixing bacteria of legumes. Nitrogen fixing bacteria 
 in Australia. Bacteria of nitrification, or the nitric acid 
 ferment. Denitrification. Tillage and soil nitrogen. Effect 
 of heat on soil. Effect of partial sterilisation. Soil tempera- 
 tures during summer pp. 69-81 
 
 FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 
 
 What constitutes fertility. The maintenance of soil fertility. 
 "Muck is the mother of money." Virgin soils. Soil is 
 inexhaustible. Pioneer policy. The pastoralist and soil 
 fertility. The effect of stock on vegetation. How a 
 pasture deteriorates. The process of deterioration ex- 
 plained. Effect of stock on the texture of clayey soils 
 
 pp. 82-96 
 
CONTENTS xix 
 
 THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS. 
 
 What plants consist of. The importance of water. Dry or water- 
 free matter. Carbon and carbohydrates. Proteids or 
 albuminoids. Charcoal. Charcoal bread at Pompeii. 
 Charcoal and ash. The ash of plants. Water cultures. 
 Necessary plant foods. Sterile sand cultures. Carbonic 
 acid gas, or carbon dioxide. How the leaves obtain their 
 carbon. Essentials for plant growth. Osmosis. The 
 importance of water to plants. Quantity of water required 
 by plants pp. 97-114 
 
 TILLAGE OF THE SOIL. 
 
 What tillage does. Tillage to conserve moisture. Ploughs ; 
 their history and use. The objects of ploughing. The 
 depth to plough. Subsoiling. Draft in ploughing. Culti- 
 vating and harrowing. Kinds of cultivators and harrows. 
 Rolling pp. 115-132 
 
 FALLOWING. 
 Working fallows. Seeding fallows. Nature's plan pp. 133-139 
 
 MANURES AND FERTILISERS. 
 
 Phosphatic manures or fertilisers. Phosphoric acid. Phosphate 
 of lime. Bones as manure. Mineral phosphates. Super- 
 phosphate. Bone superphosphate. Mineral superphos- 
 phate. Reverted, or citrate soluble phosphate. Three 
 forms of phosphates. Basic slag, or Thomas phosphate. 
 Guano. The use or function of phosphates. Influence of 
 super on wheat. Effect of small dressings of super- 
 phosphate. Action of various phosphatic manures. Why 
 superphosphate is so effective. Phosphoric acid not 
 lost. Importance of nitrogen. Chief nitrogenous fertilisers. 
 Nitrate of soda. Sulphate of ammonia. Nitrate of lime, 
 etc. Organic nitrogen. Function of nitrogenous fertilisers. 
 Fertilisers supplying potash. Influence of potash fertilisers. 
 
XX CONTENTS 
 
 Farmyard manure. Farmyard manure in the wheat areas. 
 The composition of farmyard manure. Analyses of farm- 
 yard manure. Money value of farmyard manure. Green 
 manuring. How plant food is held in the soil. Practical 
 bearing on phosphatic fertilisers. Bearing on potash 
 manure. Retention of nitrogen pp. 140-183 
 
 THE USE OF LIME IN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Necessity for lime. Limestone. Quicklime. Slaked lime. 
 Air-slaked lime. Calcium sulphate, or gypsum. Why 
 lime is applied to the land. Physical and chemical action. 
 Lime and micro-organisms. Applying lime. Ground 
 carbonate of lime. Ground quicklime. Our present con- 
 ditions. Quantity to apply. Liming involves manuring 
 
 pp. 184-195 
 
 PASTURES. 
 
 Indigenous and introduced pasture plants. Effect of cultivation. 
 The meaning of the word grass. Climate and nutritive 
 value of pasture. Climatic conditions and pasture. 
 Permanent pastures. Effect of grazing on soil fertility. 
 Effect of phosphates on pastures. Report of analyses of 
 soil. Mechanical analysis. Proportion of fertilising 
 substances. Result of an application of phosphate. How 
 to apply phosphate to pasture - pp. 196-215 
 
 FOOD AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 
 
 Australian conditions. The function of food. Composition of 
 fodders. Carbohydrates. Fats. Albuminoids, or proteids. 
 Nutritive ratio. Composition of Australian fodders 
 
 pp. 216-224 
 
 THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 
 
 Propagation by seed. Germination.- Importance of pure good 
 seed. The testing of seeds. Examine for purity. Seed 
 
CONTENTS xxi 
 
 required for an acre of ground. Weight of seed per bushel. 
 Other methods of propagation. The potato an example 
 of propagation by buds. Improving wheat by selection. 
 Selecting pure types. The pure pedigree system. The 
 practical application. Application to other crops. Associa- 
 tion of characters - pp. 225-247 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 
 
 Genetics. Mutations. Cross breeding. Male and female germ 
 cells. Gametes and zygotes. Mendelism. The law of 
 dominance. The law of segregation. The law of recom- 
 bination. Practical applications pp. 248-264 
 
 PESTS AND DISEASES. 
 
 Survival of the fittest. Artificial conditions. Why pests and 
 diseases have to be fought. Cause and effect. Classifica- 
 tion of pests and diseases. The essential principle. Look 
 for the cause of disease. Attack at the weakest point. 
 Internal and external fungi. The importance of vigorous 
 constitution. Seek for disease-resisting strains. Provide 
 favourable conditions. Practical advice pp. 265-277 
 
 SEASONS IN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 New settlers should follow the practices of experienced farmers. 
 Climate. The region of summer rains. The southern or 
 Antarctic belt of winter rains. Table of rainfall pp. 278-285 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 1. Basalt rocks, Burnie, N.W. Tasmania, a source of 
 
 rich soil 15 
 
 2. A granite quarry face showing the transition from 
 
 rock to soil 19 
 
 3. " Outlier," Noarlunga, S.A., showing the effect of 
 
 denudation. The top of the hill represents a 
 former level of the country. The mass of the 
 hill is marly clay, which washes easily ; but the top 
 is protected by a cap of clayey travertine limestone 23 
 
 4. (A) Virgin swamp land - 25 
 
 5. (B) The same class of swamp drained. The fore- 
 
 ground shows the peaty soil newly broken up, 
 while beyond is a crop of cauliflowers 25 
 
 6. (C) Part of the crop of cauliflowers shown in (B) 27 
 
 7. Deposit of silt left by winter flood, showing cracks 
 
 produced by the shrinkage on drying 33 
 
 8. Marram grass planted on a drifting sandhill com- 
 
 pletely stopping the drift 41 
 
 9. An oat crop on volcanic soil. Near Devonport, 
 
 Northern Tasmania 83 
 
 10. A fine crop of oats. Southern Victoria 85 
 
 11. Maize for fodder to be cut for silage - 89 
 
xxiv ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 12. Filling a tub silo 91 
 
 13. Prolific growth of "spear" or "corkscrew" grass 
 
 {Stipa. sp.), the result of ringbarking forest land 95 
 
 14. Field peas — a much neglected crop. Note the fine 
 
 growth of haulms, but poor setting of pods. In a 
 good crop each flower stalk should produce two 
 pods - 99 
 
 15. An irrigation channel and lucerne plot being flooded no 
 
 16. Sprinkler irrigation and vegetable growing, Mt. 
 
 Lofty, South Australia. Within a radius of two 
 miles of the spot shown there are hundreds of 
 acres of vegetables and over forty sprinkler irri- 
 gation plants worked direct from force pumps 
 driven by oil engines - - - - in 
 
 17. A wheat farmer's pioneer home - - 113 
 
 18. Henty's first plough, Portland, Victoria. Ed. and 
 
 Francis Henty went from Tasmania to Portland, 
 Victoria, in Nov. 19, 1834, and are credited with 
 being the first agricultural settlers in that State 115 
 
 19. A home-made mallu or scrub roller - - 117 
 
 20. A stump-jump plough and team ploughing maize 
 
 stubble dry - - . 123 
 
 21. Implement shed in course of erection, is ready for 
 
 covering with thatch or straw - 130 
 
 22. Effect of phosphate. The poor portion in the centre 
 
 is a strip the width of the drill where the fertiliser 
 distributing mechanism failed to act - - 156 
 
 23. The product of an equal number of grains of 
 
 wheat with and without phosphate. County Peak, 
 Western Australia 157 
 
 24. The effect of phosphates. Mr. Jones' farm. Cow- 
 
 cowing, Western Australia - - 157 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS xxv 
 
 FIG. PAGE 
 
 25. Eradicating bracken fern in South Gippsland. The 
 
 hillside shows natural bracken. The top of the 
 hill was the same the year before. It was disc 
 ploughed in early summer and harrowed well. 
 The treatment was repeated at the end of summer 
 and grass and clover seed was sown - 197 
 
 26. A pastoralist's dam 201 
 
 27. A sheep farmer's home 203 
 
 28. Dairy country, South Gippsland, in process of im- 
 
 provement. The timber is ringbarked, the scrub 
 cut and burned, and grass and clover seed is sown 
 on the ashes 204 
 
 29. A Northern Tasmanian farm near Devonport 206 
 
 30. Naturally sown clovers from the same area of 
 
 ground, showing the effect of phosphate on pas- 
 ture. Ferndale, Balingup, Western Australia 212 
 
 31. Clover and trefoil hay on couch grassland not 
 
 cultivated for eight years, the result of the appli- 
 cation of phosphates. Yield about 30 cwt. to the 
 acre 214 
 
 32. A 32-busheI crop of Squarehead wheat on virgin 
 
 forest land "scratched" (worked with a spring tooth 
 cultivator) and drilled with 56 lb. of superphosphate 239 
 
 33. Remains of an old-time stockyard - 260 
 
 34. A modern stockyard, which has taken the place of 
 
 the "old timer'' - 262 
 
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING. 
 
 Farming an art and a business. We learn to do by 
 doing. Would a man learn farming ? He must 
 learn it on the farm by the daily, weekly, monthly 
 routine of farm operations. Would he be a fruit 
 grower? He must learn his business in the orchard. 
 Whoever learned to ride except on a horse, to swim 
 except in water, to milk except by milking, to plough 
 except by ploughing, to dig except by digging ? 
 Did a lad ever learn cricket except with bat and 
 ball, or a man bowls except on the green ? 
 
 A man never really knows a thing until he has done 
 it. That is the first principle in practical agriculture ; 
 and the intending farmer must remember it all the 
 time, or he will deceive himself, if not others. A 
 man may know much about agriculture, so that he 
 may write learnedly and accurately about it, and be 
 no more qualified to be a farmer than a man who 
 quotes Shakespeare is to write a play. Knowing 
 about farming is not farming. It is necessary to 
 emphasise this, because failure to realise the fact has 
 led many city men astray, by tempting them to go 
 on the land and to attempt to conduct farming 
 operations by a book. Many, with the faculty for 
 
2 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 adaptability, do succeed, and there are many 
 examples where they have made more successful 
 farmers than men who have worked on farms all their 
 lives, because brains and business ability count for so 
 much more in farming than is generally admitted. 
 
 Value of scientific training plus practical work. 
 When a young man with a well-balanced mind, 
 trained on a farm, adds theory to his practical 
 knowledge, the combination is of the utmost value. 
 Every farmer thoughtful for his son's welfare should 
 endeavour to give him this great advantage. The 
 town-reared youth who takes a college course should 
 follow that by going as a cadet on a good farm, 
 where he will be drilled into the practical work 
 under commercial conditions. 
 
 Where a really good agricultural college is not 
 available, the parent desiring his boy to become a 
 farmer should send him to a good technical school to 
 study elementary chemistry, mechanics, geology and 
 biology, as well as book-keeping, carpentry, black- 
 smithing, wool-classing and a little saddlery, the use 
 of soldering irons, etc. He should then go on to a 
 good farm as a cadet where the farmer will drill him 
 into practical farm operations on commercial lines 
 and see that he works hard. He should study good 
 books on the principles of agriculture, manures, and 
 so forth. Farmers who do not care to send their 
 sons to an agricultural college, should make a point 
 of sending them to a technical school. 
 
 Things are not yet quite as they should be in 
 agricultural education, but good progress is being 
 made. The scientifically trained man can, and if he 
 
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING 3 
 
 be a teacher will, explain to the farmer the reasons 
 for suggesting modifications of practice, and the 
 practical farmer will bring his experience to bear in 
 carrying them out. This will make a good com- 
 bination. 
 
 In agriculture, as in other spheres of teaching, it 
 is essential that the teacher or " expert " should place 
 himself in the position of the men it is his desire to 
 help. 
 
 On the other hand, it would help the farmer a 
 good deal in his critical attitude towards the 
 "expert" if he would consider the absurdity of 
 the Government employing a man to teach the 
 farmer how to plough, sow, reap or mow. In 
 these things the farmer is the expert. Is it not 
 rank absurdity to judge a man's knowledge of the 
 composition, character and treatment of soils, involv- 
 ing years of study, by his capacity to do a day's 
 ploughing, for which a capable teamster can be got 
 for 8s. a day or less? Is it not very foolish to 
 Judge a man's knowledge of the composition and 
 use of fertilisers by his ability to operate a drill, 
 which an intelligent farm lad can do as well as a 
 Professor of Agriculture. Is it quite wise to judge 
 a man's knowledge of the principles of stock-breeding 
 by his ability to ride a buckjumper or flick a fly 
 from a bullock with a twelve feet stock whip ? 
 
 A knowledge of the principles of agriculture is 
 not essential to successful farming, but a knowledge 
 of the proper practice based on these principles is. 
 On the other hand, all the knowledge of a Professor 
 of Agriculture will not ensure success in practical 
 
4 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 farming without the detail of thorough, timely 
 practice, which the old-time farmer carried out with- 
 out knowing why. Further, while correct practice 
 will, subject to seasons, ensure good crops, it may 
 result in financial failure without business methods. 
 
 The essentials of success. Modern, progressive, 
 advanced farming requires : 
 
 1. Thorough, old-fashioned cultivation and rota- 
 tion, with modern appliances and methods. 
 
 2. Sound business methods, which will ensure 
 profits. 
 
 3. A knowledge of the principles underlying the 
 old-fashioned practices. Such knowledge enables the 
 farmer to modify and modernise his methods, and it 
 gives his work all the interest of scientific research. 
 It makes farming not only the most healthy occupa- 
 tion, from a moral as well as a physical point of view, 
 but places it among the most intellectual walks of life, 
 offering in Australia as good a chance of an indepen- 
 dency, if not fortune, as any other. 
 
 Agriculture defined. Practical agriculture in any of 
 its branches is a complex occupation. It is essenti- 
 ally a business with all the interests of a science, 
 because it is systematised knowledge, and the various 
 branches of science explain many of the principles 
 on which success and progress depend. If it be 
 necessary to make a definition of farming it may 
 be said to be : 
 
 The art of raising products from the soil and the 
 business of marketing them to the best advantage. 
 
 Three classes of products. Agricultural products 
 may be roughly clcissed under three heads : 
 
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING 5 
 
 1. Direct products from the soil, such as wheat 
 and other farm crops, including grass, fruit, vegetables, 
 fibre plants, etc. 
 
 2. Secondary products in the form of the animals, 
 fed on the direct products, together with their produce, 
 such as wool and milk. 
 
 3. The more or less manufactured results of the 
 classes i and 2, such as flour, bran, pollard, chaffed 
 hay, baled straw, butter, cheese, bacon, wine, cider, 
 dried fruits. Specialisation in this class has already 
 reached an advanced stage, and is increasing. Flour 
 mills, butter, cheese, and bacon factories, fruit canneries 
 and evaporators, wineries, and so forth, already take 
 the place to a greater or less extent of the old practice 
 of home manufacture. 
 
 Primitive and advanced agriculture. In the evolution 
 of our great agricultural industry, the pastoralist first 
 used the natural crop of herbage on the land to feed 
 sheep and other stock. The highest form is using 
 the soil to produce crops, using the crops to feed 
 stock, which will fertilise the land and produce high 
 priced products, such as butter, which will return the 
 greatest revenue, take the least from the soil, and cost 
 as little as possible to convey to market. 
 
 Good farming increases fertility. The aim of ad- 
 vanced agriculture is to obtain the maximum profit 
 from the products of the farm, and at the same time 
 to increase the fertility or the producing power of the 
 land. Is not that a most fascinating problem, worthy 
 of the best men of the State ? Is it not as worthy 
 of the brain and muscle of the University man as 
 law, medicine or commerce. 
 
6 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Will the reader particularly note that the aim is 
 stated to be maximum profit from the products, not 
 maximum products from the farm'? The two things 
 may go together, but often they do not. A champion 
 aged show bullock, dressing 1700 lb., as a purely 
 commercial article, is not as profitable as a young 
 steer dressing 600 lb. The heaviest crop of wheat 
 is not always the most profitable, for the profit depends 
 on what it costs to produce. 
 
 Working on reserves. In nearly every virgin country 
 the first settlers grow crops or stock, but do not 
 farm. They draw on the accumulated reserve of 
 soil fertility and move on. This is what has been 
 going on during the history of the United States and 
 Canada. It is what was done in the older settled 
 parts of Australia. It is being done in many cases 
 now. It is bad farming, but, within certain limits, 
 provided the settler knows what he is doing, it may 
 be good business. In any case it is a stage in the 
 development of a new country. 
 
 If the system of soil robbing is clearly recognised, 
 and is only carried on to the extent of turning some 
 of the reserve fertility into working capital, with 
 which to farm properly, it is good business, but 
 beyond that it is bad. A man may settle on a 
 thousand-acre block, and in the course of a certain 
 number of years remove from it ;£^SOOO worth of 
 produce, and leave it in a depleted, unprofitable con- 
 dition. A farmer on the same land in the same time 
 might take ;£^7Soo worth of produce and have the 
 land in a more fertile condition than at first. This is 
 the object of good farming — annual profit and the 
 
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING 7 
 
 . building up of capital in the shape of soil fertility and 
 good equipment. 
 
 Force of habit and example. From what we have 
 said it is evident that a clear distinction must be 
 drawn between the merely routine operations of agri- 
 cultural practice and the principles of agriculture. 
 Theory is good, but routine work is essential. 
 
 The average farmer, stockman, fruit-grower, gar- 
 dener, or other practical worker on the land in all 
 parts of the world carries out certain operations at 
 certain times in certain ways, simply because it is 
 the custom so to do. The Australian, American, 
 or English farmer may laugh at the Egyptian fellah 
 for using the primitive wooden plough which his 
 forefathers used in the times of Joseph, but the con- 
 servatism is only a matter of degree. 
 
 The Australian farmer, by virtue of the spirit of 
 enterprise required to decide on and carry out a 
 plan of emigration to the opposite side of the 
 world, and in consequence of the experimental work 
 necessary to enable him and his sons to carry on 
 operations under absolutely opposite seasons and 
 varied conditions, might be expected to be, as he 
 probably is in many ways, the most self-reliant, 
 intelligent, and progressive in the world. His 
 greatest fault is using the soil as a mine from which 
 he may extract money without regard to the future. 
 But progress even among Australian agriculturists 
 is of the " follow the leader " order. If we examine 
 the history of any progressive movement, we find that 
 it generally takes some time to induce anyone to test 
 and adopt a new practice. When a progressive man 
 
8 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 does depart from the established custom, he is severely 
 criticised, and it is only when neighbours see that 
 the new method is profitable that they adopt it, and 
 then they copy as nearly as they can without, as a 
 rule, attempting to understand the principles in- 
 volved. This fact shows us that the best way to 
 promote progress is to teach the few progressive 
 men and let their example influence the others. 
 
 Theory and practice. In the proper learning of a 
 manual operation three things are necessary: 
 
 1. The theory on which it is based. 
 
 2. The theory of the work itself 
 
 3. The practical operation of the work. 
 
 The first is not necessary for the workman to do 
 good routine work. The second is learned while 
 doing the work, but the operator often fails to 
 recognise that there is any theory involved, and he 
 performs the operation almost mechanically. 
 
 If the above be applied to the operation of 
 ploughing we realise that there is much science 
 involved in the construction of the plough so that it 
 will do the maximum of work with the minimum 
 power, and at the same time properly turn in the 
 weeds, pulverise the soil, and do all that is possible 
 for thorough tillage ; but this theory will not assist 
 the ploughman in doing a good day's work. What 
 the ploughman must know is how to adjust and 
 operate his plough to get the most out of his team 
 and turn over as much land as possible in a day. 
 He does not stop to think why the plough does the 
 work, but as a good ploughman he does study how to 
 set his plough to do thorough work. The farmer 
 
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING 9 
 
 engaging a ploughman does not ask whether the 
 man knows why, but he watches to see whether he 
 knows how, and while things go right that is all that 
 is necessary. 
 
 It is when new conditions arise that the theoretical 
 knowledge saves time, energy, and money. It is the 
 aim of technical education to raise the workman 
 beyond a human machine, but it cannot do away 
 with the routine of practice. The agricultural student 
 is too often content to know why and how without 
 the drudgery of acquiring mechanical routine pro- 
 ficiency in the art of doing. The lesson he must 
 learn is that it is the doing which produces the return 
 from the farm. The lesson the farmer should 
 learn equally well is that theory will not only 
 help him over his difficulties, but will raise his 
 work from mechanical drudgery to an applied 
 science. 
 
 Practice ahead of theory. In agriculture, good 
 practice is usually ahead of theory. The value of 
 legumes in rotation was known at least 2000 years 
 before the discovery of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, in 
 1886. Farmers practised fallowing before science 
 taught the reason. The practice of liming goes back 
 to the time of early history, but the reason why lime 
 is good is a recent discovery. There are still many 
 facts we know quite well, but we do not yet know the 
 reasons. Science is yearly explaining some of these 
 facts, and we need many more investigators to work 
 out the problems. The thoughtful farmer must not 
 stop his plough to investigate the many " whys " 
 which are always passing through his mind as he 
 
10 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 goes through the necessary but often mechanical 
 process on the farm. 
 
 There is an altogether good and wise general 
 movement, " Back to the Land." It is the 
 fashion at present for everyone to praise the farmer 
 and his work. Town men talk farming at their 
 clubs and lunch tables, and not a few of those 
 excellent people who live on the farmer — we are 
 making no reflections — are quite willing to give him 
 advice about the science of agriculture and " up-to- 
 date scientific methods." City men invest in farming 
 lands, and start to teach the " cockie " scientific farm- 
 ing. They are apt to find their capital on fixed 
 deposit in the " Bank of the Land." 
 
 It is necessary for the city man, who talks so 
 glibly about " up-to-date scientific farming," to realise 
 that the storekeeper, merchant, and banker estimate 
 the science of the farmer by his ability to pay his 
 bills. 
 
 It all amounts to this. There is no walk of life 
 where the educated man is more needed, or where he 
 will find .greater scope for the best qualities of mind 
 and body than on a farm ; but we must never forget 
 that culture of the mind will not cultivate the soil. 
 High ideals of how to live must be associated with 
 the art of getting a living. 
 
 It may be safely stg.ted that the fundamental law 
 of up-to-date farming is economical seasonable work 
 on proved routine lines, and the rest depends on 
 business aptitude. This is the law, and the profits 
 are in the observance of it. 
 
 Experiment and research. The up-to-date farmer 
 
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN FARMING 11 
 
 must experiment, and he must not be satisfied with 
 the results of one year ; but the average farmer 
 cannot afford to waste his time and that of his teams 
 pottering over plots. The wiser plan is to deal with 
 strips in his field work, and any results which are 
 not apparent to the trained eye, or which cannot be 
 tested with the harvester, are, as a rule, but not 
 always, not worth bothering about. There are ex- 
 ceptions : for example, potash may add bushels of 
 wheat to the acre without apparently adding to the 
 straw. At the same time, the observant farmer 
 would notice the extra weight of the ears of wheat. 
 
 Exact experimental work must be done by 
 specially trained men with an aptitude for it, although 
 some of it can and should be done on farms under 
 the eye of the farmer. This, however, is the final 
 stage, and before that is reached much patient work 
 has to be done at specially equipped stations, where 
 close watch may be kept over every detail. 
 
 Associated with and inspiring the experimental 
 work is the research laboratory under technically 
 trained men. It is, however, not one in a score of 
 these who can be trusted to go among the farmers 
 without creating a spirit of distrust in science. It is 
 not an uncommon thing for the laboratory man to 
 develop an ambition to go and teach the farmer, but 
 as' a rule the result is disastrous to the confidence of 
 the one in the other. 
 
 The interpreter. Between the research worker and 
 the farmer there is a great gulf fixed, only now and 
 then bridged by the scientist who is a popular 
 teacher. Usually the scientist requires an inter- 
 
12 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 preter, and this position is filled by the popular 
 lecturer and well-conducted farmer's newspapers. 
 The agricultural press is, unfortunately, often as full 
 of errors as the farmer's crop is of weeds ; but it has 
 been and is the most important influence in agri- 
 cultural education. The popular lecturer is often 
 popular in proportion to his technical inaccuracy, and 
 his aptitude for humorous or striking illustrations ; 
 but he sows seed of thought, and prepares the way 
 for further teaching. It is well for all who desire to 
 teach to remember that no one can be taught that 
 which he is not in a proper condition to learn ; and that 
 as the pupils cannot reach the level of the teacher, it 
 is wise for the teacher to try to get down to the level, 
 of his pupils. 
 
THE SOIL, ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE. " 
 
 Soil, the home of plants. Many agricultural terms 
 are difficult to define exactly. One minute we may 
 speak of the earth, meaning our planet ; and in the 
 next refer to a handful or a load of earth. A man 
 may talk of buying a thousand acres of land and his 
 friend may at once ask him whether his land is loam 
 or clay. One farmer may speak of cultivating the 
 soil, another of ploughing the land, a third of digging 
 the ground, a fourth of shovelling earth, and the four 
 mean the same thing. 
 
 The soil, the earth, the ground, or the land 
 supports plants, animals subsist on plants, and the 
 waste from their food as well as their bodies them- 
 selves, when they decay, go back to the land as 
 manure. This general statement broadly expresses 
 the rotation of nature on which agriculture is based. 
 The soil is only one of many factors in the growth of 
 the farmer's crops, but it is a very important one. 
 It is in a sense his workshop and his raw material. 
 We therefore have to consider, among other things. 
 Whence came the soil ? What is soil ? How and 
 why it varies ? What principles are involved in 
 cultivating it ? and many other questions. 
 
14 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Whence came the soil ? In answering this question 
 we have to go far back in the history of our planet ; 
 or, in other words, to understand the origin of soils, 
 the student must know a little of geology. He must 
 realise that at the present time and far back through 
 countless ages the earth's surface has been under- 
 going processes of building and destruction, of 
 making and unmaking. Some of the agencies are 
 violent, aggressive and easily seen ; others are un- 
 obtrusive or actually hidden. On the one hand we 
 have a volcano belching forth lava and volcanic ash, 
 covering miles of the earth's surface with material 
 which in the course of ages becomes fertile soil by 
 the agency of weathering, chemical change and 
 bacterial life. All that we can do in a general 
 limited book like this is to give a very simple out- 
 line of some portions pf the subject which affect 
 practical agriculture. 
 
 Soil derived from the decay of rocks. It is usual to 
 say that soils are formed by the decay of rocks, and 
 that is in the main true ; but there is an essential 
 difference between decomposed rock and fertile soil, 
 which an illustration may serve to explain. What 
 the Australian bushman calls damper is unleavened 
 bread, made by mixing flour, water and a little salt 
 into a dough and baking it in the ashes of the camp 
 fire. The same ingredients mixed in the same way 
 but with a small quantity of yeast and a few hours 
 for the yeast to work produce bread. The damper 
 differs from the bread very little in composition but 
 very much in texture, digestibility and palatability. 
 The essential difference between the damper and the 
 
THE SOIL, ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE 15 
 
 bread is due to the action of the yeast, a single- 
 celled microscopical plant which gives rise to 
 comparatively slight chemical changes, but the 
 carbonic acid gas produced separates the particles of 
 dough with bubbles of gas and makes the bread light 
 or open in texture. The point we wish to illustrate 
 
 
 !^- 
 
 MfflfeKLW --^ 
 
 •<% 
 
 Basalt, Burnie, N.W. Tasmania. 
 One source of first-class soil. 
 
 is the fact that the change from unfertile decomposed 
 rock to fertile soil is largely due to living organisms, 
 many of the most important being microscopical 
 plants called bacteria. 
 
 Factors determining the character of soil. Put more 
 definitely, an ordinary soil is a complex material, the 
 basis of which is decomposed rock. Its character is 
 affected by, first, the chemical composition of the 
 
16 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 rock from which it is derived ; second, the degree of 
 grinding and chemical change it has undergone ; 
 third, the amount of washing to which it has been 
 exposed ; fourth, the amount and nature of the 
 organic matter, i.e. decayed animals and plants 
 incorporated with it ; and, fifth, the microscopical 
 life it contains. 
 
 Sand is ground rock from which the finer particles 
 have been washed out. Clay is also ground rock 
 and is composed of the fine particles washed out of 
 the sand. Peaty soils are almost entirely composed 
 of decayed or decaying plants. These extremes are 
 not good soils. The farmer desires a soil which is 
 composed of all three ; but the mixture may vary in 
 character. Terms are loosely used. If sand pre- 
 dominates, the soil is sandy. If clay is the chief 
 constituent it is clayey. When vegetable matter 
 predominates the soil is peaty. And when the three 
 are more evenly mixed we have the varied series of 
 loams so highly prized by all classes of agriculturists. 
 Later on it will be necessary to be more exact, but 
 this much is necessary to prepare for the study of 
 how soils are formed. 
 
 Ancestry of soils. Were soils gifted with the 
 weakness of men some would no doubt be equally 
 vain in claiming superiority on account of their 
 origin, and certain it is that the ancestry of a soil is 
 of vast importance to the man who has to cultivate it. 
 Admit this personality and imagine the aristocratic 
 air of the rich chocolate volcanic soils of Warnambool, 
 Ballarat, Mount Gambler, Colac, the Liverpool plains, 
 the Darling Downs, and Northern Tasmania, as they 
 
THE SOIL, ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE 17 
 
 boast their descent direct from old Pluto, and glory- 
 that in their birth the very earth shook and trembled. 
 Think of the rivalry of the rich alluvials which might 
 with equal right claim to be the result of the erosion 
 of ten thousand hills which were old when Mount 
 Gambier and other extinct volcanoes started into 
 activity. 
 
 Science involved in the study of soils. The point 
 we desire the student to realise is that in considering 
 the origin of soils as well as some other questions 
 underlying agriculture, we cannot draw a clear dis- 
 tinction between supposition and fact ; in other 
 words we do not quite know where reality ends 
 and imagination begins. The study of the origin of 
 soils is largely a matter of geology, and the charm 
 of geology owes much to the imagination of the 
 geologist. In addition to geology the origin and 
 composition of soils involve the study of chemistry, 
 biology, physics, meteorology, and so forth. 
 
 It is important that the student should get a 
 good grasp of this question of the origin of soils, but 
 it must be candidly admitted that the knowledge 
 will help the farmer but little in his daily business of 
 getting a living from his farm. It will explain 
 many of the whys of his work, but if he keeps his 
 plough idle while he studies the origin of the soil, he 
 may obtain pleasure and knowledge but he won't 
 get crops. Cultivation of the mind is not a substitute 
 for tillage of the soil. Many a farmer has failed, not 
 from knowing too much but from doing too little. 
 Study why, but keep the teams going, — that is a 
 fundamental principle in successful farming. 
 
18 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 The close relationship between rocks, soil, and 
 vegetation. The visitor to the city of Adelaide sees 
 a range of hills from five to ten miles distant, and if 
 he has studied the origin of soils and their relations 
 to rocks and vegetation he will guess the general 
 character of the rocks forming the separate hills, the 
 soils overlying the rocks, and the general character 
 of the vegetation without going near them. 
 
 Further, tell such a man the chief rocks of Northern 
 Tasmania are shales, quartzites, granites, together 
 with extensive areas of ancient lava beds and still 
 more ancient diabasic rocks, and, provided he under- 
 stands the climatic conditions under which they were 
 formed, he will tell you the range of soil to be 
 expected there. Describe to him the geology of 
 any given district of Victoria or New South Wales 
 and he will give you a very good idea of the chief 
 characters of the soils. Tell the geologist that there 
 are immense areas of Western Australia where the 
 only rocks to be found are granite and concretionary 
 ironstone, with frequent dykes or intrusions of diorite 
 and diabase, and he will, subject again to the influence 
 of climate, give a generally correct description of the 
 soils he would expect to find. 
 
 Soils of transport. The above remarks apply with 
 great accuracy to soils which have originated where 
 or near where they are found. They do not apply 
 to such soils as those of the Adelaide plains, the 
 Murray Valley, the coastal district of Western 
 Australia, the rich alluvial soils of the River Hunter, 
 river valleys in general, and the drained beds 
 of ancient lakes and seas. Such soils belong to 
 
THE SOIL, ITS ORIGIN AND NATURE 19 
 
 different classes, but all possess one common charac- 
 teristic. They are transported soils. The_v are the 
 soils of mixed ancestry. There is no line of pure 
 descent, unless it be the literal one of being washed 
 down from higher to lower levels. They are the 
 migratory sections of the soil family, a mixed race, 
 
 A Granite Quarry Face showing the transition from 
 Rock to Soil. 
 
 and often of great fertility. Running water has in 
 most cases been their nurse or foster-mother. 
 
 Transformation of rock to soil. If the student 
 would understand the origin of soils he must read 
 the story told in a quarry or railway cutting. With 
 many variations this is what he will find. The 
 surface soil is usually more or less dark in colour, 
 and is interlaced with the roots of plants growing in 
 
20 AUSTRALIAN AGEICULTURE 
 
 it. From the surface downwards it changes in 
 colour and also in texture until at a short distance 
 measured in inches it assumes the character known 
 as subsoil. This subsoil may be of varying depth, 
 and as one follows it down he finds that it gradually 
 changes. We are speaking of soils in situ and not 
 of alluvial or transported soils. At a short distance 
 from the surface the subsoil becomes semi-decomposed 
 rock, surrounding stones of varying sizes. A little 
 lower down it is broken rock, with pockets of rotten 
 or decomposed material. Lower still the more or 
 less solid rock is reached, but even here there are 
 seams of soft material following the irregular courses 
 of the cracks and bedding of the rocks. Down these 
 Seams or cracks the roots of shrubs and trees pass, 
 and they assist in widening them. 
 
 In a quarry near Adelaide the writer measured 
 roots of eucalyptus trees eighty odd feet from the 
 surface, and for seventy odd feet the quartzite rock 
 was being quarried for road making. In Western 
 Australia tree roots are met with at much greater 
 distances from the surface in the caves in the lime- 
 stone rock. The details in each quarry or cutting 
 will vary, but everywhere there is the same gradual 
 transition from solid rock below to more or less 
 fertile soil on the surface ; but if the student desires 
 to understand this process of soil-making he must 
 watch for himself. To remember the facts as stated 
 will load his memory, but teach him nothing real. 
 
 The materials which form soils in situ, when 
 carried by water and wind and deposited elsewhere, 
 form transported soils and alluvials. 
 
THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY AND 
 SOIL-MAKING. 
 
 We have now to consider what are the agents 
 which change solid rock to soil material and this 
 again into fertile soil. These are many and varied, 
 but may be broadly classed under three heads : 
 
 1. Mechanical, or the Mills of Nature. 
 
 2. Chemical, or the Laboratory of Nature. 
 
 3. Biological, or the Nursery of Nature. 
 
 It must always be remembered in the study of 
 nature's processes, that although we may tabulate 
 them as above, they cannot be so separated in oper- 
 ation. The varied agencies work together and help 
 one another. From the time that the surface of 
 the earth cooled, making a solid crust, it has been 
 acted upon by air, rain, frost, heat and cold, ice and 
 running water, chemical action and living organisms. 
 
 From the beginning of geological time, the pro- 
 cesses of making and unmaking, change and decay, 
 life and death, or more correctly life in death have 
 gone on. 
 
 Denudation by water and wind. The convulsions 
 caused by the cooling and shrinking of the earth's 
 crust formed the mountains, but other agencies have 
 
22 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 ever been at work wearing them down. The whole 
 surface of the earth is being slowly levelled. The 
 late Professor Tate estimated that the Mount Lofty- 
 range near Adelaide, now 2400 feet high, must have 
 at one time been as high as the Alps of Switzerland 
 to have provided the huge accumulations of worn 
 material forming the geologically recent beds over- 
 lying the same old rocks as form the basis of the 
 hills. 
 
 The Dividing Range of Victoria and the Blue 
 Mountains of New South Wales must have been 
 similarly denuded. If the vast accumulation of 
 material in the great basin of the River Murray and 
 its tributaries be considered, and in addition the tens 
 of thousands of square miles constituting the vast 
 and geologically recent artesian basin of Western 
 Queensland, New South Wales and central South 
 Australia, besides that which has been deposited in 
 the ocean, what a mighty chain of mountains would 
 it provide. Given the geological imagination we 
 can readily construct in the far distant past mighty 
 ranges of mountains. If we take Western Australia, 
 with its absence of anything worth calling a moun- 
 tain, we have a vast accumulation of worn and trans- 
 ported material of unknown thickness between the 
 Darling Range and the ocean sufficient to build a 
 fine range of mountains. 
 
 Denudation and transport going on now. We 
 must not think that this process of levelling is a 
 thing of the past. It is going on to-day. Look at 
 the material moved by each winter's rains or trans- 
 ported by the wind every summer. Before a dust 
 
THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY 
 
 23 
 
 storm the roads and streets may be thick with dust, 
 after it is over they are often swept clean. In the 
 northern agricultural areas of South Australia it is 
 not an unknown thing for the whole surface of a 
 well-worked fallow field to be blown away, when 
 a hot north wind fills the air with blinding dust over 
 
 "Outlier," Noarlunga, S.A., showing the effect of denudation. 
 The top of the hill shows a former level of the country. The mass of the 
 hill is marly clay which washes easily, but the top is protected by a cap 
 of travertive limestone. 
 
 an area of thousands of square miles. After such a 
 storm the busy housewife may have to sweep up 
 and remove buckets of dust and fine sand from in 
 and around the house, and if we try to calculate 
 what this means over thousands of square miles 
 we see that running water is not the only big agent 
 of soil transport. The whole surface of the coast 
 
24 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 country for many miles on each side of the Murray 
 mouth is changing, owing to the destruction of the 
 sand hill vegetation by stock and the movement 
 of sand by the wind. The Coorong is rapidly filling 
 up. On the coast of Victoria and of Western 
 Australia the same thing is going on. 
 
 Effect of clearing and cultivation. If we travel 
 over the agricultural areas of any of the States we 
 see how the surface is changing owing to the re- 
 moval of soil by water and wind. Where the 
 pioneers cleared forest country less than half a cen- 
 tury ago the winter floods have washed great gulches 
 through fertile fields. The writer knows places 
 •where, when a boy, he saw fine fields of wheat, the 
 land is now unworkable on account of the many 
 washaways. In one he knows of a washaway 
 through a rich alluvial gully a quarter of a mile 
 long and big enough to bury a wagon. It follows 
 the course of a drainage furrow and was washed out 
 in one winter and chiefly in one night of flood. 
 
 In Western Australia, where vast areas of forest 
 land are being yearly cleared, water courses are 
 seldom seen, but they are forming, and in a few 
 years they will be common. Plough furrows and 
 wagon tracks often form the beginning of great 
 washaways. 
 
 Unceasing change. We see then that soil is never 
 at rest for long. It is constantly receiving and con- 
 stantly giving. It is added to by the decomposition 
 of the rocks below, and above by the decay of plants 
 and animals and by deposits by wind and water. 
 On the other hand the agencies of running water 
 
A. Virgin Sv;a:\ii' Land. 
 
 B. The same class of Swamp Drained. 
 The foreground shows the peaty soil newly broken up, while beyond is 
 a crop of Cauliflowers. 
 
26 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 and wind are always robbing one place and giving 
 to another or forming new deposits. Ponds and 
 lakes are iilled or dried up and turned into dry land. 
 Vast deltas are built up at the .mouths of rivers. 
 England is said to have an area of some 300,000 
 acres less than at the time of the Norman Conquest, 
 owing to the encroachments of the sea on the East 
 coast. The Mississippi is said to deposit each year 
 soil enough in the Gulf of Mexico to cover 268 
 square miles a foot deep. These are big things ; 
 but the student may and should observe the little 
 evidences all around of the same movements. He 
 should note how streams change their courses, cut- 
 ting away a bank in one place and depositing the 
 material in another. He should note the great 
 gorges through which rivers and streams flow and 
 which have been cut by their action through the ages. 
 He should examine the composition of alluvial flats 
 and the deposits of silt after floods. All these things 
 will assist him in understanding the influences which 
 have been and are at work in soil making. 
 
 The weathering of rocks. In following the effect 
 of denudation by water and wind, we have for a 
 time left our subject of the milling of the rocks, or, in 
 other words, the way they are changed from hard 
 rock' to soil. In considering this subject, it is wise, 
 as well as convenient, to deal with the more important 
 agencies separately ; but, in doing so, the student 
 will do well to remember that system is merely an 
 aid to study. Nature's agencies do not work singly. 
 Nature is systematic only in broad generalities. 
 The teacher constantly urges system in the study of 
 
THE AGENTS OP ROCK DECAY 
 
 27 
 
 Nature ; but the student of Nature finds that the 
 system is more often created at the desk than in the 
 field. Systematic arrangement of facts is necessar}^, 
 but it is important to draw the distinction between 
 things as arranged sj'stematically in books and the 
 apparent confusion seen by the student. The moral 
 
 C. Part of the crop of Cauliflowers shown in B. 
 
 is that the student who sticks to his text-books 
 learns the end rather than the beginning of his 
 subject. Above all things the student is urged to 
 use his text-book merely to help him in his actual 
 study of nature. His opportunity for practical 
 observation may be small ; but he must use what 
 there is to enable him to understand his book. 
 Science is classified facts. 
 
28 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 We have said that the agencies which change 
 rocks into soil may be classed as : ( i ) Mechanical 
 or physical, (2) chemical, (3) biological. These 
 all work together, but particularly the two latter, so 
 that chemical change is frequently the result of 
 the work of living organisms. 
 
 Departure from old world text-books. In the ex- 
 planation of mechanical or physical agencies of soil- 
 formation in Australia, as well as in some other 
 important matters, we have to depart somewhat 
 from the standard English and American text-books. 
 The agencies are the same, but their relative im- 
 portance is different. For example, if we take up 
 any of the valuable standard works dealing with 
 soils, we cannot but be struck with the prominence 
 given to the work of frost and glacial action in 
 the disintegration of rocks and the production and 
 transport of soils. The statements made are 
 accepted on the evidence tendered ; but when the 
 Australian student seeks for local examples, he is 
 at once lost. Of boulder clays and glacial action, 
 with a few local exceptions, he knows and can 
 know nothing practically. The great ice-ploughs of 
 the books must remain mere words to him. Un- 
 doubted evidences of a glacial period have been 
 discovered in all the States ; but, although of great 
 interest to the geologist, as a factor in the formation 
 of soils, the student of Australian agriculture may 
 practically ignore glacial action. 
 
 Frost as an agent in disintegration of rocks. The 
 work of frost is of greater importance, but as a 
 soil maker and modifier in Australia frost is quite 
 
THE AGENTS OP ROCK DECAY 29 
 
 insignificant as compared to its influence in Britain 
 and Eastern America. In no Australian agricultural 
 district of any importance, if at all, is the ground 
 ever frozen. Only on the mountains of the extreme 
 south-east ot the continent and in Tasmania does 
 the ground become annually covered with snow 
 for any length of time, and nowhere does it exercise 
 any important influence on Australian agriculture, 
 except that the snow which gathers in winter on the 
 Australian Alps melts in summer, and thus supplies 
 water for the River Murray, which is used for irriga- 
 tion. Severe frost, as understood in the text-books, is 
 practically unknown in the larger agricultural areas 
 of Australia. Natural ice-skating is absolutely 
 unknown. In the coldest parts of Western Australia, 
 South Australia, and New South Wales, also of 
 Victoria, excepting the mountains of the south-east 
 corner of the continent, a severe frost means nothing 
 more than coating water-troughs and puddles, 
 and, perhaps, ponds of water with thin ice, which 
 seldom lasts through the day. Such frosts are 
 considered worthy of special comment, and anything 
 a little more severe in any locality is deemed worthy 
 of telegraphing to the metropolitan newspapers. In 
 Melbourne during fifty-three years the temperature 
 of the air has never fallen below 27 degrees Fah., or 
 S degrees of frost. This amount of frost has its 
 influence, as will be shown later on, but it is not 
 the powerful active agent to which so much pro- 
 minence is given by writers on soils in Europe and 
 America. The thought of leaving heavy land in 
 fallow in winter to be mellowed by frost is no part 
 
30 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 of the general routine of the ordinary Austrahan 
 farmer. 
 
 Variations of temperature. But although we in 
 Australia cannot give the mechanical effects of 
 freezing water the importance it holds in colder 
 countries in causing the disintegration of rocks and 
 modifying soils, we have still to consider the effect 
 of a great range of temperature, not only during the 
 year, but frequently within a few days. We have 
 to remember that water is at its minimum density 
 at 4° Cent, or 39.2° Fah. From that point it 
 expands until it freezes, and as small quantities 
 do frequently freeze in winter this factor must not be 
 ignored. It would seem, however, that we must pay 
 more attention to heat than to cold. Relatively, 
 the variations of temperature in Australia are not 
 noteworthy when compared with some other places, 
 and they occur in the upper rather than the lower 
 portion of the ordinary thermometer scale. 
 
 The Commonwealth Meteorologist, quoting General 
 Greely, formerly Chief of the United States Weather 
 Bureau, states that the temperature in the sun may 
 reach 200° Fah., but the highest actual record was 
 made on June 8th, 1882, at Pachpadre, India, 382 
 feet above sea level, when 196.5° Fah. was registered. 
 The absolute highest solar reading recorded in Ade- 
 laide was 180° Fah., on the i8th January, 1882, 
 which it will be noted was the same year as the 
 high record in India. 
 
 He, however, states that there is considerable uncer- 
 tainty in measuring direct solar heat and that the com- 
 parisons of shade temperature are more trustworthy. 
 
THE AGENTS GF EGCK DECAY 31 
 
 The annual range of temperature is much greater in 
 the Northern than in the Southern hemisphere, due 
 to the extensive land areas in higher latitudes. 
 In Siberia, on the Arctic circle, the range of air tem- 
 perature during the year may be as much as 1 70° 
 Fah. At St. Vincent, Minnesota, U.S.A., the shade 
 temperature may rise to 103.2° and go as low as 
 — 53.5° Fah., or a range of 156.7° Fah. At North 
 Platte, Nebraska, U.S.A., the maximum was 107° 
 and the minimum — 34.6° Fah., or a range of 141.6° 
 Fah. Other similar iigures might be given relating 
 to some other great wheat-producing States of North 
 America. 
 
 " There is," he says, " nothing in Australia corre- 
 sponding to these great differences in air temperature." 
 At Eucla, with thirty years' records, the highest shade 
 temperature was 123.2° and the lowest 28.1°, or a 
 difference of 95.1° Fah. At Adelaide, with fifty- two 
 years' records, the range was between 1 16.3° and 32", 
 or a difference of 84.3°, while Melbourne, for about the 
 same period, has a maximum record of 1 1 1.2° and a 
 minimum of 27.0°, or a range of 84.2". Sydney's maxi- 
 mum in forty-nine years is 108.5" and her minimum 
 35.9°, or a difference of 72.6° Fah., which corresponds 
 to that of Perth, where the greatest range is between 
 107.9° '••"d 35-3°, or a difference of 72.6° Fah. 
 
 These are interesting comparisons which should be 
 known to the student of agriculture, but, in consider- 
 ing the effect of temperature on the rocks and soil, 
 we have to take into consideration the difference 
 between the absolute solar heat, known generally as 
 the sun heat, and the absolute minimum on the 
 
32 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 ground. When we speak of the minimum shade 
 temperature we mean the temperature of the air at 
 about four feet from the surface of the ground. On 
 the grass near by the temperature may be consider- 
 ably lower. Thus there may be, and often is, frost 
 on the ground, and potatoes may suffer, when the 
 records show that the air temperature was several 
 degrees above freezing-point. The Commonwealth 
 Meteorologist states that it is safe to say that the 
 range of temperature between solar reading (that is 
 the temperature in the sun in the day) and the 
 lowest record on the grass at night in many places 
 in Australia is frequently over ioo° Fah. in the 
 twenty-four hours, and at times may be up to 
 120° Fah. 
 
 Expansion and contraction. There is another way 
 of looking at the range of Australian temperatures in 
 relation to their effect on the disintegration of rocks. 
 We know that a rock surface or a sandhill, exposed to 
 the direct rays of the sun, absorbs heat until it is so 
 hot that even a black fellow cannot walk on it, and 
 camels will lie down unable to endure it. There are 
 no records, but the temperature of sand and rock 
 surfaces in the interior may be assumed to reach fully 
 200° Fah., and to fall to or below freezing-point. 
 
 We have to consider in this connection that many 
 rocks are composed of different mineral substances, 
 having different co-efficients of expansion, and the 
 effect of this alternate expansion and contraction 
 must tend to split the rocks. Mention is made of 
 the same thing in Arizona and Texas in America, 
 and Dr. Livingstone speaks of blocks weighing up to 
 
THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY 
 
 33 
 
 200 lbs. being split off during the night in South 
 Africa by the contraction due to a rapid fall of 
 temperature. 
 
 The disintegrating action of great heat goes on in 
 summer, but we must not ignore the effect of frost. 
 
 Dfposit of Silt left by Wintrr Flo^.d. 
 Showing Cracks, produced by the Shrinkage on Drying. 
 
 The interior of Australia is subject to great radiation 
 at night, and although the frosts are not severe, they 
 are sufficient to freeze the small quantities of water in 
 the surface cracks of the rocks caused by the heat of 
 summer. To the two influences described may be 
 
 G.A. c 
 
34 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 chiefly attributed the accumulation of angular stones 
 at the base of any rock cliff. In the case of the 
 flaking off of the surface of granite and some other 
 rocks of mixed composition, we must add to the 
 above the solvent action of carbonic acid causing 
 partial decomposition, thus affording opportunity for 
 the action of frost. 
 
 The combined agencies of heat and cold, long dry 
 summers and heavy rains, in causing alternating 
 expansion and contraction resulting in the exertion 
 of great force, exercise influence in soil formation and 
 modification. A common practice of quarrymen may 
 be mentioned as an example of the power exerted 
 by the unequal expansion of different substances. 
 To obtain regular blocks of very hard stone, rows of 
 small shallow holes are drilled along the desired line 
 of cleavage. Into these holes plugs of dry soft wood 
 are driven, and these are then soaked with water, and 
 masses of rock many tons weight are separated by 
 this simple means. Suppose we have a big mass of 
 rock with various joints and cleavages filled with clay 
 in a dry state. When this is wetted the expansion 
 exerts an enormous force. Reduce the water any- 
 thing below 39.2° Fah. and further expansion takes 
 place down to the freezing-point, when the force is 
 immensely increased. It will assist in understanding 
 this to remember that the expansion and contraction 
 of clay causes the biggest buildings to crack when 
 built on clay beds, often in spite of every precaution 
 and great expense in foundations. 
 
 Among other mechanical influences which reduce 
 rocks to soil must be mentioned the action of the 
 
THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY 35 
 
 waves on the sea beach, and the work of running^ 
 water in streams and the effect of wind on exposed 
 surfaces. 
 
 Chemical agencies of soil formation; Chemical 
 changes in the soil are largely due to or associated 
 with the life, growth, and decay of organisms which 
 exist in or on the soil, but direct chemical agencies 
 have to be considered. The most important of these 
 is the action of carbonic acid. Most rock materials 
 are insoluble in pure water, but water in nature is 
 never pure. Its clearness, brightness or sparkle, and 
 its palatability, are often merely evidences of other 
 substances in solution. The all-important chemical 
 agent in the disintegration of rocks into soil is 
 carbonic acid, the action of which few rocks can 
 resist. The prominent exception is pure quartz, the 
 small quantities of pure silica often found in solution 
 in water being due according to Hall to " the decom- 
 position of natural silicates by water containing 
 carbonic acid rather than from the direct solution of 
 quartz." 
 
 Rain water when it reaches the ground contains 
 some carbonic acid gas in solution, and this is 
 increased in the soil owing to the fact that 
 the soil contains a considerable quantity derived 
 from the decay of vegetable matter. Hall quotes 
 Wollny to the effect that at a depth of a little 
 under five feet the amount of carbonic acid in the 
 soil gases varied from 3.84 per cent, to 14.6 per 
 cent, at different periods of the year. These figures 
 may or may not apply to Australian conditions because 
 the proportion of carbonic acid in soil gases varies 
 
36 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 very much, both with the proportion of organic 
 matter in the soil and its permeability. At greater 
 depths the proportion increases, so' that quite fre- 
 quently the percolating water becomes a weak solution 
 of carbonic acid, with very considerable solvent 
 powers. The fact that lime, magnesia and iron, are 
 frequently found in considerable quantities in spring 
 waters, shows that these minerals are very readily 
 acted upon, lime being particularly attacked wherever 
 it is present, as it is over large areas in Australia. 
 
 The cementing agent in most sandstones is either 
 carbonate of lime or oxide or carbonate of iron. 
 These substances, being readily acted upon by a 
 solution of carbonic acid, it will be seen that the 
 solvent action tends to decompose the rocks, the 
 cementing material being carried away, leaving grains 
 of sand to be transported by water or carried by 
 wind. 
 
 In Western Australia, granitic rocks with frequent 
 dykes of diorite form the basis of the country. In 
 South Australia and Victoria, there are also con- 
 siderable areas of granitic rocks, while the latter 
 State and Tasmania also possess large extents of 
 basaltic and other diabasic and volcanic rocks. The 
 felspars are important constituents of granite and the 
 other rocks mentioned. They are double silicates of 
 alumina, with some other base such as potash, soda 
 or lime, and one of their characteristics is the ease 
 with which they are attacked and decomposed by the 
 chemical agency of carbonic acid in- solution. The 
 result is that the lime, soda or potash, is removed in 
 solution as is also some of the silica. The rock then 
 
THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY 37 
 
 becomes rotten as it were, as anyone may see who 
 will observe the decomposing of these rocks. The 
 alumina remains as a hydrated silicate and forms 
 clay, in which are embedded grains of quartz, mica 
 and hornblende. The pure clay washed away forms 
 beds of kaolin or white clay, which is the material 
 used for fire-bricks. The quartz forms sand, and mica 
 being light, often floats away or, when decomposed, 
 may be a source of potash. Here in a few sentences 
 we have the explanation of the prevailing sandy soils 
 of Western Australia and those portions of the other 
 States where granite is the prevailing rock. We also 
 have one factor in the explanation of the formation 
 of the kaolin clays which, with oxide of iron as the 
 binding material, constitutes one of the forms of 
 " hard " pan subsoil of many localities. 
 
 The change in basaltic and diorite rocks is similar, 
 but here the clay is red or yellow owing to the 
 abundance of oxides of iron, which results from the 
 decomposition of the hornblende and other minerals 
 in these rocks. As many of the felspars contain 
 potash, it is usual to conclude that clayey soils will 
 be well supplied with that important plant food ; 
 but although this is generally true with respect to the 
 red and yellow clays, it does not always follow that 
 such is the case. 
 
 Soil full of Ufe. The soil feems with visible and 
 invisible life. The old conception of the soil was 
 that it was a lifeless mass, but the microscope has 
 shown us that soil is usually fertile in proportion to 
 the population of favourable micro-organisms, and 
 also that there are forrns of micro-organic life which 
 
38 AUSTEALIAN AGEICULTURE 
 
 may render otherwise well-constituted soils unfit to 
 produce profitable agricultural crops. 
 
 A fertile soil is one in which farm arid garden 
 crops grow readily when the climatic conditions are 
 favourable. Decomposed rock, however well supplied 
 with mineral plant food, does not in itself constitute 
 a fertile soil, because the supply of plant food is only 
 one of several important factors which go to make 
 up the complex condition known as fertility. In 
 addition to its mineral constituents, a fertile soil 
 must contain a proper supply of humus, or organic 
 matter in a process of active decomposition, and this 
 necessitates an abundance of micro-organic life, a 
 proper neutral condition involving the presence of a 
 suitable base, the best of which is lime, with which acids 
 may combine, suitable physical conditions, and so forth. 
 
 From rock to soil. It is interesting to consider 
 the newly exposed face of a rocky railway-cutting 
 and recall what happens. First the physical and 
 chemical agencies begin to decompose the rock, but 
 almost at once the surface supports lichens, mosses 
 and other lowly plants, their vigour and charac- 
 ter depending largely on the moisture conditions. 
 In arid regions they are few, in moist climates 
 numerous. They depend for nutriment chiefly on 
 the atmosphere, but the weak acid solutions produced 
 by the plants assist in dissolving small portions of 
 mineral matter, and as they decay form, with the de- 
 composed mineral matter, little pockets of soil in 
 crevices. In these, larger and more highly organised 
 plants find a home and their roots exercise a still 
 further influence in widening the cracks and even 
 
THE AGENTS OF KOCK DECAY 39 
 
 splitting open rocks. Plants also produce leaves 
 which fall and increase the soil pockets, and slowly 
 the work goes on until the whole, if not too steep, 
 becomes covered with soil. 
 
 The soils round Sydney afford a striking example 
 of the fact that the nature of a soil depends on 
 the rock from which it is derived, plus the vegetable 
 matter from the decay of the plants grown in it. 
 The rock is a white and yellow sandstone, so excel- 
 lent for building purposes that it is exported to 
 other states, but not good as a source of plant food. 
 The soils are therefore sandy and poor. Further 
 south, where basaltic rocks are found, the soils are 
 correspondingly rich and fertile. 
 
 Let us suppose another condition, that of a recent 
 flow of volcanic lava. Can anything be less inviting 
 than such a mass of black barren rock ? Those who 
 have seen a slag heap at a big smelting works have 
 a very good idea of the desolated, barren, black 
 appearance of a field of lava, with its rough surface, 
 full of cracks formed by the contraction of the 
 material while cooling. The process of decomposi- 
 tion very quickly commences, the minerals are 
 attacked by the carbonic acid in solution in rain 
 water, lichens and lowly plants form the first organic 
 life, dust is deposited by the wind, the crevices 
 become filled with decomposed material, and provided 
 the climatic conditions are favourable, higher plants 
 obtain a footing, the seeds being carried by the wind 
 or by birds. As will be seen later vegetation draws 
 most of its bulk from the air and water, and its 
 decay increases the soil material for future genera- 
 
40 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 tions of plants. In the course of time the field of 
 lava becomes covered with fertile soil such as is seen 
 in parts of Victoria, the rich volcanic soils of parts of 
 New England, etc., and Northern Tasmania. 
 
 Take another example, say a bed of volcanic ash 
 as at Mount Gambier or Warnambool, or a railway 
 embankment of entirely mineral material, or a 
 deposit of washed rock debris free from organic 
 matter deposited by a river, the sea, or wind. Here 
 the process is more rapid owing to the fineness and 
 nature of the materials. Seeds soon find their way 
 to the barren spot, and, provided climatic conditions 
 are favourable, in a comparatively short time the 
 place is covered with vegetation, the decay of which 
 continues to modify the surface, and in time the 
 mass of barren mineral becomes a fertile soil. 
 
 Special plant agencies. In the making of soils 
 mention should be made of the special work done 
 by particular kinds of plants, a subject which will 
 well repay the careful observation of the student. 
 Take for example the action of plants which act as 
 sand-binders, such as Marram grass, by which areas 
 of drifting sand have been reclaimed at Port Fairy on 
 the coast of Victoria, Yankilla and Goolwa in South 
 Australia, and at Fremantle and Karridale in 
 Western Australia. The natural herbage of coastal 
 sandhills is largely of this character, as anyone may 
 see who takes special notice of the sandhill spinifex, 
 and so forth. These plants hold the sand while 
 humus is being formed to transform it into soil, and 
 at the same time help in supplying the humus. 
 
 In the case of swamps we see how they are covered 
 
THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY 
 
 41 
 
 with coarse reeds and water-plants which gradually 
 fill them up and form deposits of peat, which onl}' 
 has to be drained and sweetened to form rich and 
 productive potato and vegetable garden soil. 
 
 Animals. Animals also play an important part in 
 soil making. To realise this one must watch the 
 
 I^.Iarram Grass Planted on a Drifting Sand Hill completely 
 Stopping the Drift. 
 
 work of earth-worms and then read the record of 
 Darwin's observations. Burrowing animals play 
 their part, and so do the ants, burying beetles and 
 grubs. The termites, or so-called white ants, exercise 
 an enormous influence in many parts of Australia, 
 Soil and subsoil. If the student will take notice of 
 any new section of soil, say on a roadside cutting or 
 a drain, he will observe that the surface soil differs 
 
42 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 in colour as well as in texture from the subsoil which 
 is below. The surface is almost invariably darker 
 in colour, varying from a light brown to black, and is 
 also of a looser texture if the subsoil is clay, but 
 denser if the subsoil is sand. These differences are 
 almost entirely due to the organic matter which the 
 soil contains, dind its absence from the subsoil. 
 
 The student will also have noticed how the texture 
 and colour of garden soils is changed in a few years 
 by the use of large quantities of stable manure, and 
 that swamp soils are almost invariably dark-coloured 
 or quite black. If he has not previously done so he 
 should take some of the black surface soil, spread it 
 on a shovel, and put the shovel on a fire so that the 
 shovel and soil will become red hot. Let it remain 
 for a time, then allow it to cool, and the colour will 
 have changed, as will also the character of the soil. 
 To make the experiment complete the soil should first 
 be well dried on the fire, then weighed, then heated as 
 above, and then weighed. The difference will represent 
 roughly the organic matter which has been burned out. 
 
 Humus and bacteria. The organic matter in the 
 soil is derived almost entirely from the decay of 
 vegetable matter. It owes its character to the work 
 of micro-organisms in the soil known as ferments or 
 bacteria. The substance of plants is largely carbon in 
 various combinations, particularly with the elements of 
 water forming carbohydrates (p. 99). Certain species 
 of bacteria produce what we call rotting, decay, or 
 decomposition. One group, universally distributed, 
 live and grow in the absence of air and attack the 
 carbon compounds of plant tissues, especially the 
 
THE AGENTS OF ROCK DECAY 43 
 
 carbohydrates. By their life-work they break up 
 the organic tissues and produce compounds, hydro- 
 gen and carbon (marsh gas), carbonic acid and peaty 
 material. These bacteria are known as anaerobic. 
 
 Another group of soil ferments, called aerobic 
 bacteria, live and work in the presence of air, and the 
 result of their action is the complete combustion or 
 destruction of organic matter, the chief product 
 being carbonic acid. 
 
 It is important to remember these two groups 
 of soil ferments, for it enables us to understand why 
 peaty material accumulates in swamps which are 
 water-logged most of the time, and why draining the 
 soil, good tillage, and the addition of carbonate of 
 lime, lead to the loss of i organic matter, rendering it 
 necessary to replace it with stable manure or the 
 ploughing in of green crops, grass, etc. It also 
 explains why humus accumulates more in pasture 
 land than in tilled land, and why draining swamp 
 lands is necessary to permit the working of the 
 aerobic bacteria which are always associated with 
 fertile soils. Acid soil conditions are unfavourable 
 to the life of aerobic bacteria, so essential to fertility, 
 and this is remedied in agricultural practice by 
 drainage, soil aeration, the application of carbonate 
 of lime. The composition of humus is not clearly 
 understood, but the student will find as much as 
 is known explained in Hall's work on Soils. One 
 point must be noted, and that is the fact that in the 
 breaking down of humus by soil bacteria, nitrates 
 and other available plant foods are formed, so that 
 soils well supplied with humus are generally fertile. 
 
CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 
 
 The common terms used in connection with the 
 description of soils are familiar to all. Thus we 
 speak of a clay soil, sandy soil, loamy soil, peaty 
 soil, mellow soil, a sandy loam, a loamy clay, and so 
 forth. The use of these terms fairly well conveys 
 the general idea of what is meant, but the meaning 
 is not exact, nor can it be so, because all such 
 expressions are merely relative or comparative in 
 their meaning. It would not be worth while devot- 
 ing much attention to the consideration of these 
 terms, were it not that doing so enables us to discuss 
 the nature of soil, its composition, and the influence 
 which composition has on physical character. 
 
 We must ever bear in mind that exactness of 
 definition is not possible in connection with a sub- 
 stance of such a complex nature as a fertile soil. If 
 it were possible to examine a mass of it in such 
 a way that we could see what was going on, we 
 should note that water, carbonic acid, and heat are 
 acting on it, organisms are constantly at work- in 
 it destroying some substances in the making of 
 others, and in the process changing its chemical 
 composition, its physical character, and its agriculr 
 
CLASSIFICATION OP SOILS 45 
 
 tural value. The particles of rock may be worn 
 smaller each year, or the tiny grains may be gathered 
 into little groups or aggregations, and the plant foods 
 are changed from one form to another. The soil 
 has a flora and a fauna of its own, scarcely less 
 complex than that with which we are familiar on its 
 surface. The labour of the farmer is directed to 
 assist some and check others of these processes, and 
 the more he knows of them the better is he able 
 to accomplish his purpose. 
 
 The texture of a soil depends chiefly upon the 
 proportions in which the particles of various sizes 
 are mixed together. Other modifying influences 
 are the amount of humus in the soil, and the in- 
 fluence of such ingredients as lime and iron oxide. 
 The humus tends to make a sandy soil more firm 
 and clay more porous. The presence of carbonate 
 of lime acts in a similar beneficial way, while oxide 
 of iron may cause the binding of a soil into a hard 
 mass. 
 
 Sand. Sand consists chiefly of grains of quartz, 
 sometimes angular, sometimes more or less rounded 
 by continual rubbing, the latter being a distinctive 
 feature of sand on the seashore. The colour may 
 vary, chiefly owing to the presence of oxide of iron. 
 Sand represents the quartz contained in the original 
 rocks, weathered and worn by the various agencies 
 which cause their decay. On examining sand closely, 
 however, it is found to contain other things besides 
 pure quartz grains. Near the seashore there will 
 frequently be seen small particles of shells, and almost 
 everywhere there are present fragments of many of 
 
46 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 the minerals originally associated with the quartz 
 from which the sand has been derived. Flakes of 
 mica are common, as are also more or less altered 
 grains of felspar and oxide of iron, while in cases, 
 tinstone, or oxide of tin, is present, and in other 
 places there are considerable deposits of what is 
 called ruby or garnet sand, almost entirely composed 
 of grains of worn garnet crystals. As a rule the 
 finer the sand the more numerous are the particles 
 of minerals other than quartz. The chief character- 
 istic of sand is its want of coherence when dry, and 
 the readiness with which water percolates through it. 
 Sand makes poor soil, its want of fertility being chiefly 
 due to the size of the particles and the character 
 of the materials of which it is formed. 
 
 Clay. The opposite of sand is clay. Its dis- 
 tinguishing feature is the fact that it can be moulded 
 and worked into various shapes, and it will retain 
 these shapes on drying. During the drying process, 
 however, a shrinkage takes place, but the dry material 
 is hard and tenacious, and, unlike sand, can only be 
 broken or crumbled with difficulty. In a moist con- 
 dition it is impermeable to water, and for this reason 
 it is used to line the bottoms of dams and tanks 
 in porous soil, and a wall of it is usually built up 
 inside the retaining wall of large dams or reservoirs. 
 Quite a thin layer of clay will hold water as long as 
 it remains moist, but if it is allowed to dry the 
 shrinkage may be as much as five per cent., cracks 
 and fissures are formed, and it is not until the clay 
 again swells and closes these that it once more 
 becomes water-tight. Those who are familiar with 
 
CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS 47 
 
 buildings erected on clay beds, as in Adelaide for 
 example, are aware of the great shrinkage caused in 
 clay drying, and the frequent cracks in houses erected 
 on clay are evidence of the immense power exerted 
 in the process. A. D. Hall in his book on Soils 
 says, " The characteristic properties of clay are not 
 developed except in material, the particles of which 
 are less than one five-hundredth part of a millimetre 
 in diameter." Clays are largely derived from the 
 weathering of felspar in granite and diabasic rocks, 
 and consist largely of a mineral called kaolinite, 
 or more commonly kaolin, which is the hydrated 
 silicate of alumina. The finest of all clays, called 
 china clay, is this mineral almost pure, and the more 
 common pipe-clays and fire-clays, from which fire- 
 bricks are made, are less pure forms. These clays, 
 though valuable in the industries are, from an agri- 
 cultural point of view, poor and may be positively 
 harmful, especially when they form impervious hard- 
 pan subsoils. Ordinary clays vary in character as 
 well as in composition. According to their nature 
 and origin they may be rich or poor in plant food. 
 The nature of clay subsoils is of great importance, 
 and in no case more so than in apple growing. 
 Ordinary fertile clays vary from various shades of 
 yellow to red, and this colouration is due to oxides 
 of iron. Ordinary clays also usually, but not neces- 
 sarily, contain fair percentages of potash, as well as 
 fine grains of quartz, mica, and other weathered 
 minerals. 
 
 "Colloid" clay. People in Australia, particularly 
 in the agricultural districts, are thoroughly familiar 
 
48 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 with the fact that when water is collected in a dam 
 or tank from clayey ground the clay is often so fine 
 that it does not settle, and the water appears dis- 
 coloured and slightly muddy unless specially treated. 
 When clay possesses this " colloid " character, it is 
 due to the extreme fineness of the particles, but when 
 a solution of a substance such as chloride of iron, 
 alum or of lime be mixed with it, it causes the very 
 fine particles of clay to " flocculate," that is to collect 
 together into grains heavy enough to quickly settle, 
 leaving the water clear. Rothera ( Victorian Journal 
 of Agriculture, July, 19 lo) has demonstrated that 
 I lb. of ferric chloride will clarify 1000 to 2500 
 gallons of muddy water, i lb. of alum 500 to looo 
 gallons, and lime about one-fourth as much. The 
 fact that some substances have the power of causing 
 the fine particles of clay to unite in larger aggre- 
 gations, is of some considerable importance in 
 connection with practical agriculture, because on it 
 depends the value, of humus and lime in modifying 
 the mechanical texture of clay soil. If a portion of 
 pure dry clay be taken and divided into two 
 portions, one being kneaded into a solid lump 
 with pure water, and the other similarly treated 
 with lime water, it will be found on drying the 
 lumps that the one made with the lime water 
 will shrink and crack less than the one made with 
 pure water, but it will more easily crumble into 
 a powder. 
 
 Although the figures are too large to be grasped 
 it is of interest to state that the methods of 
 mechanical soil analysis enable the analyst to 
 
CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS 49 
 
 approximately distinguish the character of soils by 
 the number of particles per cubic centimetre or 
 cubic inch. Thus, what the American calls a good 
 corn or maize soil, is stated by Fletcher to con- 
 tain 280 thousand million particles to the ounce, 
 while the clay loams that are preferred for grass 
 often have 400 thousand million particles to an 
 ounce. 
 
 The relation of fineness to richness. The fineness 
 of a soil has a very important bearing upon its 
 fertility, because a given volume of small soil particles 
 will have a greater total extent of surface on which 
 the roots may feed than will the same volume of 
 coarse soil ; but if the particles are too small, the 
 soil is too compact for the free action of the root 
 hairs. This, however, is only one of the several 
 factors, as will be seen later. Water is the all 
 important substance obtained from the soil by the 
 roots of plants ; but with this water they obtain 
 their nitrogen and all mineral plant food in solution. 
 Fertility may be said to be to a considerable extent 
 a matter of water-holding capacity, and this, apart 
 from the humus content, is very largely in proportion 
 to the fineness of the particles of the soil. Here 
 again it must be repeated that no one factor can be 
 considered alone. 
 
 In discussing this matter we may proceed by con- 
 sidering in turn the weight of soil, pore space, 
 capacity of soils for holding water, how the water is 
 held, percolation and drainage. 
 
 The weight of soils. The weight of a cubic foot of 
 soil depends upon its composition and compactness 
 
50 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 and is often an indication of the percentage of humus 
 it contains. Therefore, to a certain extent, weight is 
 an indication of its value for agricultural purposes, 
 but we must not overlook the important fact that 
 when a farmer speaks of a heavy or a light soil he 
 refers to texture, not weight. He speaks of a clay 
 soil which is difficult to work as heavy, and of a 
 sandy soil, easy to cultivate, as light. Judged by 
 weight per cubic foot the sandy soil is the heavier of 
 the two, and coarse sharp river sand is heavier than 
 iine sea sand. 
 
 Speaking generally the coarser the soil grains the 
 greater the weight per cubic foot. Usually also the 
 higher the percentage of humus the lighter the 
 weight of a given volume. The weight of a soil 
 always refers to the dry condition, i.e. to the soil 
 when all free water has been expelled by heating it 
 to slightly above the boiling-point of water. A 
 sample of peaty soil when dry is " as light as a 
 sponge," but when saturated it may be compared to 
 the sponge full of water. The following comparative 
 weights of a given volume of dry soil are from 
 Schubler : 
 
 Sand, 
 
 TOO lbs. 
 
 Garden soil, rich in humus, 
 
 70 lbs. 
 
 Peat soil. 
 
 30 lbs. 
 
 Hall gives the following results of determinations, 
 made in the laboratory, of soils in a roughly 
 powdered state and without the stones. The terms 
 used to describe the soils are not and cannot be 
 definite, but the figures are instructive because they 
 
CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS 51 
 
 show the relative differences in weight of the various 
 classes of soils : 
 
 
 Weight 
 per cubic foot. 
 
 Lbs. per acre 
 9 in. deep. 
 
 Sandy peat, 
 
 49 lbs. 
 
 1,580,000 
 
 Heavy clay, 
 
 66.4 lbs. 
 
 2,154,000 
 
 Light loam. 
 
 76.4 lbs. 
 
 2,480,000 
 
 Sandy loam. 
 
 76.7 lbs. 
 
 2,490,000 
 
 Light sand, 
 
 79.2 lbs. 
 
 2,560,000 
 
THE WATER IN SOIL. 
 
 Pore space. If we take several tumblers and care- 
 fully fill them with dry coarse sand, fine sand, and 
 powdered clay, and add water until the material is 
 saturated, which will require some time in the case of 
 the clay, the tumbler of clay will take the largest 
 quantity of water. This is a simple experiment any- 
 one can try. The spaces between the soil particles 
 occupied by the water are known as " pore space," 
 and it may vary from a little over 50 per cent, in the 
 stiff clays down to 25 to 30 per cent, in the case of 
 coarse sands of uniform texture. 
 
 The question of the water holding capacity of soils 
 is somewhat difficult to understand on account of the 
 different factors which have to be taken into con- 
 sideration. If we consider the size of the soil grains 
 only, we have the simple rule that the finer they are 
 the larger the amount of water required to saturate 
 the soil and the greater the quantity of water it will 
 retain when all the free water has drained away. 
 The farmer would state this fact by saying that clay 
 takes more water to thoroughly wet it than does sand, 
 and it holds moisture longer. At the same time he 
 knows that in a dry season, a light sandy soil will 
 often carry a crop better than heavy clay. The 
 
THE WATER IN SOIL 53 
 
 explanation is simple. In such a season there is not 
 enough rain to saturate the clay land, and its water 
 holding capacity is not put to the test. It is also a 
 fact that while sandy soil will not hold as much 
 water as clay, it will give up to the plant a larger 
 percentage of what it does hold when saturated. We 
 therefore have two factors operating. First, with a 
 small rainfall, the sandy soil becomes wetter than the 
 clay ; and second, a larger percentage of the water is 
 available for the crop. 
 
 Decayed vegetable matter, commonly called humus, 
 will hold more water than clay. Therefore, when a 
 soil contains a large percentage of humus, its water 
 holding power is greatly increased. Neither pure 
 sand nor pure clay makes a fertile soil, and it is recog- 
 nised that the proportion of organic matter which 
 any soil contains is of the greatest importance. The 
 water holding capacity of a soil is quite as important 
 as the supply of plant food, and this power to hold 
 water depends partly on the percentage of humus it 
 contains. 
 
 If we take given weights of different types of air 
 dry soil, we find that they differ very much in volume. 
 One hundred ' lbs. of peaty soil will occupy much 
 more space than the same weight of sandy soil, clay 
 coming in between. 
 
 The water content of a soil may be considered in 
 three ways : 
 
 1. We may consider the proportion the water in a 
 
 saturated soil bears to the dry soil. 
 
 2. We may take the weight of a volume of wet 
 
 soil and find how much of that is water. 
 
54 
 
 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 3. We may find the percentage by volume which 
 the water occupies in a soil. 
 
 The following diagram is an attempt to give the 
 student an idea first of the relative volumes of a given 
 weight of three classes of soils, and second, their 
 water holding capacity. The rectangles show the 
 comparative volumes of dry soil ; and the shaded 
 
 
 -503 
 
 — 
 
 OTZ-lVatet-L 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sandy Soil. 
 
 Clay Soil. ' 
 
 Z60_X:a£Watecz 
 
 Soil with Large Per- 
 centage OF Humus. 
 
 portion the percentage of water in a saturated soil of 
 that class. 
 
 The quantity of water required to saturate a soil 
 is only one of several factors in relation to the supply 
 of water to plants. The roots of our ordinary agri- 
 cultural crops cannot thrive and usually cannot live 
 in a saturated soil ; but some plants, like the swamp 
 varieties of rice and swamp vegetation generally, 
 require extreme wet. According to Helriegel, ordi- 
 nary plants thrive best when the soil is not quite half 
 
THE WATER IN SOIL 55 
 
 saturated, that is, of course, when other conditions are 
 favourable. In Australia the larger proportion of our 
 agricultural areas is subject to more or less regular 
 dry periods, which would be called droughts in 
 Europe. Over millions of acres of profitable wheat 
 and sheep-farming lands in every Australian State, 
 the soil is rarely saturated to any considerable depth. 
 
 Hygroscopic moisture. No soil, even under the dry 
 summer conditions of the hotter parts of Australia, is 
 absolutely devoid of moisture. Even the fine dust 
 on the roads of Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill contain 
 some moisture, and we know that many plants 
 remain alive, in a more or less dormant condition, all 
 through the great droughts of central Australia. The 
 water held by air dry soils is called hygroscopic 
 moisture. It is not fully understood how it is held ; 
 but it is there, although it does not appear to be 
 available for the use of plants. Soils have varying 
 capacities for absorbing moisture from moist air. 
 
 Film water. King gives a good illustration of how 
 the fineness of a soil influences the quantity of 
 moisture it will hold. He says : " Suppose we take 
 a marble just one inch in diameter. It will just slip 
 inside a cube an inch on a side and will hold a film 
 of water on its surface 3. 141 6 square inches in area. 
 But reduce the diameter of the marble to one-tenth 
 of an inch and at least 1 000 of them will be required 
 to fill the inch cube, and their aggregate surface areas 
 will be .31.416 square inches. If, however, the 
 diameter of these spheres be reduced to one-hundredth 
 of an inch, then 1,000,000 of them will be required 
 to make a cubic inch, and their total surface area will 
 
56 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 be 3 1 4. 1 6 square inches. Suppose again the said 
 particles have a diameter of one-thousandth of an 
 inch, it will then require i ,000,000,000 of them to 
 completely fill the cubic inch, while their aggregate 
 surface area will measure 3141.59 square inches." 
 
 He shows that these particles are quite large as 
 compared to those of a fine soil, yet a cubic foot of 
 them will hold a surface film of water equal to 
 37,700 square feet. Roots of wheat go to a depth 
 of at least four feet, so that the available surface of 
 the particles of soil below each square foot of moist 
 ground would possess a water film of not less than 
 3.4 acres. 
 
 It is from this film water, covering the soil grains, 
 that the root hairs of plants obtain their supplies, and 
 the student will see how it is that our wheat crops 
 are produced on so small a rainfall coming at the 
 right time, with none running away, and how im- 
 portant it is where the rainfall is light to get it all 
 into the soil and keep it there by surface cultivation 
 to provide a soil mulch. 
 
 The film of water on the soil grains becomes 
 gradually thinner as the soil dries until the air dry 
 stage is reached, when only hygroscopic moisture is 
 left. 
 
 Capillarity. The moisture in non-saturated soil 
 forms an elastic film over the surface of each grain 
 and between the grains in contact, being held by 
 a force which binds it to the grain and is always 
 tending to keep the thickness of the film constant. 
 Thus, when any moisture is drawn from one part of 
 a soil grain the remainder attempts to adjust itselt 
 
THE WATER IN SOIL 57 
 
 evenly over the whole surface. Similarly, when 
 moisture is taken from one grain, that from all the 
 adjacent grains in contact is redistributed so that the 
 moisture in any mass of soil tends to be uniform. 
 This is really what is known as capillarity, so fre- 
 quently referred to by writers on agriculture. It 
 operates in every direction. When the sun draws 
 off water from the surface particles, there is an 
 upward movement to adjust the difference. 
 
 Hall illustrates the movement of film water in this 
 way: 
 
 A, B and C represent three soil particles, of which A 
 and B are surrounded by thin films and C by a thicker 
 film of water. When the spheres are in contact, the 
 water will fill up a part of the angle between the 
 spheres, as shown in the diagram ; but the water 
 surface at a is more curved than at b, and by the law 
 of capillarity the pressure at a will be lower than at 
 b and there will be a flow of water from b to a, and 
 this will continue until the curvatures and corre- 
 sponding surface tensions are equalised. 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF SOILS. 
 
 The relation of the temperature of soils to the 
 growth of vegetation is important in Australia, as 
 elsewhere, but the problem here has some features 
 differing from English and American conditions. We 
 have not the same degree of cold, but we have to 
 contend in many places with intense heat acting on 
 very dry soil. In England and Eastern America, 
 the soil rarely becomes too warm for summer farm 
 crops, and, provided the moisture content is right, the 
 same may be said of New Zealand, Tasmania, and the 
 cooler districts of the mainland ; but over large areas 
 of every State of Australia the summer heat of the 
 soil is altogether too great, combined with the lack 
 of moisture, for any but specially adapted plants. 
 At the same time, it is often too cold in winter for 
 rapid growth, and it is important, on account of the 
 short spring and dry summer, to endeavour to do all 
 that is possible to make the soil warmer in winter 
 and cooler in early summer in order to extend the 
 growing period of crops. 
 
 It is only when the soil has reached a temperature 
 of from 65° to 70° Fah. that most crops grow freely, 
 so that even in districts which are so hot and dry in 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF SOILS 59 
 
 summer that agricultural plants will not thrive with- 
 out irrigation, the crops and pastures make little 
 headway in July. 
 
 It is well known that seeds germinate more quickly 
 and better when the soil is warm than when it is 
 cold, and that certain seeds, like tomatoes, melons and 
 so forth, will lie in the ground all through the winter 
 and only germinate in September or October, when 
 the soil becomes sufficiently warm. There is, indeed, 
 a minimum and a maximum, below and above which 
 each kind of seed refuses to germinate. This is well 
 seen in the case of weeds which appear at regular 
 times, either in spring, summer, autumn or winter, 
 according to their nature. Our gardens may be full 
 of seed of various weeds, but all our watering in the 
 summer will not start certain kinds to grow until the 
 days shorten and the soil becomes cooler in autumn. 
 
 Temperatures (Fah.) of Germination (from Hall). 
 
 Crop. Minimum. Optimum. Maximum. 
 
 Wheat, - - 32 to 41 77 to 88 88 to no 
 
 Barley, - 40 77 to 88 100 to no 
 
 Oats, - 32 to 41 77 to 88 88 to 100 
 
 Pea, - 38 to 41 77 to 88 88 to 100 
 
 Scarlet runner bean, 49 91 115 
 
 Maize, - 49 91 115 
 
 Cucumber, melon, etc., 60 to 65 88 to 90 no to 120 
 
 These temperatures practically apply to the growth 
 of the same plants, i.e. the most favourable tempera- 
 ture for germination is the most favourable for growth. 
 Although farmers and gardeners may not know any- 
 thing about the law they practically apply it. The 
 gardener makes a hot bed for his early tomatoes, 
 
60 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 cucumbers and melon plants ; he raises his beds and 
 sometimes gives them a northern slope when growing 
 winter salads, and he knows quite well that there is 
 usually nothing gained by sowing his melon seeds 
 too early in the spring, unless he adopts means for 
 raising the soil temperature. 
 
 The farmer knows from experience that he gets 
 poor results from sowing lucerne, maize, and such 
 crops too early, because not only does he run the risk 
 of losing his seed, but, if it germinates, the seedling 
 plants make poor growth until the soil warms, and 
 being weakly they are liable to the attack of insects 
 and diseases. The Tasmanian potato grower pro- 
 duces his crop in summer, but on the Adelaide plains 
 the potato is an autumn or early spring crop. 
 Similar examples might be multiplied indefinitely. 
 
 Temperature and soil bacteria. There is another 
 important factor to be considered. The supply of 
 some forms of available plant food in the soil depends 
 largely on the work of soil bacteria. This applies 
 specially to the breaking down of organic compounds 
 of nitrogen into nitrates. These bacteria are active 
 between the temperatures of 41" and 130° Fah. 
 Here is the probable explanation of the fact that in 
 our Australian wheat areas nitrogenous manures as a 
 rule fail to give the results found elsewhere. The 
 matter has not been carefully investigated, but the 
 soil temperature, during a considerable period of the 
 year, is most favourable to the work of the nitrifying 
 bacteria and when the soil moisture is conserved by 
 fallow, .soil bacteria provide sufficient of this, the most 
 essential and costly of plant foods. The explanation 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF SOILS 61 
 
 is rendered the more probable by the fact that top- 
 dressing crops with nitrates or ammonia at the end 
 of the winter, in cool wet districts, seldom fails to give 
 good results. Under such conditions winter rains 
 wash out the soluble nitrates produced during the 
 previous summer, and the soil temperature is not 
 favourable for the bacteria to provide a fresh supply 
 of this essential plant food as quickly as is required 
 by the crops. This point is of importance in con- 
 nection with the early sowing of cereal crops. 
 
 Factors in soil temperature. The factors deter- 
 mining soil temperature are varied and complex. 
 The main source of soil warmth is the sun's rays, and 
 is therefore beyond the power of the farmer to 
 influence one way or another. He cannot make the 
 June and July days longer or give the oblique rays 
 more warming power. He cannot modify the in- 
 tensity of the summer sun or lessen the water 
 absorbing powers of the hot winds from the dry 
 interior of the continent during a heat wave. He 
 can, however, to some extent modify the effect of 
 the natural conditions under which he works, and a 
 knowledge of the principles governing soil tempera- 
 ture will at times guide him in his work. 
 
 At a depth of thirty feet or so the soil temperature 
 changes very little through the year. At the Auldana 
 Wine Cellars, Magill, South Australia, the tempera- 
 ture in the vaults in the hill, fifty feet from the 
 surface, varies between 60° and 62° Fah. from winter 
 to summer. The similar vaults thirty odd feet under- 
 ground at the Great Western Vineyard, Victoria, 
 remain almost equally constant in temperature. 
 
62 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Effect of colour on temperature. The temperature 
 of the surface soil varies very much from season 
 to season, from day to day, and from day to night. 
 The daily fluctuation, however, rarely extends more 
 than thirty inches down. The colour of soils 
 influences their temperature considerably, because 
 the ordinary laws of absorption and radiation apply 
 to soils. With black soils the absorption of the 
 sun's rays is almost complete, red soil absorbs more 
 heat, and becomes warm more quickly than yellow 
 and light coloured soils, and lose heat with corre- 
 sponding rapidity, other factors, of course, being 
 equal, which is usually not the case. In Switzerland 
 farmers sometimes strew black powdered slate over the 
 snow to hasten its melting. 
 
 Gardeners in cold countries sprinkle a light 
 coloured soil with peat or charcoal to warm it. In 
 Saxony, melons are ripened by covering the soil with 
 a layer of coal dust. Humus darkens a sandy soil 
 and warms it. The dark soil also absorbs more 
 heat during the day and gives it off" at night, thus 
 warming the air immediately above. Covering a 
 soil with white powder, such as air slaked lime, on 
 the other hand, reduces the soil temperature and 
 retards a crop. 
 
 Other factors. The coarser the particles of a soil 
 the warmer it gets and the better it holds the heat, 
 and, in accordance with this fact, gravelly, sandy, 
 and sandy loams, especially when dark coloured, are 
 known to be among the earliest and warmest of soils, 
 and are often so described. In Europe, gardeners 
 sometimes cover the ground under vines with gravel 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF SOILS 63 
 
 to increase the temperature and hasten the maturity 
 of the grapes, and the raisin drying grounds of Spain, 
 in addition to being usually chosen or made to 
 slope towards the sun, are covered with dark 
 gravel. 
 
 In apparent partial contradiction to the last para- 
 graph, it must be noted that soils in which the 
 particles are very small, as in clay, warm faster than 
 sand because the grains lie so close together that the 
 heat passes from one to the other readily. For 
 the same reason a mass of stone will more quickly 
 become hot than a similar volume of earth, especially 
 loose earth. 
 
 Clay soils are often dark in colour, so that two 
 factors, colour and fineness, operate together in 
 absorbing heat rapidly, and yet it is a fact that 
 sandy soils are " warm " and clay soils are " cold," 
 because other influences have to be considered. 
 
 The mention of two factors will harmonise the 
 apparent contradiction. The first is that clay soils 
 lose heat as quickly as they absorb it, and for the 
 same reason. The second is that clay soils hold 
 more water than sandy soils, and this acts on the 
 temperature in two ways. First, it takes much 
 more heat to raise a pound of water one degree in 
 temperature than it does to correspondingly warm a 
 pound of soil ; therefore, soils which are naturally 
 retentive of moisture take a corresponding amount of 
 heat to warm them, and are cold and late. Second, 
 the evaporation of water from wet soils absorbs a 
 large amount of heat in the process, and this lowers 
 the temperature. Wing states that the evaporation 
 
64 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 of one pound of water from a cubic foot of moist 
 soil may reduce its temperature io° Fah. 
 
 The tilling of the surface of a soil by bringing 
 it into a loose condition, keeps the surface warm 
 by reducing the evaporation, and also by rendering 
 it a less good conductor of heat, thus preventing the 
 absorption of heat by the subsoil. In each case 
 conflicting factors are found in operation. 
 
 Specific heat. It is necessary here to refer to the 
 specific heat or the thermal capacity of different 
 soils. Different substances require varying amounts 
 of heat to raise their temperatures one degree ; or, 
 stated in another way, some substances get hot 
 more quickly than others under the same conditions ; 
 while others absorb heat much more slowly, but 
 retain their heat longer. Mercury heats very quickly 
 and cools just as rapidly, and so is used in thermo- 
 meters to register changes of temperature. We 
 must not confuse intensity of heat with quantity 
 of heat. A red-hot wire is as hot as a red-hot anvil, 
 although one may require ten thousand times more 
 heat than the other to make it red-hot. A pint 
 of boiling water is as hot as a hundred gallons at the 
 boiling point ; but the hundred gallons requires eight 
 hundred times as much heat to make it boil. The 
 heat which a substance absorbs in being heated is 
 specific heat. Of all substances water has the 
 highest specific heat, or, in other words, it takes 
 a greater quantity of heat to raise one pound of 
 water one degree than any other substance. The 
 heat which raises a pound of water from o° to 21 2° 
 Fah. will raise a pound of iron to about 1900° 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF SOIL 65 
 
 Fah., or a bright red heat. This difference in 
 specific heat is of .great importance in agriculture, for 
 it explains many facts connected with soil tempera- 
 ture, drainage, conditions of frost, the disintegration 
 of rocks, etc. 
 
 Effect of drainage on soil temperature. Draining a 
 soil warms it, by reducing the percentage of water it 
 holds, thus reducing the specific heat. King states 
 that while it requires lOO units of heat to raise 
 lOO lbs. of water one degree Fah., it only takes 
 a fraction over 19 units to warm the same weight of 
 dry sand one degree. It takes about 22 J units 
 to do the same for 1 00 lbs. of clay ; but it requires 
 over 44 units to warm 100 lbs. of dry humus one 
 degree. While equal weights of water, humus, clay 
 and sand may receive the same amount of heat from 
 the sun, the sand will be the warmest and the water 
 the coolest. Here, again, conflicting factors are at 
 work. For example, 1 00 lbs. of humus may occupy, 
 say, twice the volume of the same weight of sand 
 and the greater amount of heat it will therefore 
 receive from the sun will tend to equalise the tem- 
 perature. The dominating factor is the specific 
 heat. 
 
 With wet sand, clay and humus, the conditions 
 are altered. A cubic foot of dry sand is heavier 
 than a cubic foot of clay or humus, but peat or 
 humus holds more water than clay, and clay 
 more than sand. But this is not all. While 100 
 units of heat will raise one pound of water 100" 
 Fah. in temperature, it takes, again quoting King, 
 966.6 heat units to evaporate i lb. of water from 
 
66 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 the soil ; and if this were drawn directly from a 
 cubic foot of saturated clay it would lower its 
 temperature over i o° Fah. 
 
 It is, therefore, evident that to drain the excess of 
 water rapidly from a soil, instead of allowing it to 
 remain until it has had tin^e to evaporate, must 
 be a great assistance in raising the temperature. 
 The difference in temperature between a well-drained 
 and undrained loam may be as great as from 7^ 
 to 10° Fah. 
 
 The influence of soil water on naturally moist and 
 on irrigated lands during very hot summer weather 
 tends to keep them cool. Watering a garden bed 
 on a hot day helps the plants not only by supplying 
 moisture, but by cooling the soil as the water is 
 evaporated it reduces it to a temperature more 
 favourable to growth. 
 
 Aspect. The lay of land, or, in other words, 
 its slope in relation to the sun's rays, is another 
 factor influencing the temperature of a soil, and often 
 exercises an important influence in connection with 
 crops. Sometimes the slope of a piece of land 
 to the north will, with other factors, make it par- 
 ticularly suited for early crops. Sometimes a slope 
 to the south will, in a corresponding way, render 
 another field specially fitted for a late crop. 
 
 Tillage. Tillage also exercises an influence on soil 
 temperature. The subject is a complicated one, but 
 it may be generally stated that tillage prevents 
 evaporation, and thus saves the heat in the soil as 
 well as the moisture. Soil for early crops should be 
 ploughed early and cultivated often. 
 
THE TEMPERATURE OF SOILS 67 
 
 The use of stable manure and the ploughing-in of 
 green crops and vegetable matter of any kind 
 tends to warm soils, because the fermentation and 
 decay of the organic matter is equivalent to so much 
 combustion. 
 
 Warm rains also affect the temperature of soils 
 favourably in spring, because the specific heat of rain 
 being higher than of soil, the effect of even a small 
 quantity of water is to warm the soil. 
 
 Soil ventilation. The spaces between the grains of 
 a dry soil are filled with air, those of a saturated soil 
 with water. Fertile soils must contain both air and 
 water. Soil air contains a larger percentage of car- 
 bonic acid gas and ammonia gas but less oxygen than 
 the free air above, the excess being produced by the 
 decomposition of organic matter. 
 
 The roots of all farm crops require a well ventilated 
 soil, and if the soil pores are filled with water the 
 plants will die, the plants are in fact drowned. The 
 result of a long flood in an orange-grove is well 
 known, as is also the effect of a water-logged soil on 
 a wheat or other crop. Deciduous trees and vines 
 will bear and even benefit by the saturation of the 
 soil for a short time by a winter flood when they are 
 dormant, but they also are killed by water lying on 
 the land for a length of time. Moving water carries 
 air with it and has not the same destructive effect. 
 
 Not only is air actually necessary to the roots of 
 plants, but it is also essential, in order that the useful 
 micro-organisms of the soil may do their work in 
 rendering the store of plant food in the soil 
 available. 
 
68 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 How the ventilation of soil is improved. Under- 
 drainage is an important factor in improving soil 
 ventilation, and although is is not practicable in many 
 cases at the present stage of Australian agriculture, 
 nor is it necessary in our great wheat areas, it is of 
 much greater importance in connection with dealing 
 effectively with the wetter mixed farming lands in 
 every State than is usually recognised. Under-drains 
 not only remove the excess of water quickly and 
 lower the water table, but they provide a system 
 of underground passages for the free circulation 
 of air. In wet weather the passage of the air 
 follows the flow of water, and in the dry seasons 
 the air may pass from the drains upwards. Drainage 
 requires much greater attention in Australia than is 
 usually given to it. All tillage operations, by open- 
 ing the soil, promote aeration or ventilation. This 
 is one of the values of subsoiling. Ploughing-in 
 green crops and farmyard manure, by opening the 
 soil, promotes ventilation. Earth worms and ants 
 have a beneficial effect in the same way. Deep 
 rooted plants open the soil and deepen the avail- 
 able area for less hardy plants. It is probable that 
 in this connection the very objectionable stinkwort 
 weed has done some considerable good in South 
 Australia. It is a bad pest and useless as a 
 fodder, but tens of thousands of acres of land have 
 been modified by its deep strong roots, which have 
 penetrated many feet into the subsoil and in decaying 
 have added humus and opened up channels for air 
 and water. 
 
SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE. 
 
 We look upon the soil as so much dirt, but 
 the black fellows, and even dogs, horses, pigs and 
 fowls, know better. The black fellow dresses his 
 wounds with clean dry earth, and science confirms 
 his experience. Horses, dogs, pigs and fowls, roll 
 in it to remove the exudations of the skin and 
 destroy vermin. The bushman, the prospector and 
 the way-back farmer, perspiring amid clouds of 
 dust where water is scarce, longs for a bath; but 
 in its absence the good wholesome soil is in a 
 way serving the same purpose of purification. The 
 filth of towns is quite a different thing. At the 
 same time, fertile soil is teeming with life of its own. 
 There are many species, some are foes but most are 
 friends ; making up for their minute size by their 
 uncountable numbers. So small are they that a 
 powerful microscope is required to see them. Most 
 are classed as bacteria ; but really the micro-organic 
 life of the soil, the flora and fauna, as it is called, is 
 as varied as the higher life on the earth's surface with 
 which we are familiar. Every year we are learning 
 more about these tiny organisms and their functions, 
 and as our knowledge increases we appreciate more 
 
70 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 highly the work of the micro-biologists who are 
 giving us new conceptions of the principles of soil 
 treatment. The modern farmer is working in the dark, 
 without at least a general idea of the nature and 
 functions of the hidden friends and foes in the soil. 
 At the same time he must remember that the science 
 of micro-biology is very new, and a good deal of the 
 accepted belief on the work of soil bacteria is subject 
 to revision. 
 
 For the proper understanding of common farm 
 practice it is necessary to consider at least three 
 classes of bacterial life : 
 
 I. Nitrogen fixing bacteria of legumes. It has 
 been known from the earliest historic times that 
 leguminous crops, such as clovers, peas, beans, etc., 
 enrich the soil, and that other crops, such as wheat, 
 thrive better after a leguminous crop. Many theories 
 were propounded to explain the reason. The now 
 accepted explanation was published by Hellriegel 
 and Wilfarth in 1886. They showed that when 
 such plants as wheat, cabbage, and so forth, were 
 grown in sand and fed with nutrient solutions, the 
 growth was in proportion to the amount of combined 
 nitrogen supplied; and, if this was absent, nitrogen 
 starvation set in as soon as the store in the seed was 
 exhausted. Peas, beans or other legumes, grown 
 under the same conditions, were observed to sometimes 
 recover and begin a vigorous growth which lasted 
 until maturity, although no combined nitrogen was 
 supplied. 
 
 In all such cases the roots of the plants were 
 found to be furnished with the little nodules, long 
 
SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE 71 
 
 known to be characteristic of the roots of legumes 
 when grown under natural conditions. The clue 
 was followed and legumes were grown in sterile sand 
 supplied with other plant foods, but no nitrogen, 
 and as soon as the stage of nitrogen starvation 
 was reached a watery extract of ordinary soil was 
 added to some and not to others. Those so treated 
 recovered from the nitrogen starvation and grew 
 to maturity, assimilating considerable quantities of 
 nitrogen. The recovery and development was 
 always found to be associated with the nodules 
 on the roots, and the nodules were always found to 
 be full of bacteria, to which the name of B. radicicola 
 has been given. They could only be produced by 
 infection from a cultivated soil or by an extract of 
 ■the crushed nodules. 
 
 Then followed a controversy on the subject, but 
 further research showed the absolute correctness of 
 the above statements and also that if legumes are 
 grown in closed vessels, the air of which is analysed 
 before and after growth, the actual amount of 
 nitrogen gained by the plant during its growth corre- 
 sponds with that lost from the air. The conclusion 
 that was reached, and is now accepted as a fact, is 
 that leguminous plants can obtain and fix free 
 nitrogen from the air in the soil by the aid of the 
 bacteria living in the root nodules. The manner in 
 which it is done is not clearly understood, if known 
 at all, but it is generally supposed that the bacteria 
 obtain the carbohydrates required for their life 
 functions from the plants with which they are 
 associated, and in return supply higher plants with 
 
72 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 available nitrogen. This association of two forms of 
 life with dependence, the one on the other, is called 
 symbiosis. 
 
 It was first supposed that each species of legume 
 has it own special species of nitrogen fixing bacteria. 
 That is now believed to be incorrect, but the practical 
 position is not greatly affected, because although there 
 may be but one species, it is believed to become so 
 modified by growing in symbiosis with the different 
 leguminous plants, that the best results are only 
 obtained when each species is directly infected from 
 nodules taken from the same kind of plant. 
 
 Following the discovery of Hellriegel, the Germans 
 introduced special cultures of nitrogen fixing bacteria 
 under the name of nitragin ; and in the nineties much 
 was expected of this " waistcoat pocket " fertiliser, 
 but the results were not up to expectations. Other 
 methods of preparing nitro-bacteria cultures have 
 in turn proved unreliable under field conditions. 
 Sterilise the soil, however, and have the culture fresh 
 and active and the results are often remarkable. 
 
 Nitrogen fixing bacteria in Australia. The results of 
 experiments with artificial inoculation in the various 
 States have, as a rule, been even of a more negative 
 character than in Europe or America. On the other 
 hand, every kind of leguminous crop suitable to the 
 climate seems to grow freely all over Australia and 
 to develop a profusion of nodules. In Australia, 
 there is seldom the trouble often experienced in 
 England and America in establishing lucerne, for 
 example, in districts hundreds of miles from the 
 nearest plant. There is no record, as far as the 
 
SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE 73 
 
 writer knows, of anyone finding it necessary to 
 inoculate a field with soil firom an old lucerne plot. 
 Introduced annual clovers and trefoils have spread 
 over the whole of the settled districts in all the 
 States. Peas grow almost wherever planted under 
 suitable climatic and soil conditions, and produce 
 nodules in abundance. 
 
 The writer has for some years thought that there 
 is a relation between this fact and the large variety 
 of widely distributed species of indigenous legum- 
 inous plants in Australia. The native Australian 
 flora is particularly rich in genera and species of the 
 order Leguminosae. He has dug up the roots of 
 various legumes in virgin soil in unsettled districts 
 in Western Australia, and found them so thickly 
 furnished with nodules as to be almost like bunches 
 of young grapes. This point is worthy of careful 
 study, as is also the fact that in some of the 
 dry parts of Western Australia well-water is often 
 charged with nitrates. The fact was recorded by 
 Mr. A. E. Mann, Government Analyst in 1905, and 
 it has been confirmed by analyses made by the 
 Department of Mines. It is perhaps only a coinci- 
 dence that this occurs in districts where the mulga 
 acacia scrub is the dominant vegetation, but it is not 
 recorded in eucalyptus forest country. 
 
 2. Bacteria of nitrification, or the nitric acid ferment. 
 The most important compounds of nitrogen of use 
 to plants, excepting the legumes, are the nitrates 
 which, as natural soil products, are' the result of 
 the decomposition or oxidisation of organic com- 
 pounds of nitrogen. The process of nitrification is 
 
74 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 due to micro-organisms and consists of two stages, 
 each produced by distinct organisms. The first stage 
 is the production of nitrites, which in turn change 
 into nitrates. Foi* this work the following conditions 
 are necessary. The presence of nitrifying bacteria 
 in sufficient abundance, a suitable temperature, the 
 most favourable being 98° Fah. (the minimum is 41" 
 Fah. and the maximum 131° Fah.), sufficient but not 
 too much moisture, free aeration of the soil, to 
 supply the oxygen necessary, and a base to neutralise 
 the acids simultaneously produced. It will at once 
 be noted that the above conditions are, to a very 
 large degree, fulfilled in a fallow field in our wheat 
 areas, and in our well-tilled orchards in summer. 
 The value of carbonate of lime in the soil to act as 
 a base will also be seen. 
 
 3. Denitrification. If the nitrates produced by the 
 nitrifying bacteria are not used or washed away they 
 may be attacked by organisms which carry the 
 changes further, the result being the loss of the 
 nitrogen. 
 
 Tillage and soil nitrogen. There are many points 
 not yet understood in connection with the fixation 
 of atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, and the rendering 
 of the organic compounds of nitrogen in the soil 
 available for plants, but enough is known to make 
 the following statements : 
 
 I. The fixing of atmospheric nitrogen and the 
 change of organic matter into compounds of 
 such character that the nitrogen becomes 
 available for plants, is almost, if not entirely, 
 due to the action of bacteria. 
 
SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE 75 
 
 2. Not one but many species of bacteria are in- 
 
 volved in the various processes. One kind, 
 of which there are many variations, work in 
 connection with the leguminous plants, dwell 
 in the nodules of their roots and use the 
 carbohydrates formed by the legumes for 
 their sustenance, and in return fix the atmo- 
 spheric nitrogen which is present in the soil 
 and render it available for their host plants. 
 
 3. It is now accepted as definitely proved that 
 
 certain bacteria, of which the best known 
 and probably the most effective is named 
 Azotobacter chroococcum, are capable of 
 fixing free atmospheric nitrogen without 
 association with any host plant. To do this 
 it is necessary that they have a supply of 
 some carbohydrate, which they oxidise to 
 carbon dioxide and water, and in the process 
 accumulate nitrogen in the soil. 
 
 4. To be of use to the plants, organic compounds 
 
 of nitrogen are usually, but not always, 
 oxidised to nitrates. 
 
 5. Several species of bacteria cause the decom- 
 
 position of animal and vegetable substances, 
 carrying on the work in different stages until, 
 from the organic compounds, nitric acid is 
 formed, which is seized by lime and other 
 bases in the soil, forming nitrates, which are 
 the most available form of nitrogenous plant 
 food. 
 
 6. For the work of all these useful bacteria certain 
 
 conditions of the soil are favourable or even 
 
76 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 necessary. The bacteria under notice must 
 have a plentiful supply of oxygen. There- 
 fore, good tillage is necessary to keep the 
 soil well aerated. They must have sufficient 
 moisture, light, and warmth, and here again 
 the value of tillage is of the utmost importance. 
 
 7. The valuable species of bacteria concerned in 
 
 the production of available nitrogen live 
 chiefly, if not altogether, in the upper layers 
 of soil, to a depth where light, air, and warmth 
 penetrate easily and abundantly. The most 
 favourable conditions for their development 
 are found in what is known as mellow soil. 
 Again we see the importance of tillage and 
 drainage. 
 
 8. There are species of bacteria which counteract 
 
 the work of those which are friendly to the 
 farmer. These work in water-logged soils, 
 in acid soils, and chiefly under conditions 
 which are unfavourable for good growth of 
 crops. Therefore, while good tillage and 
 drainage promote the work of friendly bac- 
 teria, the absence of drainage and bad tillage 
 promote the work of those which cause the 
 loss of nitrogen. 
 
 9. In order that the bacteria may work success- 
 
 fully soils must either be neutral or slightly 
 alkaline in their character, and there must be 
 a sufficient supply of some base with which 
 the nitric acid may combine to form nitrates. 
 The best of all materials for this purpose is 
 carbonate of lime. Therefore the farmer, and 
 
SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE 77 
 
 particularly the gardener, should see to it 
 that his land contains a suiificient supply of 
 carbonate of lime for the purpose described. 
 
 10. Organic manures, such as stable manure, fowl 
 
 manure and green manure, should not be 
 ploughed in to too great a depth. Six 
 inches is ample, because at that depth the 
 conditions above named for the working of 
 useful bacteria are most likely to be found. 
 It is best to apply these manures in winter, 
 when the stores of available nitrogen are 
 at their lowest point. Nitrate of soda or 
 sulphate of ammonia should not be applied 
 with fresh organic manures. 
 
 1 1. Nitrates are soluble, and if not used may be 
 
 leached out of the soil during the rainy 
 season. They are best applied when the 
 crop is growing. 
 Effect of heat on soil. In the wheat areas of 
 Australia the most we can say at present is that the 
 available supply of nitrogen, under the fallow system, 
 is so ample that the application of such fertilisers as 
 nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia, as a rule, 
 prove useless, and sometimes actually lower the yield 
 of wheat. Why this is so is only surmised. Very 
 little biological soil investigation has been carried 
 out in Australia. The conditions are generally 
 considered to be highly favourable to the work of 
 nitrifying bacteria and to the activity of the azoto- 
 bacter., which oxidise carbohydrates and fix atmos- 
 pheric nitrogen, and this is the explanation generally 
 given. 
 
78 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 The discoveries of Drs. E. J. Russel and H. B. 
 Hutchison, of Rothamsted, announced in the Journal 
 of Agricultural Science for October, 1 909, suggests 
 another line of thought. It has been known for 
 a long time that partially sterilising soil increases 
 its fertility. Nurserymen and gardeners first adopted 
 the practice of heating soil intended for the growing 
 of seedlings, in order to destroy the seeds of weeds 
 and various soil pests. Besides accomplishing the 
 purpose intended, it was found that the fertility 
 of the soil was very greatly increased. Drs. Russel 
 and Hutchison made a lengthy and careful study 
 in order to find the reason. Biological examination 
 of the soil showed that the sterilisation was not 
 complete. It was found that subjecting soil to a 
 moist temperature of from 130° to 140° Fah. com- 
 pletely destroyed various classes of soil life, and 
 only reduced or did not affect others. The bacteria 
 which produced ammonia were reduced in numbers 
 by the process, but as soon as the ground was cooled 
 and watered, they developed with marvellous rapidity, 
 with a corresponding increase in the ammonia 
 content of the soil, quite sufficient to account for 
 the increase in fertility. The nitrifying organisms 
 were destroyed, but it is now known that plants are 
 able to utilise ammonia compounds without their 
 being further broken down to nitrates, as was 
 formerly believed to be necessary. Higher tempera- 
 tures than those mentioned tend to increase fertility 
 by gradual decomposition of the organic matter in 
 the soil. Further investigation is in progress to 
 determine the full effect of heat on soil. These 
 
SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE 79 
 
 investigations will prove of great interest to Australian 
 farmers, who are familiar, with the rank luxurious 
 growth of wheat, oats, grass or other seed sown 
 on soil which has been subjected to intense heat 
 in the course of burning off timber in clearing the 
 land for cultivation. Often the heat is so intense 
 that practically all organic matter is burned out 
 of the soil, and, if seeds are not sown, the patch 
 usually remains bare of all vegetation except moss 
 for several seasons. When sown with wheat the 
 growth is rank, but the development of grain is 
 often very poor. The farmer describes the result as 
 " blighted." No completely satisfactory explanation 
 has been given. In such cases the sterilisation must 
 be complete, and some further cause must be sought. 
 In preparing a wheat field, the work of the tillage 
 implements would be sure to re-infect the soil, but 
 this does not apply to a severely burned patch in 
 uncultivated land. 
 
 Effect of partial steriHsation. Summed up, the two 
 significant changes produced by partial sterilisation 
 of the soil by heat are : ( i ) An increase in the 
 amount of ammonia ; (2) the cessation of the nitrify- 
 ing process. 
 
 Gradually, as the investigation proceeded, it was 
 found that in ordinary soil there are various micro- 
 scopical animal organisms belonging to the protozoa 
 family, which devour bacteria, which are classed as 
 plants. Although these protozoa organisms are 
 microscopical in size they are about one thousand 
 times as large as soil bacteria. This discovery 
 enabled the investigators to account for the rapid 
 
80 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 increase of the ammonia bacteria in the soil. Heat- 
 ing the soil simply destroyed the enemies of the 
 ammonia bacteria and allowed them a free field for 
 rapid multiplication, with corresponding increase in 
 the ammonia which they produce. Some of the 
 groups of useful bacteria suffer. Among these are the 
 nitrogen fixers. The nitrifying organisms are com- 
 pletely exterminated ; but, although nitrification is 
 shown to be an economical process in rendering 
 nitrogen compounds available to plants, it is not 
 essential, and with an increase of ammonia in the 
 soil the plant makes a corresponding rapid growth. 
 
 Soil temperatures during summer. This effect of 
 heat on soils suggests the possibility that the 
 temperatures reached during heat waves in the wheat 
 districts of Australia may be sufficient to produce 
 partial sterilisation of the soil. The data available 
 is so scanty that the utmost caution must be 
 exercised in stating such a hypothesis, but it 
 suggests that careful study should be made of soil 
 temperatures under summer conditions and their 
 relation to soil bacteria. 
 
 The observations of the Commonwealth Meteoro- 
 logical Department only record the soil temperatures 
 at depths of one foot or more below the surface, and 
 very little data is available as to the summer 
 temperatures reached in the upper layers of more or 
 less dry surface soil affected by tillage. 
 
 Professor Warington, in his book on The Physical 
 Properties of the Soil, states that, for the greatest 
 amount of solar heat to reach the earth the air 
 must not only be clear but dry. These conditions 
 
SOIL BACTERIA AND THEIR USE 81 
 
 are present over our wheat areas, and we know 
 that the surface sand of the interior becomes so hot 
 at times that even camels he down, being unable 
 to bear the heat under their feet. The Common- 
 wealth Meteorologist thinks that it is fair to assume 
 that rock surfaces in the interior may reach any- 
 thing from 160° to 200° Fah. Warington states 
 that Sir J. F. W. Herschal sunk a thermometer 
 four inches deep in South Africa, and observed 
 the temperature rise to 150° Fah. A few ob- 
 servations made by the writer show that when 
 the shade temperature was 91°, and the solar 
 reading was 145° Fah., an accurate thermometer, 
 covered half an inch with dry dark loam, read 
 150° Fah., and five inches below the surface 120° 
 Fah. A careful observer found that with a shade 
 temperature of 1 1 0° at i p.m. in a wheat district of 
 Western Australia, the soil temperature at one inch 
 was 151", at two inches 147", and between four and 
 five inches 133° Fah. 
 
 It is known to many that water in an iron service 
 pipe on the surface of the ground will become so 
 hot that when drawn from a tap one cannot keep his 
 hand in it. On February 16, 1 9 1 1 , the writer took 
 the temperature of water as drawn from an inch 
 pipe fully exposed to the sun on the north side 
 of a jarrah weather board building, and found that it 
 registered 125" Fah. It was a clear bright day, 
 but the shade temperature at the time was only 95° 
 Fah. 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 
 
 What constitutes fertility. By a fertile soil we 
 mean one which will produce good crops with 
 moderate care on the part of the farmer. It may 
 not mean great richness in plant food. This point 
 is very important in considering Australian soils. 
 Many millions of acres of soils in the interior of the 
 continent cannot be relied on to produce payable 
 crops, while large areas of comparatively poor land 
 constitute some of the most productive districts in 
 each of the States. Fertility, or the capacity for 
 profitable farming, is a complex thing, depending on 
 several well recognised factors, but it is difficult to say 
 which is the more important. The happy combina- 
 tion of the following conditions make a fertile land : 
 
 1. Climate, i.e. the regularity and the proper 
 amount of rainfall, suitable range of temperature, 
 the correct humidity of the atmosphere, prevailing 
 winds, absence of severely trying conditions, such as 
 intensely hot winds, severe frosts, gales and so forth. 
 
 2. Richness of the soil in available plant food, 
 and in the reserves which become available with 
 good farming. 
 
 3. Physical condition of the soil, i.e. ease with 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 
 
 83 
 
 which it can be worked in order to provide the most 
 favourable conditions for root action, the supply of 
 air and water to the roots and so forth. 
 
 The microscopic organic or bacterial life in the 
 soil mifjht be stated as a fourth condition, but as it 
 
 An Oat Croi- on Volcanic Soil, near Devonport, 
 Northern Tasmania. 
 
 depends on the factors previously stated, it will be 
 better to confine ourselves to the three. 
 
 It would be quite easy to mention a multitude of 
 examples where one factor is present, but its value 
 is destroyed by the absence of the other two, and it 
 would not be at all difficult to find striking examples 
 in each State where two of the conditions are very 
 
84 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 favourable, but farming is unprofitable because of 
 the absence of the third. 
 
 The maintenance of soil fertility. The building 
 up and the maintenance of the fertility of the soil 
 is perhaps the most important question which the 
 practical agriculturist has to consider. It is the 
 beginning and the end of good farming as far as 
 the land is concerned. Indeed, there is no need for 
 any qualification, because farming that does not end 
 in this is merely robbing the land, or, in other words, 
 using capital as income. Bad farming will render 
 the richest volcanic soils of Queensland, the deep 
 rich alluvials of the New South Wales rivers, the 
 productive drained swamps of the Mount Lofty 
 Ranges or the diorite soils of Northern Tasmania, 
 at least temporarily incapable of producing profitable 
 crops. On the other hand, good farming will yearly 
 increase the value of even a naturally poor farm. In 
 fact, it may be stated as a truism that, giving favour- 
 able climatic conditions, fertility is merely a question 
 of good farming. 
 
 Giving favourable climatic conditions and the 
 difference between starting farming on a rich soil and 
 on a poor one, may be compared to starting a busi- 
 ness with a good credit balance at the bank and 
 starting without reserve capital. The credit balance 
 is a great help to the good business man ; but it will 
 not save the lazy man, the spendthrift, or the bad 
 business man from failure. In the same way, a rich 
 store of natural fertility is a big help to the good 
 farmer, but it only encourages the poor farmer in his 
 bad methods. Just as the energetic good business 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 
 
 85 
 
 man makes headway in spite of his lack of capital, 
 so does the good farmer build up the fertility of his 
 farm, and after making a living and bringing up a 
 family upon it, leaves it to his son in a better 
 condition than he found it. 
 
 1 
 
 BHHI 
 
 ■■■■ 
 
 
 Mh^h^^I 
 
 ^^^HH 
 
 
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 -'^ js-^-^^M-****'^ ■' ■ ' ,_, ; ' ■':-■■ ' - ,; ; 
 
 •i^. '^^ ■ .-■■■■-? 
 
 
 ■>-'■'" . ,.c:7^. 
 
 ■' -Z^^i^^: ■ . --r^-- 
 
 
 • ' ■" ■ - . • '. ■.^'■-•'^^K %*i>i ■ 
 
 
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 j^s^^^ii': .:'■' ... ■:,'--^^: 
 
 
 A Fine Crop of Oats, Southern Victoria. 
 
 Muck is the mother of money. If the agricultural 
 student will let this lesson sink deep into his heart 
 until it becomes the controlling influence in his work, 
 he will have learned the fundamental principle of 
 scientific farming. Many of the old farms of 
 England, Scotland, France, Belgium and Germany, 
 are better than ever to-day because the work of 
 several generations of farmers has tended to build 
 up soil fertility, and the basis of improvement is the 
 
86 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 keeping of stock, combined with good tillage and all 
 that it embraces. " Muck is the mother of money," said 
 an old writer on agriculture, by muck meaning the 
 manure produced by good stock farming. Times 
 have changed, methods have improved, artificial 
 fertilisers have come to help ; but stock are still and 
 ever must be the essential factor in the maintenance 
 and improvement of the fertility of the soil. Stock 
 are part of nature's rotation. Where stock are not 
 or cannot be kept, intense farming is practically 
 impossible unless organic manure is brought from 
 elsewhere. On the extensive wheat areas of 
 Australia, intensive farming is not possible, and we 
 have to adapt our methods to our conditions, but this 
 does not alter the principles. The results obtained 
 at Roseworthy Agricultural College, and on many 
 private farms in each of the States, show clearly that 
 even in the wheat and sheep districts much can be 
 done which the average farmer considers impracticable. 
 Virgin soils. The agricultural lands of America and 
 to a lesser degree of Australia, are on the whole less 
 fertile to-day than they were when first settled as virgin 
 soils, because the tendency has been and to some 
 extent is, to treat them as mines from which a store 
 of wealth can be taken, after which they may be 
 deserted for new land. Every State in Australia has 
 witnessed the same exploiting of its stored wealth. 
 When the first settlers came the virgin soils had had 
 nothing taken from them except by the agencies of 
 water and wind. For countless ages they had pro- 
 duced vegetation which had been fed down by wild 
 animals or had rotted on the ground. True, the 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 87 
 
 black fellow had fired the country from time to time, 
 but the mineral matter went back to the porous soil 
 in the ashes, the animals died and decayed and com- 
 paratively little was lost. This accumulated richness 
 tempted the pioneer to brave no small discomforts 
 and months of peril on the ocean in miserable ships 
 and to submit to the hardships of pioneer life. 
 
 The settler came and proceeded to draw on this 
 accumulated credit balance of soil fertility in the 
 shape of wool, mutton, beef, wheat and other 
 products, and turn them into gold. Not only was 
 no attempt made to return to the soil an equivalent 
 of what was taken out, but the methods followed 
 were, and at the present time are, often thoughtlessly 
 and foolishly wasteful. The pioneer farmers abso- 
 lutely wasted much of the stored wealth, and many 
 of their successors are doing it to-day, not even 
 giving nature a fair chance to keep up the supply. 
 They used up the available plant food, robbed the 
 soil of its humus, naturally deficient in most parts of 
 Australia, quickly got the soil into bad physical 
 condition, unnecessarily destroyed the timber in a 
 ruthless, senseless fashion, allowed the running water 
 to wash away the richest of the soil, and generally 
 acted as though they neither knew nor cared anything 
 about soil fertility or future generations. It is neces- 
 sary to emphasise this, because we cannot remedy a 
 fault of which we are not conscious. 
 
 Soil is inexhaustible. Theoretically, the plant food 
 in a well constituted soil is inexhaustible, but many 
 soils are not well constituted. The mineral consti- 
 tuents of soil are derived from the decomposition of 
 
88 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 the rocks, therefore the richness of a soil depends 
 on the character of the rocks. The process of de- 
 composition is always going on. The humus comes 
 from the decay of former generations of plant and 
 animal life, and if nothing is carried away the soil 
 grows in richness. Under natural conditions this is 
 the case. Wind and water transport some of the 
 material from one place to another, forming rich 
 alluvial soils in the valleys, and carrying some to the 
 sea, but the statement will bear the closest criticism. 
 But while complete exhaustion even temporarily is 
 impossible, the examples of "worn out" farms, speak- 
 ing from the every-day practical point of view of 
 profitable working, are only too common. 
 
 Pioneer policy. Whether he had had previous ex- 
 perience of farming or not, the object and the methods 
 of the pioneer were practically the same. His object 
 was to produce marketable crops which he could ship to 
 the old world in exchange for money or its equivalent 
 in goods. The miner exploited the deposits of 
 minerals and shipped away gold, silver, copper, lead, 
 etc., the pastoralist and farmer in the roughest and 
 readiest way available, proceeded to take from the 
 soil the accumulations of phosphoric acid, potash, 
 nitrogen, and other plant foods, and ship them to 
 Europe in the form of wool, wheat, hides, tallow, 
 frozen meat, butter, wine, fruit and so forth. The 
 fertility, represented by the products consumed by 
 the people themselves, was and is still being equally 
 surely withdrawn from ithe land, and the waste is got 
 rid of through sewers of the cities or in villages and 
 on farms in the readiest way available, which is 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 
 
 89 
 
 usually the most wasteful manner possible, with no 
 thought of the fact that it represents soil wealth. 
 We are discussing the matter from an agricultural, 
 not from the point of view of social economics, and 
 looked at in this light, the methods are wasteful in a 
 high degree. 
 
 Maize for Fodder to be cut for Silage. 
 
 The pastoralist and soil fertility. Grazing is usually 
 the first use to which the lands of a new country 
 are put, and the common belief is that this enriches 
 rather than impoverishes the soil. Under a carefully 
 thought out scheme of rotation on a carefully 
 worked farm, feeding off special fodder crops and 
 laying down land to pasture undoubtedly has this 
 influence. Even allowing worn-out land to lay out 
 
90 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 in grass enables the soil to slowly accumulate a new 
 store of available plant food ; but this is not what 
 we are considering. The pioneer pastoralist started 
 with rich virgin land. His method of work was to 
 put on as much stock as the country would carry, 
 and harvest the annual crop of fat bullocks, sheep 
 or wool. Every bullock and every bale of wool re- 
 presented so much plant food taken from the soil, 
 none of which went back again in any form. John- 
 son {Agric. Chem. p. 339) states that 1000 lbs. of 
 raw merino wool yields 70-9Q lbs. of potassium car- 
 bonate and 5-6 lbs. potassium chloride and sulphate. 
 On this basis we may safely estimate that 1000 lbs. 
 of Australian wool contains half a cwt. of potash. 
 As Australia sends away over 500,000,000 lbs. of 
 wool annually, this represents some 28,000,000 lbs. 
 of potash, or an equivalent of, say, 25,000 tons of 
 commercial sulphate of potash, worth, say, ;^3po,ooo, 
 taken from the soil each year. The diiference be- 
 tween a crop of bullocks, wool or butter, and a crop 
 of wheat or potatoes, is only one of degree. 
 
 The effect of stock on vegetation. Heavy stocking 
 without tillage and fertilisation, however, does more 
 than merely withdraw the plant food represented by 
 the meat, wool, etc., sold. First, the stock eat out 
 the most attractive and nutritious plants, so that the 
 value of the pasture quickly deteriorates. From the 
 point of view of soil fertility, this is one of nature's 
 ways of guarding against depletion of the soil, 
 because nature takes no account of whether her 
 crops are, from man's point of view, weeds or not. 
 Her law is, that when excess of animal life eats out 
 
 ( I I 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 
 
 91 
 
 the fodder plants or when the soil becomes too im- 
 poverished to support short-lived, quick growing, 
 nutritious vegetation, she in due course, grows others 
 which animals will not eat or which by their slow 
 growth absorb plant food at a slower rate. These 
 often open up the subsoil slowly, carry on the 
 
 Filling a Tub-Silo. 
 
 work of soil building, and in due time plant life 
 gains the ascendency over animal. The rapidity 
 with which she works depends on climatic conditions; 
 for nature is in no hurry. Sheep and rabbits, in 
 eating out the salt-bush and other drought-resisting 
 herbage, have changed large areas of good sheep 
 pasture into howling wildernesses. The lack of an 
 
92 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 abundant supply of moisture has to be considered in 
 tiiis connection and is the governing factor in many- 
 cases where soil is still marvellously rich in plant 
 food. Left alone, nature would in due course grow 
 another crop of vegetation of some sort, possibly the 
 same, although frequently she practises a rotation in 
 such cases. In America, for example, it is found that 
 if a forest of one kind of timber be destroyed its 
 place is in time taken by another kind of tree. The 
 rapid spread of introduced weeds in Australia appears 
 to be an exemplification of this love of nature for 
 rotation. We must not follow this subject now, but 
 it may be well to give a definite illustration of the 
 statement, that the heavy stocking of the land in the 
 best humid districts of Australia has led to a very 
 complete change in the character of the vegetation. 
 Of his own knowledge, the writer could give many 
 such examples in each of five States, but one will 
 serve, and the reader will have no difficulty in finding 
 local confirmation. 
 
 How a pasture deteriorates. A few years ago the 
 writer and another bought a property in the south- 
 west of Western Australia. The title deeds showed 
 that the best blocks commanding the natural water 
 supplies had been held in fee simple for over fifty 
 years. At the time of purchase the rich alluvial 
 flats and the almost equally rich adjacent slopes 
 were in many cases covered with dense growths of 
 young eucalyptus, acacias, bracken and scrubby 
 herbage. The nutritious grasses and fodder plants 
 were largely exotics. An examination showed that 
 apart from the undergrowth of scrub and saplings 
 
FERTILITY OP THE SOIL 93 
 
 under a foot or fifteen inches in diameter, the timber 
 consisted of huge gum trees up to six and even eight 
 feet in diameter, but of these there was not an 
 average of more than two or three to the acre. Men 
 who knew the place half a century ago, soon after it 
 was first stocked, state that then the valleys were open 
 park like country with rich natural grasses " as high 
 as a horse,'' in the early summer, on which the cattle 
 throve and fattened amazingly, and in the season 
 seldom or never left the gullies and flats. When it 
 is cleared once more, broken up and brought under 
 rational cultivation with fertilisers, it proves to be as 
 marvellously productive as it was in the early days. 
 
 The process of deterioration explained. The writer 
 has investigated scores of similar examples in Western 
 Australia, South Australia, Victoria, N.S. Wales and 
 Tasmania, some extending over large areas, and, sum- 
 marised, the explanation may be thus stated : — Before 
 the advent of the settlers the ground was occupied with 
 the few big trees and the dense growth of herbage 
 against which tiny seedling trees had small chance of 
 obtaining root room, or if they did get a start they 
 would be completely destroyed by the tremendous 
 heat of the fires used by the black fellow in his 
 periodical battues on the rich lands which were the 
 haunts of the kangaroo and other game. 
 
 The native animals kept in check by the black 
 fellow could make no headway against the luxuriant 
 feed, but the settlers crowded on their cattle, and 
 they not only kept the grass down but trod in the 
 seeds of the forest trees, thus at once planting the 
 seeds and giving them room to grow. The settler as 
 
94 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 much as possible guarded against fire, but when fires 
 did occur, or were purposely started late in the season 
 to " sweeten the grass," there was not the former 
 volume of flame to entirely kill the young trees, and 
 thus the forests of young saplings and the under- 
 growth of wattles and scrub gained the mastery. 
 
 Nature rebels against overstocking and takes 
 means to counteract it. The spread of sweetbriar, 
 furze, African box thorn, blackberry, etc., in Victoria, 
 Tasmania, and other States may be considered partly 
 in the same complicated argument. 
 
 Effect of stock on the texture of clayey soils. In 
 addition to eating out the more valuable herbage, 
 stock often exercises a prejudicial and sometimes a 
 remarkably destructive effect on the texture of the 
 soil. Thus, constant treading in wet weather con- 
 solidates clayey soils, and this, with the great 
 decrease in the supply of humus, soon leads to a 
 condition unsuitable for the growth of the more 
 tender and more nutritious fodder plants. This 
 same consolidation also very materially decreases 
 the absorbing powers of the soil and causes the rain 
 water to run off the surface instead of sinking into 
 it ; and, with the water, the ashes produced by burn- 
 ing off the paddocks are also largely carried away to 
 the sea. Burning off pastures is in a general way a 
 penny wise and pound foolish custom. Every burn 
 leaves the pasture in a permanently worse condition, 
 for it not only deteriorates the physical condition of 
 the soil but it acts as a handicap to the more hardy 
 less valuable plants against the better but less robust 
 fodders. 
 
FERTILITY OF THE SOIL 
 
 95 
 
 The trampling of stock on light sandy soils 
 destroys vegetation and cuts up the surface, rendering 
 it liable to be blown away by the hot dry winds of 
 
 Prolific Growth of "Spear" or "Corkscrew" Grass. 
 The result of ring barking forest land in wheat lielt of Western Australia. 
 
 summer or washed away by heavy rains. There are 
 large areas of what was in the early days of settle- 
 ment splendid sheep country which are now moving 
 wastes of sand. There are in every State large 
 
96 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 extents of country on which pounds per acre must 
 be spent to clear the forests of saplings and thick 
 growths of scrub, and to break up the trampled soil, 
 to destroy the harsh and useless herbage prior to 
 seeding with useful fodder plants, before the land 
 can be brought back to the stock carrying value it 
 possessed when first settled. There are notable 
 exceptions, but as a general statement it may be said 
 that the pasture lands of Australia are very much 
 poorer to-day than they were when the first settlers 
 landed in each State. We are discussing soil fertility, 
 not economics, and need not do more than refer to 
 the lessened value of the pastures being represented 
 by the homes of the people and much of the wealth 
 of the cities. Neither need we do more than mention 
 the fact that some pastoral properties carry more 
 sheep now than they did in the pioneer days although 
 the soil has lost much of its virgin richness. The 
 reason is to be found in the destruction of the 
 timber to make room for pasture plants, the conser- 
 vation of water,*the fencing of the land and division 
 into paddocks, and the spread of exotic vegetation. 
 That it is less rich than when first settled is known to 
 everyone who compares the crops which may be now 
 obtained without fertilisers from land which has 
 never been cropped with those the pioneer farmers 
 obtained from similar land in the early days of 
 settlement. 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS. 
 
 What plants consist of. Before we can understand 
 the treatment of the soil it is necessary to study the 
 plant which grows in the soil, because the nutrition 
 of the plant is the object of cultivation and manuring. 
 We all know that thousands of substances come from 
 different plants, but these are all compounds which 
 are manufactured by the plant out of a very few 
 simple substances or elements. Plants have been 
 analysed ; that is, split up into their most elementary 
 substances, by many chemists very many times, and 
 it has been found that all are practically composed of 
 a very few of the elementary substances. This is 
 not surprising when we remember that chemical 
 research has demonstrated that everything on the 
 surface of the earth is composed of a little over seventy 
 substances called elements, simply because chemists 
 have not yet been able to further divide them. 
 Occasignally traces of most of these elements may be 
 found in plants, but usually only thirteen occur in 
 appreciable quantities, and of these thirteen only ten 
 are absolutely essential for plant development. 
 
 The importance of water. On an average about 8o 
 lbs. out of every lOO lbs. of green plants consist 
 
 G.A. G 
 
98 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 of water. The following may be taken as ex- 
 amples : 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Water plants and algae, from 95 to 98 
 
 Green cabbages, from 80 „ 94 
 
 Turnips, from 86 „ 93 
 
 Green maize, from - 7i » 93 
 
 Carrots, from 79 „ 90 
 
 Some woody plants may contain as low as 50 per 
 cent, of water. 
 
 We know that water is composed of two elemen- 
 tary gases called oxygen and hydrogen, in the pro- 
 portion of two parts of hydrogen to one of oxygen. 
 We therefore have two elements in the water content 
 of plants. 
 
 Dry or water-free matter. If we subject a green 
 plant to a dry atmosphere under special conditions 
 at a temperature something over the boiling point of 
 water — thstt is, over 212° F. — all the water is 
 driven off, and then we have what the chemist calls 
 dry matter, or water-free material. The ordinary 
 farmer speaks of wood, dry grass, straw, and even 
 of hay as dry, but that only means that it is air dry ; 
 in other words, that all the water which can be taken 
 out in a dry atmosphere under natural conditions has 
 been removed ; but the driest bit of wood or the 
 driest bundle of straw on the driest day in the Jiottest 
 summer will contain a considerable proportion of 
 water. Usually hay and such-like material still con- 
 tains about I 5 per cent, of water, so that if we take 
 1 00 lbs. of air-dry hay and further carefully dry it by 
 special means at a temperature of something over 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 99 
 
 212° Fall, we shall only have 8 5 lbs. of dry matter 
 left. 
 
 Field Peas — A much neglected Crop. 
 
 Note the fine growth of haulms, but poor setting of pods. In a good 
 
 crop each flower stalk should produce two pods and often three. 
 
 Carbon and carbohydrates. If we take this dry 
 matter and analyse it we find that about half of it 
 
100 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 consists of an element called carbon, a substance 
 with which all are familiar in the form of charcoal, 
 coke and plumbago, which forms the ordinary black 
 lead pencil. A diamond is carbon in a crystallised 
 form, and, given sufficient heat, it will burn as does 
 charcoal. 
 
 The remaining half of the dry matter is chiefly 
 composed of oxygen and hydrogen, which are com- 
 bined with the carbon to form the great variety of 
 substances of very great importance, called carbo- 
 hydrates, such as starch, sugar, cellulose, gum, etc. 
 The carbon is associated with the oxygen and hydro- 
 gen combined in the same proportions as in water. 
 We, therefore, see that this word carbohydrate, which 
 puzzles many beginners in the study of plant sub- 
 stances, simply means a substance that is composed 
 of carbon with the elements which constitute water. 
 We must remember, however, that they are not in 
 the form of water, but only in the same proportions. 
 Fats and vegetable acids are also composed of the 
 same three elements in different proportions. There 
 are, in fact, hundreds of substances, composed entirely 
 of these three elements, and the differences between 
 such substances as starch, sugar, gum, and oil are due 
 to the different proportions and conditions of the 
 same three elements. 
 
 Proteins or albuminoids. We are all very familiar 
 with the substances known as proteids or albuminoids, 
 of which white of an egg is an example. There are 
 very many of these, differing a great deal in their 
 appearance and character, but they are all composed 
 of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, with the addition 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 101 
 
 of nitrogen, sulphur and sometimes phosphorus. 
 These facts are stated in order to remind us of the 
 vast importance of the four elements which have been 
 named carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. The 
 nitrogen, however, although of vital importance, only 
 forms about two per cent, of the dry matter of plants. 
 Another two per cent, consists of ash, the composition 
 of which will be dealt with presently. 
 
 We, therefore, see that three elements— carbon, 
 oxygen and hydrogen — constitute about 96 per cent. 
 of the dry matter of plants, and the important element 
 nitrogen, only forms two per cent. 
 
 Charcoal. It will perhaps help us to understand 
 quite clearly the vast importance of carbon and the 
 elements of water if we recall a few common and 
 well-known facts. The farmer is perfectly familiar 
 with the fact that when he cuts green wheat he only 
 obtains, say, one ton of hay for four tons of his green 
 crop. A fruit grower is also well aware of the fact 
 that when he dries apples, grapes, or other fruit, he 
 only obtains a small weight of dry fruit from a 
 heavy weight of ripe fruit, the proportion varying with 
 different fruit and its condition. We are all also 
 familiar with the difference between the weight of a 
 piece of green wood and a piece of dry wood. We 
 also know that if we put a piece of any of these air- 
 dry substances into a confined space, where it can be 
 heated without being burned, a further greater reduc- 
 tion of weight takes place. The wood turns black, 
 and we call it charcoal, and although it is of the 
 same size as the original piece of wood it is very 
 much lighter. In converting wood into charcoal we, 
 
102 AUSTRALIAN AGEICULTUEE 
 
 in fact, drive off all constituents except the carbon 
 and the ash. We are familiar with the same in regard 
 to such substances as bread or potatoes, for we know 
 that if the oven is too hot, instead of getting a loaf 
 of bread or a roast potato, the result is a piece of 
 charcoal. Put a lump of sugar in a very hot oven 
 and precisely the same result follows, and instead of 
 the sugar we have a lump of charcoal. 
 
 Charcoal bread at Pompeii. A very interesting illus- 
 tration of the fact that by far the larger proportion of 
 all dry vegetable substances is composed of charcoal 
 or carbon may be seen in the museum of Pompeii. 
 We remember that in the year 79 A.D., Vesuvius, 
 which for centuries had been silent, suddenly became 
 active, and in the eruption which followed buried 
 the city of Pompeii many feet deep in hot cinder, 
 ashes, and mud. Under the circumstances people 
 left in a hurry. A baker had a batch of bread in 
 his oven, but left without taking it out. A fruiterer 
 had his figs and other fruits displayed in his shop 
 window. He left them there in his huny, and when 
 nearly 1800 years afterwards the city was dug out, 
 the remains of the fruit were found in their earthen- 
 ware vessels, and the baker's batch of bread was found 
 in his oven, though not just as he left it. The heat 
 had simply driven off all the water, etc., and left the 
 figs as lumps of charcoal in their natural shape, so 
 that there is no difiSculty whatever in identifying 
 them after this long lapse of time. The loaves of 
 bread, made in what is known as a cottage pattern, 
 are very much the same as baker's make now, but 
 they are simply lumps of charcoal, a substance which 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 103 
 
 is almost indestructible when kept under such con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Charcoal and ash. If we subject a lump of this 
 charcoal, whether it be obtained from wood or from a 
 loaf of bread or a fig,- to sufficient heat it burns and 
 gives out a great deal of heat in the operation. This 
 burning is merely a recombination of the carbon of 
 the charcoal with the oxygen of the air, the result 
 being the formation of an invisible heavy suffocating 
 gas, called carbonic acid gas, or carbon dioxide, in 
 which one part of carbon is combined with two parts 
 of oxygen. The nature and uses of this gas we will 
 describe later. The heat produced during the 
 combination of these two elements represents the 
 energy or heat of the sun, which was used by the 
 plant when growing, for ordinary plants can only 
 form new material for growth by using sunlight and 
 heat. When we burn coal the heat we obtain 
 simply represents the energy of the sun stored up by 
 the plants which lived perhaps a million years ago, 
 when the vegetation which formed the coal beds were 
 growing. 
 
 If charcoal is burnt we find, when all the carbon 
 is completely consumed, that there is a small quantity 
 of ash left, and the important point for us to 
 remember is that this small quantity of ash repre- 
 sents the whole of the mineral matter which the 
 plant obtained from the soil. We know how 
 important it is to have rich soil for growing our 
 potatoes, but when we burn a potato plant (top, roots, 
 and tubers), we find we have 'left only a very small 
 quantity indeed of ash, and that ash is all the 
 
104 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 potato plant obtained from the soil during its 
 growth. 
 
 The ash of plants. The ash of plants varies in 
 quantity and composition with different plants, but, as 
 we have previously mentioned, it may be stated to 
 represent on the average about two per cent, of the dry 
 material. Let us just consider for a moment what 
 this means. We have said that a cabbage may 
 consist of 94 per cent, of water, leaving only 6 lbs. 
 of dry matter out of lOO lbs. of cabbages. Of this 
 less than one per cent, is ash, which was obtained 
 from the soil. This is worth thinking over. Why 
 should it be necessary for us to apply so much 
 fertiliser to our garden land when i oo lbs. of cabbages 
 can only take about one oz. of mineral plant food ? 
 We shall see later on that, in taking up this ounce 
 of mineral matter from the soil, the cabbages drew 
 out of the soil, through their roots, over one ton of 
 water, most of which, of course, was evaporated into 
 the air. 
 
 If the small quantity of ash obtained from 
 burning the plants be analysed, it is found to 
 practically always contain nine elementary substances, 
 six only of which are absolutely essential for the 
 development of the plant. These substances are : — 
 (Essentials) : potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulphur, 
 magnesium, and a little iron. (Non-essentials that 
 are almost always present) : silicon, sodium, and 
 chlorine. 
 
 Water cultvures. A very great number of experi- 
 ments have been carried out by investigators to 
 determine what substances are absolutely necessary 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 105 
 
 for the growth of the plant. Two methods are 
 adopted. One is known as water culture, and the 
 other sand culture. The water culture is perhaps 
 the most convincing and the least free from possible 
 error. It may be described as follows : A number 
 of glass jars are taken, each one fitted with a glass 
 top through which a stem of a plant may pass, 
 but fitting closely enough to prevent the contamina- 
 tion of the water. These jars are filled to a certain 
 height with perfectly pure water, plus the substances 
 to be experimented with. One jar will have pure 
 water alone, another will have a complete plant food 
 in solution, and each of the others all but one of the 
 substances contained in the complete plant food. 
 There will be one jar without combined nitrogen, one 
 without phosphorus, another without potassium, 
 another without calcium or lime, another without mag- 
 nesium, another without iron, another without sodium, 
 another without silica, another without chlorine. 
 These will give a set of twelve jars. The nitrogen 
 used in the solutions must be nitrogen in combi- 
 nation, and the other elements are also provided 
 in soluble chemical compounds. 
 
 Necessary plant foods. Germinated seeds are then 
 taken and carefully suspended in the jars over the 
 water, so that the roots will hang into the water 
 and the stems pass up through the glass top 
 into the air. It is found that when the plant is 
 provided with the following elements in solution, it 
 will make a complete development. The necessary 
 plant foods are : nitrogen in combination, potassium, 
 phosphorus, lime, sulphur, magnesium, and a little 
 
106 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTUEE 
 
 iron. The plants growing in the jars from which 
 any one of these substances is omitted will not fully 
 develop. The one growing in the pure water dies as 
 soon as the plant food contained in the seed is 
 exhausted, others will live for varying lengths of time 
 and make varying amounts of development, but in no 
 case is development complete. Plants growing in 
 the watery solution in which the above elements are 
 complete will make a full growth and mature seeds. 
 The experiments show that, although silicon, sodium 
 and chlorine are practically always present in plants 
 often, as in the case of silica in wheat, in considerable 
 quantity, they are not essential for the development 
 of seeds. 
 
 Sterile sand cultures. If, instead of growing the 
 plants in water, we grow them in carefully prepared 
 pots, filled with pure quartz sand and watered with 
 the solutions, the same as contained in the jars above 
 mentioned, similar results are obtained. These 
 experiments demonstrate exactly what materials are 
 obtained through the roots by means of water. The 
 other essential element in the structure of a plant is 
 carbon, which is obtained from the carbonic acid gas 
 of the air through the leaves, and this can only take 
 place in the presence of sunlight, which supplies the 
 energy necessary for the process. 
 
 Carbonic acid gas, or carbon dioxide. Carbonic acid 
 gas is a combination of carbon and oxygen, one 
 portion of carbon being combined with two portions 
 of oxygen. There is less than one per cent, of it 
 usually in the atmosphere, but from this small quan- 
 tity all the charcoal of the plants of the world is 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 107 
 
 derived. All are familiar with carbonic acid gas, for 
 it is the gas which produces effervescing in baking 
 powder, lemon kali, lemonade, soda water and cham- 
 pagne. It is the gas which is produced in dough 
 when yeast is working, and the small bubbles, by 
 separating the particles of dough, make the bread 
 light. If breathed by man or animals it is suffocating. 
 When taken in moderate quantities into the stomach, 
 it is wholesome and beneficial. 
 
 When charcoal burns, the carbon of the charcoal 
 combines with the oxygen of the air and produces 
 this carbonic acid gas, or carbon dioxide. It is well 
 known that if a room which is not ventilated is heated 
 with a vessel of burning charcoal, the result is the 
 consumption of the whole of the oxygen, and the 
 death of any persons who may be in the room. 
 When the oxygen is consumed the charcoal will no 
 longer burn. 
 
 Carbonic acid gas is heavier than air, and some- 
 times accumulates in the bottoms of wells, and in 
 fermenting vats in breweries and wineries, and it is 
 always a safe precaution before entering a well or a 
 vat to lower a lighted candle. If there is an accumu- 
 lation of carbonic acid gas the candle will go out, 
 and where a candle will not burn man cannot live. 
 The difference between the price of a glass of water 
 and of soda water is entirely due to the carbonic acid 
 gas the latter contains. 
 
 How the leaves obtain their carbon. By aid of their 
 green colouring matter, which is called chlorophyll, the 
 leaves have the power in the presence of sunlight 
 of absorbing the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere 
 
108 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 and of splitting it up into carbon and oxygen. The 
 oxygen they reject, and it passes back again into 
 the air. The carbon is retained and is combined 
 with water and the mineral substances held in solu- 
 tion by the water, and from these all the compli- 
 cated substances found in plants are elaborated. 
 
 Essentials for plant growth. We therefore see that 
 the absolute essentials for ordinary plant growth are 
 water, with the seven soil plant foods previously 
 mentioned dissolved in it ; carbonic acid gas or 
 carbon dioxide and sunlight. If a plant is placed 
 in a vessel from which all the carbon dioxide has 
 been taken from the air it can make no growth 
 whatever. When carbon dioxide is introduced into 
 the vessel, growth takes place, and if a little excess of 
 this gas is added growth is more rapid than in the 
 ordinary atmosphere. 
 
 One point may be mentioned here, although it is 
 not, necessary to dwell upon it. We have mentioned 
 that the leaves take in the carbon dioxide from the 
 atmosphere, and after making use of the carbon the 
 free oxygen again passes out into the atmosphere. 
 The action of plants, therefore, tends to keep up a 
 supply of oxygen, which is so necessary for animal 
 life, and also to reduce the proportion of carbon 
 dioxide, which is injurious to animal life. It is often 
 stated that plants take in carbonic acid gas and 
 breathe out oxygen, whereas animals take in oxygen 
 and breathe out carbonic acid gas. While this 
 expresses a general fact, it should be remembered 
 that to a certain extent plants also absorb oxygen 
 and give out carbonic acid gas. This is an interest- 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 109 
 
 ing fact in connection with the physiology of plants, 
 but it is altogether overshadowed by the importance 
 of the absorption of carbon. 
 
 Osmosis. Water with its dissolved plant foods is 
 taken up by the roots of plants by the physical 
 property called osmosis. By osmosis is meant the 
 power which liquids of different density have of 
 passing through a membrane or an intervening 
 porous substance. An example may be obtained 
 by filling a pickle bottle with a solution of sugar 
 and water, and tying over the top a covering of 
 bladder. Turn the bottle upside down, and it is 
 found that the water will not run out ; but immerse 
 that bottle in another vessel containing pure water 
 and water will pass into the bottle until the bladder 
 has stretched to a very great extent, and if the sugar 
 solution is fairly strong the bladder will burst, owing 
 to the very great pressure from the inside. While 
 the water is passing into the bottle the sugar is 
 slowly passing out into the pure water outside. 
 
 This process, which is due to the fact that liquids 
 of different densities have the property of passing 
 through porous substances and mixing until they 
 become equally dense throughout, is called osmosis. 
 The water passes into the roots through the little 
 root hairs which are found only on the younger 
 portions of active or growing roots. When a plant 
 is in active growth new roots are continually grow- 
 ing, and on these are the root hairs through which 
 the water enters. The water with the plant food 
 dissolved in it passes up the stem, but not through 
 tubes or pipes, as many suppose, because the current, 
 
110 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 if it may be so called, is really from one cell to 
 another by this process of osmosis. 
 
 The importance of water to plants. \^'ithout water 
 there can be no life. We have seen that water 
 itself may constitute up to 98 per cent, of the total 
 weight ; and that of the water-free or dry substance, 
 the elements of water make up about half It is 
 onl_v when the living portions of any organism are 
 permeated with water that their vital processes can 
 be carried on. 
 
 An Irrigation Channel and Lucerne Plot being Fi.oodeli. 
 Brunswick State Farm, Western Australia. 
 
 Protoplasm is the vehicle of life. Many of the 
 secrets of the nature of protoplasm are not known. 
 When living, it is normally of a viscous thin fluid 
 consistency, and when freed from its water it either 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 111 
 
 dies or becomes perfectly inactive. In many cases, 
 as in spores and seeds, and in some drought-resisting 
 
 Sprinkler Irrigation and Vegetable Growing, Mou:.'t Loftv, 
 
 South Australia. 
 
 Within a radius of two miles of the spot shown there are hundreds ot acres 
 
 of vegetables and over forty sprinkler irrigation plants worked direct from 
 
 force pumps driven by oil engines. 
 
 plants, it may endure a considerable amount of 
 drying for a longer or shorter time. Under such 
 conditions its functions entirely cease, but in spite of 
 the drying some water is still retained. 
 
 The use of water to the plant may be thus 
 summarised : 
 
 1. It is the agent which permeates and energises 
 the plant cells. 
 
 2. It is the medium by which nutrition is carried 
 on. 
 
 3. It dissolves and is the medium through which 
 the plant absorbs the soil constituents. 
 
112 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 4. It conveys soil plant food to the leaves where 
 assimilation takes place. 
 
 5. By its transpiration or evaporation from the 
 leaves, etc., it keeps the plant cool in hot weather. 
 This evaporation leaves the mineral substances 
 behind, and the plant is thus able to accumulate 
 sufficient for its needs. Soil water is never pure, 
 but the solutions are normally very weak. When 
 the functions of a plant are active there is a constant 
 current through it. As far as is at present known, 
 the forces which produce this current are osomotic 
 pressure and capillarity. 
 
 Quantity of water rectuired by plants. The quantity 
 of water transpired by plants has been frequently 
 investigated. It varies with different plants, and the 
 conditions under which they are growing, but may 
 be said to be from 200 to 500 lbs. for each pound 
 of dry matter produced. 
 
 In South Australia and Western Australia the 
 writer has investigated authentic instances of over 
 one ton of wheaten hay having been grown with 
 from 6 to 7^ inches of rain, generally on fallow, but 
 also on stubble land. 
 
 In 1908, the rainfall from January i up to the 
 end of September, at Nangeenan, Western Australia, 
 was 875 points, of which about an inch fell in a 
 thunderstorm at the beginning of the year, leaving 
 about 7^ in. for the growing period, and this was 
 badly distributed. There was an excess in May and 
 a shortage in August and September, this shortage 
 being accompanied by most unusual frosts. Under 
 these conditions,, crops which were sown early on 
 
THE PLANT AND HOW IT GROWS 113 
 
 fallow land, so as to secure the whole of the 7^ ins. 
 of rains, yielded from one to two tons of hay to the 
 acre. The rainfall at Kellerberrin was slightly higher 
 than at Nangeenan, but the crops were about the 
 same. 
 
 On Mr. VV. Ripper's farm at Wollandra was a field of 
 Whitelock wheat, estimated to yield 25 to 30 cwt. of 
 
 A Wheat Farmer's Pioneer Home, Western Australia. 
 
 high quality hay. The crop stood from 30 ins. to 4 ft. 
 high, with clean strong growth and a lovely colour. 
 The crop was sown on March 2 5 on land which 
 carried a crop the previous year. Just before seeding 
 it was worked while dry with a disc cultivator, then 
 drilled with a bushel of seed and 56 lbs. of super- 
 phosphate. On the same farm, crops sown about the 
 same time on fallow land were considerably better 
 
 G.A. H 
 
114 AUSTRALIAN" AGRICULTURE 
 
 than the above. They were being cut for hay, and 
 in places were yielding two tons of hay to the acre. 
 
 It will be interesting to see how the theoretical 
 requirements were met by the conditions stated. On 
 account of the dry atmospheric conditions of the 
 district it will be well to allow for the maximum of 
 500 lbs. of water for i lb. of dry matter. If the air- 
 dry hay contains i 5 per cent, of water, a ton of hay 
 will contain 1904 lbs. of dry matter. An inch of rtfin 
 over an acre of land (an acre inch) is 22,640 gallons 
 and weighs 110.7 tons. Calculation shows that a 
 ton of hay does not require to use more than about 
 3.8 ins. of rain. Of course, a crop can only use part 
 of the rain that falls, even if it all enters the soil, 
 but this shows that a ton crop of hay only uses 
 about half of a 7^ in. fall, leaving the other half for 
 soil evaporation and other waste. The two-ton crops 
 referred to were growing where there was probably 
 some accumulation from higher land. 
 
TILLAGE OF THE SOIL. 
 
 Tillage embraces all the operations undertaken by 
 the farmer, fruit grower or gardener, in order to im- 
 prove the physical condition of his soil and render it 
 better fitted for the growth of crops. The lady with 
 her garden gloves and sun-hat, pottering round her 
 plants with a trowel or toy hoe, is tilling the soil, and 
 
 Henty's First Plough. 
 
 the engineer, with a big traction engine drawing 
 several gangs of heavy ploughs, is doing likewise. 
 The first tillage implement of primitive man was a 
 pointed stick, and the latest is — well, if we try to 
 name it, the statemerit will probably be wrong by the 
 time this is in print. From the pointed stick to 
 the Australian stump-jump or the American Oliver 
 plough is a long, interesting story of irregular but 
 
116 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 gradual progress, for the Egyptian fellah, the primitive 
 Turk, and the Indian native of to-day, use much the 
 same type of wooden plough as the ancient Roman 
 or Greek husbandman did. 
 
 The difference in methods of tillage of to-day, as 
 compared with ancient times, is almost entirely a 
 matter of implements. An Australian farmer, with 
 his strong team and modern plough, not only does as 
 much work in a day as would have taken many men 
 to perform in the olden time, but he does it better, 
 In spite of high wages, the Australian ploughman 
 does better work at less cost per acre than the Turk 
 who receives is. 6d. a day as wages. In the writer's 
 boyhood days, an acre was a good day's work with 
 the old narrow mould board plough and two horses. 
 To-day, the modern Oliver plough will do two acres 
 and do it better, while one man with six horses and 
 a four or five furrow plough will turn over from four 
 to seven acres, according to soil and depth. Similar 
 comparisons might be made in respect to all tillage 
 operations. 
 
 There are many tillage implements, suited for 
 every class of work under all conceivable conditions. 
 Some work the ground deeply, some turn it over, 
 while others stir the surface only ; some are specially 
 designed to cut and destroy weeds, the special 
 purpose of others is to create a soil mulch ; one 
 loosens the soil, another consolidates it. Whatever 
 the name and whatever the special design, all have 
 for their object the bringing of the soil to a more 
 perfect condition as a home for the various crops of 
 the farmer. 
 
TILLAGE OF THE SOIL 
 
 117 
 
 What tillage does. Tillage is the oldest, commonest, 
 simplest and most varied of all the operations of the 
 agriculturist ; but few of those who thus industriously 
 plough, scarify, harrow, roll, dig, rake, hoe, and so 
 forth, ever attempt to put into words the reasons for 
 their diligence. They know from experience that, 
 
 A Home-made Scrub or Mallu Rolt.er, for Crushing Scrue 
 
 PRIOR TO RuRNING. 
 
 Other things being favourable, the crop will be in 
 proportion to the wisel}' directed tillage the land 
 receives. We must not forget the qualilication 
 " wisely directed," for badly directed work may do 
 harm. No one can learn to till the soil from a 
 book, but the reason why tillage is good may be set 
 forth, and knowing wh)' enables the thoughtful man 
 to decide how. 
 
 Two points are obvious to all : 
 
118 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 1. It is necessary to stir the soil in some way to 
 make a mellow seed bed, and all know how important 
 this is in giving the plant a good start. 
 
 2. The soil must be kept free from weeds if 
 crops are to thrive. Tillage is the readiest means of 
 accomplishing this purpose. Many people, even 
 to-day, think of no other reason for stirring the soil, 
 apart from preparing the seed bed, except to keep 
 down the weeds ; but, in so doing, they do much 
 more. To such people weeds are sometimes a 
 blessing. 
 
 Tillage to conserve moisture. The orchardist usually 
 adds another reason, and so does the farmer who 
 judiciously works his fallow after rain. Cultivation 
 provides a soil mulch to retain the moisture in the 
 soil. The fruit grower has now learned this lesson 
 fairly well, and there are no better cultivated orchards 
 in any part of the world than in Australasia. For 
 all summer crops tillage for this reason is necessary. 
 W. P. Snyder, Superintendent of the Nebraska Agri- 
 cultural Experiment Station, found that the soil of a 
 maize field, which had been cultivated frequently, 
 contained 17 per cent, of moisture in the soil from 
 9 to 17 inches deep, while a part of the same field, 
 which had not been tilled, contained only 12 per 
 cent. 
 
 The writer does not know of exact moisture deter- 
 minations having been made in Australia on fallow 
 and unfallowed land in summer ; but an example of 
 a farmer's experience is, perhaps, equally striking. 
 In Western Victoria a farmer decided to put down 
 a tank or " dam " to serve two paddocks, one of 
 
TILLAGE OF THE SOIL 119 
 
 which was under well-worked fallow, and the other 
 was having its year of rest. Part of the division 
 fence was removed, and the tank was excavated half 
 in one paddock and half in the other. The work 
 was done at the end of summer, and after the first 
 few inches of surface soil the earth under the fallow 
 field was moist right down to the full depth of the 
 dam, while that under the uncultivated land was dry 
 all the way. One of the men who operated the 
 plough and scoop said they could see the difference 
 almost to a foot all the way down. What struck 
 him was the clear line of division down to six or 
 eight feet. 
 
 Deep tillage enables a stiff soil to absorb water 
 more freely and fully, and shallow surface tillage 
 prevents the loss of the water by evaporation. The 
 means by which this end is attained constitute what 
 is known as " dry farming,'' a much misunderstood 
 term which originated in parts of America where 
 the climatic conditions are very different from most 
 of the wheat areas of Australia. Reliable American 
 advice on dry farming largely applies to country 
 which is frozen in winter, and has a spring and 
 summer rainfall of from fourteen to eighteen inches. 
 What is good in it is not new ; and what is new 
 seldom applies to Australian conditions, where most 
 of the rain falls in the cool growing season. 
 
 Tillage is also necessary for its beneficial influence 
 on the useful bacteria in the soil. Modern science 
 has provided explanation for many proved agricul- 
 tural operations, but none is more interesting than 
 this. The important work performed by the micro- 
 
120 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 organic life of the soil is referred to elsewhere ; but 
 in order that the beneficial bacteria riiay thrive, the 
 soil must be warm, moist and well supplied with air. 
 If too wet, too dry, too cold or too hot, beneficial 
 bacterial action is retarded. Tillage provides the 
 favourable conditions. While the gardener is hoeing 
 potatoes to kill the weeds he is helping his myriads 
 of unseen friends to provide available plant food for 
 the plants. The original use of the word manure 
 meant to till the land, or to work it by hand, and 
 modern science shows that the operation has a signi- 
 ficance the old users never dreamed of 
 
 The only way to learn the practical operations, 
 which may be grouped under the word tillage, is by 
 working the various implements on farm, orchard or 
 garden. All that we can do is to classify the chief 
 tillage operations and outline the general purpose of 
 each. 
 
 Ploughs : their history and use. The plough is a 
 very ancient type of tillage implement, and its use 
 dates back beyond the dawn of history. The first 
 plough was a forked sapling, or tree branch. One 
 fork was cut short and sharpened ; and the other, 
 left long, formed the beam. A third formed a 
 handle, or one was lashed to the beam with thongs 
 or fibre. This crude implement, operating on virgin 
 soil, naturally friable, stirred it to a depth of a 
 few inches without inverting it, and was all that was 
 at first necessary. The tillage operations on virgin 
 soil in many parts of Australia in the early days 
 were no more thorough ; and to-day, better results 
 are often obtained from newly cleared forest land in 
 
TILLAGE OP THE SOIL 121 
 
 the wheat areas of Western AustraHa from merely 
 scratching the surface with cultivators to a depth 
 of from two to four inches, than from turning the 
 land over with a plough. Looking merely at the 
 results, without considering the reason, a visitor to 
 one of the pioneer districts recently expressed the 
 opinion that his inspection led to the conclusion that 
 " the worse the farming the better the crops." That, 
 is the danger before the settler. It is quite in 
 accord with the principles of modern agriculture 
 that such land should give better results from mere 
 surface stirring of the soil than from being well 
 ploughed. The surface is sweet, rich and friable, 
 the lower soil is not so. To turn up the under soil 
 with a plough may be compared to turning up the 
 subsoil of a fertile field. The mistake so many made 
 in the past, and others are making to-day, is to 
 think that such pioneer methods are applicable to all 
 soils, and that they can be continued. They cannot, 
 but it is interesting to carry the imagination back 
 perhaps four or five thousand years and see primitive 
 men laboriously rooting up the soil with a pointed 
 stick, and then watch the pioneer settler in Australia 
 riding behind a good team and doing similar work 
 with a modern disc or spring-tooth cultivator, scratch- 
 ing ten to fourteen acres a day, and a few months 
 later harvesting a twenty-bushel crop. It is not 
 always wise to cast reflections on the methods of 
 primitive man, any more than it is to criticise pioneer 
 work too closely. 
 
 It is stated that ploughs with iron points were 
 first used in the eleventh century. Cast iron shares 
 
122 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 were made in 1785 and chilled shares in 1805. 
 These dates are mentioned to show how recent is the 
 great development in tillage implements. Fletcher 
 states that an American farmer patented a cast iron 
 plough in 1797, but it did not become popular 
 because farmers believed that iron ploughs " poisoned 
 the land " and " caused weeds to grow." It was not 
 until the latter half of the nineteenth century that 
 plough makers began to realise that the proper func- 
 tion of a plough was to pulverise the soil. Even in 
 the writer's memory ploughing matches were popular 
 in South Australia, and the prize ploughing was 
 partly judged by the perfect inversion and unbroken 
 continuity of the furrow slice. It was pretty plough- 
 ing, but poor tillage. The great difference between 
 the plough to-day and that of a generation ago is 
 that the modern plough, of which the Oliver may be 
 taken as a type, has a broad flat share with short 
 overhanging mould-board, which so twists the furrow 
 slice that it pulverises it rather than inverts it. 
 
 Australian conditions have led to the development 
 of several special types of ploughs, the most note- 
 worthy feature of which is the stump-jump invention 
 of Mr. R. B. Smith of South Australia, in i 876, com- 
 bined with the American short pulverising mould - 
 board, broad share and multifurrow or gang principle. 
 The American disc plough, with its Australian adap- 
 tations, including the stump-jump principle, has also 
 secured a place in the favour of the Australian farmer 
 for some classes of land and for summer ploughing. 
 
 The labour question is one of such vital importance 
 that practically all Australian ploughs, as well as other 
 
TILLAGE OF THE SOIL 
 
 123 
 
 agricultural implement inventions, are the outcome of 
 a desire to lessen the number of farm hands required 
 for seeding and harvesting the large areas of crop 
 necessar}' for success under present methods of wheat 
 growing. By these inventions thoroughness is sacri- 
 ficed to area. Where this is due to the uncertainty 
 
 A Stump-Jump Plough and Team ploughing Maize Siur. 
 
 of the climate, nothing need be said ; but it is not 
 too much to say that reform is in many cases urgently 
 necessary in favour of intensive rather than extensive 
 farming. Speaking generally, but emphatically, with 
 regard to districts with regular rainfall, many farmers 
 might well learn to plough fewer acres but plough 
 better. This statement is made while fully recognis- 
 ing the fact that profit on the year's operations, not 
 the biggest yield per acre, is the business aim of the 
 
124 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTUEE 
 
 farmer ; and that the bank balance is the popular 
 measure of a farmer's success. 
 
 The objects of ploughing. The objects of ploughing 
 the land are : 
 
 1. Pulverising or crumbling the soil, to prepare a 
 
 good seed bed. This work is continued with 
 the cultivator and harrow. 
 
 2. To destroy wild plants and weeds so that the 
 
 more delicate cultivated .plants may be more 
 readily grown in their place. The plants 
 grown by farmers owe their present value 
 largely to the improvement of man during 
 many centuries. They are vigorous when 
 grown under suitable artificial conditions, but 
 from nature's point of view lack constitution. 
 They are not capable of withstanding the com- 
 petition of indigenous vegetation or vigorous 
 introduced weeds. Highly developed fodder 
 plants and old world grasses as a rule will not 
 establish themselves amid the competition of 
 natural vegetation which has secured posses- 
 sion of the land for thousands of years. Still 
 more does this apply to field and garden 
 crops. 
 
 3. Ploughing turns in the growing and dead 
 
 vegetation, stubbles and so forth, and places 
 it where it will decay and add to the organic 
 matter or humus of the soil. 
 A plough is good in proportion as it accomplishes 
 these three objects. The old style prize flat plough- 
 ing looks pretty, but the modern rougher crumbling 
 surface is better. No one plough will do equally 
 
TILLAGE OP THE SOIL 125 
 
 satisfactory work under all conditions, and therefore 
 the farmer often finds it necessary to have several. 
 The kind of plough to use depends on : ( i ) the nature 
 of the land ; (2) the time of ploughing ; (3) the object 
 of ploughing, i.e. whether to prepare a seed bed or 
 leave the ground rough and open to the influence of 
 the weather ; (4) the kind of crop to be grown. 
 
 The depth to plough. If it be desired to secure a 
 vigorous debate in any conference of farmers, no 
 better subject can be introduced than the merits of 
 deep and shallow ploughing. It is quite certain that 
 in an hour the uninitiated will become absolutely 
 confused with the contradictory evidence given and 
 the opposite opinions held by experienced and reliable 
 farmers. If the confused listener takes the trouble 
 to visit the farms of the debaters, he will find that 
 the supposed opposition does not really exist. Each 
 farmer speaks of his own experience under some 
 special conditions. The fact is no general statement 
 can be made. The old saying ran : 
 
 " Plough deep while sluggards sleep, 
 And you will have corn to sell and keep.'' 
 
 It is true enough under some conditions, but means 
 ruin under others. The depth to plough depends 
 chiefly on the nature of the soil. The nature of the 
 crop has also to be considered. Some crops feed 
 deeper than others. Ploughing, or at least stirring 
 the soil deeply for orchards and vineyards is almost 
 always advisable. The so-called heavy, i.e. clayey 
 soils, usually require deep ploughing. It may not be, 
 indeed often is not, wise to turn over even such soils 
 
126 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 deeply when first bringing them under cultivation ; 
 but sooner or later deep cultivation becomes neces- 
 sary. Experience and judgment alone can decide, 
 and this cannot be learned by reading. It is usually 
 a wise thing to at first plough new land shallow, and 
 go a little deeper every year. The subsoil sets a 
 limit to the desirable depth to plough. It may be 
 given as a sound maxim that the subsoil should be 
 stirred, but not brought to the surface. Shallow 
 soils may, however, be very gradually deepened by 
 going a little deeper now and then. Light soils do 
 not as a rule require deep ploughing, and are often 
 injured by it. It is wise to keep on the shallow side 
 and experiment with strips ploughed deeper. Per- 
 haps the whole matter may be summed up in the 
 advice to work the soil as deeply as its nature will 
 permit and, if it be shallow, persistently endeavour to 
 deepen it in order to increase the feeding area for the 
 roots of the crops to be grown. Roots of ordinary 
 plants penetrate to a depth of several feet at least, 
 but they feed mostly in the tilled soil, therefore let 
 this be as deep as circumstances will permit. 
 
 Subsoiling. Subsoiling means loosening the subsoil 
 for some inches, say, down to a foot below the ordinary 
 ploughing. Enthusiastic advocacy of subsoiling, like 
 measles, becomes epidemic at times. Much that has 
 been said of the depth to plough applies to subsoiling. 
 In some cases it cannot be advised too strongly ; in 
 others it may do more harm than good. Wherever 
 the subsoil has a tendency to be close, so that it does 
 not permit of the access of air and allow the free 
 movement of water, subsoiling is, as a rule, desirable. 
 
TILLAGE OF THE SOIL 127 
 
 The benefits in some cases are enormous. Especially 
 is it desirable to subsoil a field with a clay subsoil 
 which has been underdrained, but it is unwise to sub- 
 soil clayey soil when wet, for the result is to puddle 
 the clay and further injure its physical condition. 
 
 Draft in ploughing. The ploughman must learn by 
 ploughing. He must learn how to set his plough by 
 actual demonstration and practice. All that can be 
 done here is to show how important it is to study the 
 plough, experiment in its use, and, above all, get hints 
 from experienced, thoughtful men. Fletcher states 
 that it takes 55 per cent, of the total draft in 
 ploughing to cut the furrow slice, and 12 per cent, 
 to turn it. This leaves 33 per cent., or one-third of 
 the power used, as being absorbed in friction of the 
 plough sole and land slide. An old blunt share 
 makes ploughing as hard for three horses as a new 
 point does for two. Referring to single furrow 
 ploughs, it is stated that a plough not adjusted pro- 
 perly may require 5 O per cent, more energy to move 
 it. The use of a knife colter increases the draft, 
 while a beam wheel lessens it. The deeper a plough 
 works the less draft it requires in proportion to the 
 size of the furrow slice, i.e. it does not take twice as 
 much power to turn an eight-inch furrow as one four 
 inches deep. The wider the furrow the less the power 
 required in proportion to the soil turned. With a 
 bold mould-board a furrow may be turned two or 
 three times as wide as it is deep. There should be 
 plenty of power in front of a plough if the most econo- 
 mical and effective work is to be done. Quick 
 horses not only do more, but do better work than a 
 
128 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 slow team. The ploughman should remember that 
 a plough, fitted for its work and properly adjusted, 
 should run in the soil as though it liked being there. 
 It should not require to be held there. If it does, 
 he should not rest satisfied until he has adjusted it 
 properly. 
 
 Cultivating and harrowing. What the hoe and the 
 rake are to the gardener, the cultivator and harrows 
 are to the farmer and orchardist. The work of pul- 
 verising the soil, begun by the plough, is continued 
 by the cultivator, and finished by the harrows. Some- 
 times these operations are reversed. Under special 
 circumstances the work of these implements is supple- 
 mented by the roller. As soils and conditions vary, 
 and farmers have to prepare uncongenial soils, it 
 becomes necessary to have as great a variety of culti- 
 vators and harrows as of ploughs. Apart from the 
 work of preparing the seed bed, the cultivator and 
 harrow are necessary in the work of destroying weeds, 
 and preparing and preserving the soil mulch so 
 important for conserving moisture and promoting 
 bacterial action. It seems strange, but it is true, that 
 while good tillage, under some conditions, is propor- 
 tional to the amount of cultivation, under others, 
 working the soil is positively harmful, and, in a general 
 way, the farmer must be guided by his special con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Cultivation may be desirable, but not sufficiently 
 so to be profitable. Cultivation and harrowing should 
 not be done when the soil is too wet, or when it is 
 too dry. There is an exception to this statement. 
 When soil is very light, sandy and open, the wetter 
 
TILLAGE OF THE SOIL 129 
 
 it can be worked the better in order to consolidate 
 it. To work heavy land under such conditions 
 destroys the mechanical condition by puddling it, and 
 working it when too dry reduces the soil to dry dust, 
 so that it will not absorb water freely. In such a 
 case, unless the rain comes very gently, it will run 
 off, perhaps washing away the soil. When it does 
 become wet, it runs together, is very sticky and bakes 
 hard when drying. 
 
 It is, as a rule, wise to cultivate summer crops and 
 orchards while there is yet plenty of moisture in the 
 soil, and provide a good soil mulch. It is also wise 
 to cultivate after a summer rain, but it is, as a rule, 
 waste of energy, or positively harmful, to work dry 
 soil. It is necessary to make all these qualifications, 
 because conditions vary much in diff'erent parts of 
 Australia. Where there are summer rains, the rule 
 is to cultivate the fallow and orchards after every 
 shower ; where there are no summer rains, it may be 
 either useless or harmful to work the dry soil. 
 
 Kinds of cultivators and harrows. There are many 
 makes of cultivators and harrows, each having its 
 own special use. A cultivator may be taken as a 
 magnified harrow, and what applies to one applies to 
 the other. The various makes may be reduced to 
 four types : 
 
 1. The spike tooth harrow, which pulverises the 
 soil and at the same time compresses it. The effect 
 is different according to the set of the spikes, i.e. 
 whether they are vertical, slope forward or backward. 
 
 2. The spring tooth harrow, which lifts the soil 
 while pulverising it. 
 
130 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 3. The acme harrow, which sHces the soil and also 
 turns it or stirs it. 
 
 4. The cut away or disc rolls over and cuts the 
 soil. In addition, there is the chain harrow, which is 
 really a smoothing implement. 
 
 Implement Shed in course of Erection, ready for Thatch 
 
 There is no best harrow, just as there is no best 
 plough. Each type is best when used under the 
 conditions for which it is most suitable. It is, there- 
 fore, necessary for the buyer to know his conditions, 
 and buy the implements which will suit them best. 
 Each type has many modifications, and, unfortunately, 
 salesmen think only of selling, and not of the use 
 which the farmer has for the tool. An implement 
 which will do excellent work on a field one week 
 may be unsuitable the next, because in the interval 
 
TILLAGE OF THE SOIL 131 
 
 the soil may have become too wet or too dry for 
 its effective use. In cultivation to kill .weeds, the 
 essential point is to attack them when they are young 
 and easily destroyed. 
 
 Rolling. Few tillage operations are harder to ex- 
 plain than the use of the roller, because some of its 
 effects are contradictory. Everyone knows that the 
 grain sprouts quickest where the horses have trodden 
 when harrowing, or where the driver of the drill 
 happens to have pressed the soil over the drill line. 
 Gardeners have a practice of treading along the line 
 of newly sown seed. Every observant person has 
 also noticed that the soil looks moist in a footprint 
 of man or horse or in a wheel track. Farmers also 
 know that the surface of a rolled field looks moist 
 when a harrowed one is dry. Consolidating the soil, 
 either by trampling it or rolling it, brings the moisture 
 to the surface, where it readily evaporates and is lost 
 in the air. 
 
 Rolling cannot increase the amount of moisture 
 in the soil ; but it may hasten the germination of 
 seeds by bringing it to them. On the other hand, it 
 causes a loss of moisture by bringing it to the 
 surface, when it is readily lost by evaporation. It 
 often pays to cause this loss in order to secure the 
 benefits of quick and regular germination. Rolling 
 also increases the evaporation by producing a smooth 
 surface, over which the drying wind passes more 
 rapidly than over a rough one. Rolling light 
 soils, by compacting them, really increases their 
 capacity to hold water ; but to secure this benefit, 
 the surface must be harrowed after rolling to 
 
132 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 produce a soil mulch. This is often a desirable 
 practice. 
 
 Rolling is often desirable to crush clods and give 
 a smooth surface to permit the hay crop being cut 
 close to the ground. An additional two to four 
 inches of hay may often be saved in this way, and 
 on a crop this may mean a saving of from seven to 
 ten per cent. In rolling when too dry the lumps 
 are often merely pressed into the soil. 
 
FALLOWING. 
 
 Fallow is a period of rest. As used in Australian 
 agriculture, it means what in English farming is called 
 bare fallow. The land is ploughed in winter, culti- 
 vated in spring, before the moisture dries out of the 
 ground, and is allowed to lie, with or without further 
 cultivation, until seeding time the following autumn. 
 The amount of cultivation given to fallow by good 
 farmers, depends on various conditions of soil and 
 rainfall ; as well as the necessity for destroying weeds. 
 No positive rule can be laid down. In Western 
 Australia especially, and in the other wheat growing 
 States, when summer thunderstorms are very rare, the 
 working of the fallow in the summer is generally to 
 be condemned. To cultivate light sandy land dry 
 is seldom wise; and to work clayey land into a fine 
 powder when dry is at all times to be avoided. A 
 fine dry powdery soil absorbs rain very slowly, and, 
 when the immediate surface is wet, it swells, forming 
 a layer of soft clay, through which water will not per- 
 colate freely. The finer and dryer the surface soil, 
 the more slowly does the rain penetrate, and, if the 
 surface is undulating and the rain heavy, the water 
 quickly runs off to the lower ground, forming tiny 
 
134 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 streams of mud-charged water, which join and gather 
 force and wash first little gutters, then greater channels, 
 and, if the fall be heavy enough and the area large 
 enough, finally, great washaways or gulches. 
 
 Working fallows. Judgment is necessary in working 
 fallows, and contradictory results are not infrequent; 
 but the following principles appear to be in accord 
 with general experience: 
 
 1. Very sandy soil is best ploughed and worked 
 wet to keep it as solid as possible. The surface may 
 be broken for an inch or two in spring, but it should 
 not, as a rule, be worked in summer, especially where 
 it is liable to be blown away. 
 
 2. Heavy clay land should not be ploughed dry, 
 because it breaks into great clods which are very diffi- 
 cult to deal with. It should not be ploughed when too 
 wet, for the action of the plough sole puddles the bottom 
 of the furrow and also the furrow slice with which it 
 comes in contact. The soil does not crumble but sets 
 in long, hard clod-like masses, which resist all efforts 
 to bring them into good tilth. The farmer cannot 
 make the weather to suit him, and cannot always 
 choose the right time for ploughing his heavy land, 
 but he should do so as much as possible. The right 
 time is when the furrow slice crumbles as it turns, and 
 the earlier the fallowing is done the better. What 
 he should try to do with such land is to improve its 
 mechanical condition by the use of lime and the 
 addition of humus. 
 
 In spring, before the soil bakes, it should be worked 
 deeply with a suitable type of cultivator, to thoroughly 
 break up the furrow slices and fill up the hollow 
 
FALLOWING 135 
 
 spaces which are always formed in ploughing such 
 land. The surface should be left loose and crumbly 
 so that it will act as a soil mulch, and yet be open 
 enough to readily take in water and not run together. 
 The surface for two or three inches should be stirred 
 after rain, before it bakes, in order to maintain the soil 
 mulch and to provide the open condition for the next 
 rain. We may repeat the advice, never work such 
 soils down to dust, for that is the very best way to 
 injure the physical conditions. 
 
 3. The various types of loamy soils fill up the 
 wide range between those mentioned under i and 2. 
 Midway is the mellow loam, which gives the greatest 
 latitude in working and is the ideal soil. Writers, 
 however, do not appear to see the humour of their 
 very general recommendation to select good loamy 
 soil for nearly every crop, regardless of the fact that 
 the farmer does not make the soil, but works what 
 nature has provided, and he can only modify it within 
 certain limits. 
 
 The accepted general rule is to fallow as early in 
 the season as circumstance will permit. Before the 
 rainy season closes, work the fallow with the best type 
 of cultivator adapted for the particular class of soil. In 
 this working the object is to break up the furrow slices, 
 fill all open spaces, and so pack the soil stirred by the 
 plough, that it will be in close contact with the un- 
 moved subsoil, and will form a continuous firm but 
 sufficiently open mass through which film water 
 may move readily by what is popularly called capil- 
 larity, the meaning of which has been explained 
 elsewhere. 
 
136 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Before the moisture dries out of the soil, the sur- 
 face should be stirred with suitable light cultivators, 
 or, in light soil, with harrows, in order to provide a 
 soil mulch, so important in preventing evaporation, and 
 at the same time providing the best possible conditions 
 for the active work of the micro-organic life of the 
 soil, which produce the all-important bio-chemical 
 changes which render plant food available. 
 
 Beyond this we do not know of any benefit to be 
 derived from further working of the soil. If rain 
 falls and cakes the surface, it should, if circumstances 
 will permit, be again broken to re-establish the soil 
 mulch as quickly as possible ; but we may again re- 
 peat that the evidence seems strongly against working 
 the soil in a dry condition. The teams are better 
 resting and the men are better employed at other 
 work. 
 
 In the above notes, the soil only has been con- 
 sidered. The presence of weeds introduces another 
 self-evident factor. If weeds threaten to foul the 
 fallows and they cannot be dealt with by sheep, culti- 
 vation is necessary to destroy them. Some old sayings 
 will not bear investigation in the light of modern 
 knowledge ; but the Australian farmer is well able to 
 bear witness to the truth of the old saw : 
 
 " One year's seeding is seven j'ears' weeding." 
 
 Seeding fallows. According to accepted theory 
 seeding should not be commenced until the first good 
 rains of the season have started the weeds. The fallow 
 should then be cultivated to destroy them, the drill 
 following as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, to 
 
FALLOWING 137 
 
 attempt to carry out such a routine is practically 
 impossible over wide areas of the wheat-growing 
 country. In ordinary years, to get the seed in the 
 ground at all, it is necessary to put it in before the 
 rains. Fallow prepared as previously described is 
 ready for dry seeding, and this is another strong 
 reason for preparing the land in spring, while the 
 ground is in the proper condition for cultivation. It 
 not only conserves moisture in the ground, a matter 
 of vital importance, but prepares the seed bed. Early 
 seeding is absolutely necessary in the drier wheat areas, 
 and in districts with greater rainfall and longer seasons 
 it is also in many cases to be recommended, later 
 or longer season varieties of wheat being sown. 
 There is no practice more clearly demonstrated by 
 experience than this. Early seeding can only be 
 done well on fallow worked, as has been indicated, 
 in spring. 
 
 Seeding dry ground has been and is often con- 
 demned as wrong in principle, and few, if any, would 
 adopt it from choice ; but right or wrong, it is a general 
 practice and must continue to be, simply because it is 
 the only way by which the wheat farmer can be sure 
 to get a large area under crop. He must seed early, 
 and, if the rains do not come in time, he must sow 
 dry. While it leads to disaster at times, experience 
 has proved that the results justify the general practice, 
 and it is worth considering very briefly the principles 
 involved. 
 
 Nature's plan. Nature sows her seed on the dry 
 ground and they fall into cracks, are buried by insects, 
 trodden in by animals or covered by dust. Some- 
 
138 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 times they are adapted by nature for covering them- 
 selves, and such provisions form interesting subjects 
 for nature study. One of the most striking examples 
 is the seed of the wild geranium, widely distributed 
 over Australia. When dry, it has a long tightly-coiled 
 awn, which when moistened slowly uncurls itself. 
 The point of the seed is sharp and this twisting works 
 the seed into the ground. When the awn dries it 
 curls up again, thus twisting the seed in the opposite 
 direction and further forces it into the ground. This 
 process goes on often, as there is dew enough to pro- 
 vide the moisture, and by the time the rain comes the 
 seed is planted. The seeds of some of the corkscrew 
 and spear grasses also afford good examples of nature's 
 planting methods. 
 
 The important fact is that the wild seeds are sown 
 early, are subjected to the intense dryness and heat 
 of the summer and spring up with marvellous vigour 
 when the rains come. The seeds of cultivated crops 
 are not as hardy as those of wild plants, but self- 
 sown wheat, oats and barley, behave in the same 
 way. Then why is it wrong to follow nature and 
 seed our fallows dry ? The difficulties are : 
 
 I. Sufficient rain may fall to germinate the seeds, 
 but not enough to provide moisture for the young 
 plant. If a dry warm period follows such a light 
 rain, the seed may be wasted. Nature provides a 
 great excess, so this does not matter, but the farmer 
 whose crop is started by a light rain and is dried off 
 by a hot dry period must sow again, thus suffering a 
 double loss in seed and labour. The farmer is, how- 
 ever, always subject to similar troubles. 
 
FALLOWING 139 
 
 2. If the good rains come early the crops come on 
 with great rapidity and begin to mature too early, 
 being then liable to be caught by spring frosts, which, 
 although not common, sometimes do m.uch damage 
 to early crops. Early varieties, which it is necessary 
 to grow where the seasons are short, suffer most. 
 This difficulty can be controlled by the farmer who 
 has sheep, or who can buy them. There is much to 
 be said for and against feeding off crops with sheep 
 in dry districts, but experience appears to have 
 thoroughly demonstrated its value in the case of 
 crops which threaten to mature too soon. 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS. 
 
 The terms manure and fertiliser are used interchange- 
 ably by farmers and others throughout Australia, and 
 there does not appear to be sufficient reason to 
 attempt to change the custom. If a distinction were 
 made, the word manure would apply to natural sub- 
 stances, as farmyard manure, which supply all or 
 most of the plant foods required by crops. The term 
 fertiliser would mean such articles as superphosphate, 
 sulphate of potash and nitrate of soda, which each 
 supply one chief substance required for the nutrition 
 of plants. Any attempt to classify all the materials 
 used as manures and fertilisers under the two head- 
 ings would end in confusion. Such terms as artificial 
 manures, artificial fertilisers, commercial fertilisers, are 
 unnecessary and often misleading. 
 
 The practice of using the excrements of animals to 
 fertilise the soil is older than history ; but the 
 explanation of their effect is quite modern, dating 
 only from last century. We do not yet fully under- 
 stand, for, as A. D. Hall says : " There are many 
 beliefs and practices more or less current among 
 farmers which science has neither verified nor dis- 
 proved." Investigation is continually going on and 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 141 
 
 every year new discoveries are made. We have 
 briefly studied how the plant grows, and have dis- 
 cussed the factors which together constitute a fertile 
 soil. We have seen that actual plant food is only 
 one of these factors. Physical condition is as im- 
 portant as the chemical composition of soil. Only a 
 very small proportion of a plant is ash, but apart 
 from water this ash comprises all that the plant 
 obtains from the soil. It has been shown that water 
 is the all-important soil constituent. It is the medium 
 by which plants obtain mineral matter and combined 
 nitrogen from the soil. 
 
 Of the plant foods obtained from the soil in 
 solution only three are at all likely to be deficient in 
 any ordinary soil. Under most Australian conditions 
 these, in the order of their importance, are phosphoric 
 acid, potash and nitrogen. In some cases lime must 
 be added to the list. In English and American 
 books on agriculture, nitrogen is always placed first, 
 because the growth made by a plant, other things 
 being favourable, is dependent on the nitrogen supply, 
 and, in the Northern Hemisphere, it is usually the 
 most likely to be deficient. Nitrogen is equally 
 important for plants here as on the other side of the 
 world, but experience has proved that in the wheat 
 areas of all the States, phosphoric acid is the plant 
 food most likely to be lacking. It is the first to be 
 exhausted in our virgin lands, and crops respond to its 
 application more than to that of any other. So much 
 is this the case that when a wheat grower speaks of 
 fertiliser or manure he almost invariably means some 
 form of phosphatic manure, usually superphosphate. 
 
142 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 We shall therefore discuss phosphatic manures or 
 fertilisers first. 
 
 Phosphatic manures or fertilisers. There are four 
 types of phosphatic manure in more or less common 
 use in Australia. These are : 
 
 1 . Superphosphate. 
 
 2. Basic slag, or Thomas phosphate. 
 
 3. Bone dust. 
 
 4. Guano. 
 
 Although bone dust and guano also contain nitro- 
 gen, the object of applying all these fertilisers is to 
 supply phosphoric acid, and their value chiefly 
 depends : 
 
 1. On the percentage of this substance which 
 
 they contain. 
 
 2. On its availability, or the way it is combined 
 
 with the other substances in the fertiliser. 
 
 3. On the soil conditions and nature of the crop. 
 The Fertiliser Acts of the various States are not 
 
 quite uniform, but usually make it compulsory that a 
 seller of phosphatic manure shall supply the buyer 
 with a certificate of analysis stating the percentage of 
 water of soluble phosphoric acid, citrate soluble phos- 
 phoric acid, and acid soluble (often termed insoluble) 
 phosphoric acid it contains. In England, the law is 
 slightly different, and provides for the seller giving an 
 invoice stating the percentage of soluble phosphates. 
 In Australia, it is the custom of sellers of superphos- 
 phate, when making sales and in marking the bags, 
 to follow the English practice, because, expressed in 
 this way, the figures are bigger. This leads to con- 
 fusion in the mind of the farmer, and it is necessary 
 
MANURES ANT) FERTILISERS 143 
 
 to try and make the meaning of these terms as clear 
 as possible. 
 
 Phosphoric acid. When a piece of ordinary stick 
 phosphorus is burned it gives rise to dense white 
 fumes, which are a combination of two parts of phos- 
 phorus with five parts of oxygen, the chemical formula 
 being PjOg. This is what the analyst refers to as 
 " phosphoric acid." It does not exist in such a state 
 in nature ; but is found in combination with various 
 other substances. 
 
 Phosphate of lime. So far as manures are concerned, 
 the combination is practically always with lime, and 
 is known as phosphate of lime. The typical phos- 
 phate of lime, which is the starting point of phos- 
 phatic manures, is a combination of one part of 
 phosphoric acid (PgOj) with three parts of lime (CaO). 
 Add together PgOj and 3 CaO and we get CagPjOg, 
 which is called tri-calcium phosphate, or commonly 
 simply phosphate of lime. 
 
 This tri-calcium phosphate is found in various forms. 
 The most familiar is bones, which contain from 43 
 to 5 1 per cent, of phosphate of lime. Certain 
 minerals, known as phosphatic rock, contain varying 
 proportions, up to over 80 per cent., of phosphate of 
 lime. 
 
 In every 310 parts of phosphate of lime there are 
 142 parts of phosphoric acid. If we divided the 
 310 by 142 we get 2.18 ; and, if we divide any per- 
 centage . of phosphate of lime by this number, we 
 obtain the percentage of phosphoric acid. If, on the 
 other hand, we multiply the percentage of phosphoric 
 acid by 2.18 we find its equivalent in phosphate of 
 
144 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 lime. If a manure dealer offers for sale a fertiliser 
 which he guarantees to contain 43.6 per cent, phos- 
 phate of lime, it is the same as if he said it contained 
 20 per cent, of phosphoric acid. The reason for a 
 salesman using the bigger number is apparent, but it 
 will become clearer later on. 
 
 Bones as manure. Bones were the first form of 
 phosphatic manure to be used in agriculture, and for 
 a long time they were the only form. It is impossible 
 to say when they were first used, but they were in 
 common use in some parts of England in the latter 
 end of the eighteenth century; and, early in the nine- 
 teenth, bones began to be imported from the Continent 
 of Europe. For use, they were broken up into half 
 and quarter inch fragments. Bones are still one of 
 the most valuable forms of phosphatic manure, and 
 are prepared by being first steamed and then ground 
 as finely as possible and sold as bone dust, bone meal, 
 bone flour, etc. 
 
 Raw bones are not uniform in composition. The 
 bones of different animals vary. Even in the same 
 animal, the solid heavy bones differ from the light 
 ones. Bones used in the manufacture of bone dust 
 also vary according to the treatment they have re- 
 ceived. For these reasons the composition of bone 
 dust is variable. Raw bones consist of a mineral 
 framework of tri-calcium phosphate, with some car- 
 bonate of lime. This framework comprises about 
 half of the weight of the bone, the rest being water, 
 fat and nitrogenous compounds forming cartilage. If 
 a bone be burned the mineral matter alone is left. 
 If it be soaked in nitric acid the animal or organic 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 145 
 
 matter is left. This is an experiment every student 
 should try. 
 
 In making bone dust or bone meal, the bones are 
 first steamed under pressure in special vats to extract 
 the fat. They are then dried and ground as finely as 
 possible. Fine grinding is, however, difficult, unless 
 the steaming is done at a pressure of over 60 lbs. to 
 the square inch to extract the glue. Such highly 
 steamed bones make a fine bone meal with up to 60 
 per cent, of tri-calcium phosphate, but only from i to 
 1.5 per cent, of nitrogen. Ordinary pure bone meal, 
 from which the fat only has been removed, should 
 contain from si to 5 per cent, of nitrogen, and from 
 say 4.6 to over 50 per cent, of tri-calcium phosphate 
 of lime (equivalent to, say, 21 to 22 per cent, of 
 phosphoric acid). 
 
 Ground bone charcoal is used as a purifier in the 
 manufacture of sugar, and is afterwards sold as a 
 phosphatic fertiliser, under the name of bone black. 
 The supply is limited and the composition variable. 
 It may contain from 32 to 36 per cent, of phosphoric 
 acid and a little nitrogen, and is a slow acting manure. 
 
 When bones are burned the organic matter, 
 including the nitrogen, is lost, but all the phosphate 
 of lime is left in a form which can readily be crushed. 
 It is a wasteful way of treating bones, but it is of 
 value in the home garden. Bone ash may contain 
 from 27 to 36 per cent, of phosphoric acid in what 
 is called the insoluble form. It is valuable material 
 to add to the garden compost heap where the fermen- 
 tation promotes the availability of the phosphoric acid. 
 
 Mineral phosphates. In various parts of the world 
 
146 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTTJRE 
 
 there are deposits of mineral phosphate of lime. One 
 form is a crystalline rocji called apatite, another con- 
 sists of nodules of varying sizes called coprolites. 
 Others are in the form of beds of material, in appear- 
 ance much like the common travertine limestone, so 
 common in South Australia. They were once pro- 
 bably beds of soft limestone, but the carbonic acid 
 has been more or less replaced by phosphoric acid 
 derived from guano. The percentage of phosphoric 
 acid, on which the value of the rock depends, varies 
 greatly. Among the richest are the deposits on 
 Ocean Island in the Pacific, east of New Guinea, 
 and Christmas Island, 190 miles south of Java ; and 
 it is from these places that Australia draws most of 
 her supply of phosphatic rock. Some of these beds 
 are very rich, containing about 40 per cent, phosphoric 
 acid, or over 80 per cent, of phosphate of lime. 
 Deposits of low grade phosphate of lime have been 
 found, and are worked in several parts of South 
 Australia ; and there are extensive deposits of phos- 
 phate of uncertain composition in Western Australia 
 which are likely to prove of considerable value under 
 special treatment. 
 
 The phosphate of lime in rock phosphate is 
 insoluble in pure water and weak acids, and the 
 phosphoric acid is therefore not available for plants. 
 If the rock be ground to a very fine powder and 
 applied to moist soils, the phosphoric acid does 
 become slowly available, especially in acid soils, and 
 the use of very finely ground rock phosphate is 
 increasing in America, and has been tested with good 
 results in New Zealand. The fact is mentioned, but 
 
MANUEES AND FERTILISERS 147 
 
 only careful extended experiment will show whether 
 or not ground raw phosphate is of practical value in 
 some of the wet acid soils of Australia. For our 
 wheat lands, phosphates, not readily soluble, should 
 not be purchased, because very often no appreciable 
 immediate result is seen from their application. 
 
 Superphosphate. The discovery that treating bones 
 with sulphuric acid renders the phosphate of lime 
 soluble, so that the phosphoric acid is at once avail- 
 able as plant food, was announced by Baron von 
 Liebig in 1 840 ; but Mr. (afterwards Sir) John 
 Bennet Lawes had been at work in the matter pre- 
 viously, and in 1842 he was granted a patent for 
 making superphosphate from phosphatic rock. The 
 commencement of the use of this important fertiliser 
 is therefore within the memory of old men of to-day. 
 
 Bone superphosphate. Bone superphosphate is made 
 by treating ground bones with sulphuric acid. This 
 is an unnecessary and wasteful process, because 
 ground bones are a costly material having a special 
 value of their own, and when treated the soluble 
 phosphate of lime is, as far as can be tested, identical 
 with the same material made from the cheaper rock 
 phosphate. A mixture of mineral superphosphate 
 and bone dust is often useful, but there does not 
 appear to be any sound reason for buying the more 
 costly bone superphosphate. 
 
 Mineral superphosphate. Ordinary superphosphate, 
 or mineral . superphosphate, is manufactured from one 
 of the forms of rock phosphate of lime, and its rich- 
 ness and value, when well made, depends on the 
 quality of the rock used. 
 
148 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Simply stated, the rock phosphate of lime is first 
 crushed, then ground to a fine powder. A weighed 
 amount of this fine powdered tri- calcium phosphate is 
 put into a mechanical mixer, an exactly calculated 
 quantity of dilute sulphuric acid is poured in and the 
 two are rapidly mixed. The result is a hot, sloppy, 
 sludge-like material, which is dropped or emptied into 
 a special chamber, where it solidifies as the chemical 
 combinations are completed, and is then superphos- 
 phate. The quantities of raw phosphate and acid are 
 so nicely calculated that the resulting superphosphate 
 is a friable material, easily crushed and dry enough 
 to run through a fertiliser drill. 
 
 In calculating the quantity of sulphuric acid to use, 
 a little of the tri-calcium phosphate is left undecom- 
 posed, in order to secure the necessary dryness, 
 because an excess of acid attracts moisture and pro- 
 duces a poor mechanical condition, besides being pre- 
 judicial in other ways. A free running character is a 
 most important quality from the farmer's point of view. 
 
 Reverted, or citrate soluble phosphate. The phos- 
 phate of lime left unchanged will always slowly 
 combine with some of the acid phosphate to form an 
 intermediate stage between the original tri-calcium 
 phosphate and the water-soluble mono-calcium 
 phosphate. This intermediate form is known as 
 reverted phosphate, di-calcium phosphate, or citrate 
 soluble phosphate, because, although it is insoluble 
 in water, it is soluble in ammonium citrate. 
 
 Superphosphate is valued practically for its per- 
 centage of water-soluble or mono-calcium phosphate, 
 and this, to comply with the Fertiliser Laws, must 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 149 
 
 be stated in its equivalent of phosphoric acid. All 
 samples, however, contain some reverted, or di- 
 calcium phosphate, and most also have a percentage 
 of acid soluble, or tri-calcium phosphate. The best 
 Australian manufacturers aim at producing what 
 they call a 17- 1-2 superphosphate, which means: 
 17 per cent, water soluble phosphoric acid, 
 
 1 per cent, citrate soluble phosphoric acid. 
 
 2 per cent, acid soluble phosphoric acid. 
 
 Three forms of phosphates. The three forms we 
 have mentioned, in which the phosphoric acid is 
 combined in lime, may be illustrated in this way : 
 
 1. Acid soluble or tri-calcium phosphate: 
 
 Lime] 
 
 Limel- Phosphoric acid. 
 
 LimeJ 
 In this there are 142 parts by weight of phos- 
 phoric acid, combined with 168 parts of lime. It is 
 insoluble in water, and is often called " insoluble '' 
 phosphate of lime, a term which should be dropped 
 in favour of acid soluble. 
 
 2. Mono-calcium phosphate. When sulphuric acid 
 is added to the above tri-calcium phosphate an inter- 
 change takes place. The sulphuric acid robs the 
 tri-calcium phosphate of two parts of the lime and 
 forms calcium sulphate or gypsum, while two parts of 
 water take the place of the lime so taken away. We 
 thus have : 
 
 Lime ] 
 
 Water V Phosphoric acid, 
 WaterJ 
 together with gypsum or calcium sulphate. 
 
150 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 In this there are 142 parts of phosphoric acid 
 combined with 5 6 parts of lime. The other 1 1 2 
 parts of hme are now combined with the sulphuric 
 acid, forming gypsum. This is what puzzles the 
 farmer.' He cannot understand why he cannot get 
 his phosphoric acid without so much useless 
 gypsum. He has to buy 100 lbs. of superphos- 
 phate to get about 17 lbs. of phosphoric acid. The 
 manufacturer can separate much of the useless gypsum 
 and make what is known as concentrated super or 
 double super, containing as high as 40 per cent, of 
 phosphoric acid, but it is not considered economical 
 to do so. 
 
 Roughly, it takes about one ton of dilute sulphuric, 
 acid and one ton of tri-calcium phosphatic rock to 
 make two tons of superphosphate. If, therefore, 
 the rock phosphate contained 36 per cent, of phos- 
 phoric acid, the superphosphate would only contain 
 about 18 per cent, phosphoric acid These figures 
 are only approximate, but they indicate how much 
 sulphuric acid is used in making the large quantity 
 of superphosphate used in the various States. 
 
 The chemist explains the formation of superphos- 
 phate by this equation : 
 
 Ca3P208 + 2H2S04-|-4H20 
 
 = CaH^PsOg-f 2(CaS042H20.) 
 3. Reverted, citrate soluble, or di-calciuni phosphate. 
 Soluble mono-calcium phosphate is always ready to 
 go back to its original insoluble tri-calcic form when 
 lime is available. Intermediate between the two is 
 di-calcium phosphate, in which there are two parts of 
 lime to one of phosphoric acid, thus : 
 
MAJSrURES AND FERTILISERS 151 
 
 Lime \ 
 
 Lime !- Phosphoric acid. 
 WaterJ 
 In this, for every 142 parts of phosphoric acid 
 there are 1 1 2 parts of lime. Soluble phosphate, 
 when applied to the land, quickly goes back to this 
 form, but is distributed in such a finely divided state 
 among the soil particles that it can be made use of 
 by plants. This will be referred to again. 
 The following table of factors is useful : 
 To find the equivalent of tri-calcium phosphate in 
 a given percentage of mono-calcium phosphate 
 multiply the percentage of mono-calcium phosphate 
 
 by 1.33- 
 
 To find the equivalent of tri-calcium phosphate in 
 a given percentage of di-calcium phosphate, multiply 
 the latter by 1.14. 
 
 To find the equivalent of mono-calcium phosphate 
 for a given percentage of phosphoric acid, multiply 
 by 1.65. 
 
 To find the equivalent of di-calcium phosphate 
 for a given percentage of phosphoric acid, multiply 
 by 1.9 1. 
 
 To find the equivalent of tri-calcium phosphate 
 for a given percentage of phosphoric acid, multiply 
 by 2.18. 
 
 Basic slag, or Thomas phosphate. Many iron ores 
 contain phosphorus, and the cast iron made from 
 them is useless for making steel until the phosphorus 
 is removed. This is done by a process invented by 
 Messrs. Thomas and Gilchrist. By their process the 
 furnace used for converting cast iron to steel is lined 
 
152 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 with lime, and lime and magnesia aris added to the 
 iron to form a base, with which the phosphoric acid 
 from the molten iron will readily combine, leaving 
 the iron free. The resulting slag contains varying 
 quantities of phosphoric acid from 12 up to 23 per 
 cent. Its use as a fertiliser dates from about 1885. 
 The basic slag, or Thomas phosphate, sold as a 
 phosphatic fertiliser is this slag, ground so that 80 
 per cent, passes through a sieve having 100 meshes 
 to the inch, or 10,000 holes to the square inch. 
 Fresh basic slag contains from 2 to 10 per cent, of 
 quick lime, but rarely over 6 per cent., and varying 
 quantities of iron, magnesia and other substances. 
 An average sample will contain 14 to 17 per cent, 
 of phosphoric acid. It should always be purchased 
 on its percentage of phosphoric acid. Its value 
 largely depends on the fineness of the grinding. 
 
 The exact nature of the combination of phosphoric 
 acid and lime in Thomas phosphate appears to be 
 uncertain, but it is usually stated to be four parts of 
 lime to one of phosphoric acid. All that is of im- 
 portance to the farmer is the fact that it is readily 
 soluble in weak acids such as are found in the soil, 
 and is known as citric soluble, not citrate. This little 
 distinction should be noted. As a fertiliser, it is 
 considered equivalent to the reverted or citrate soluble 
 phosphoric acid in superphosphate. It is not suitable 
 for dry country, but has special value, under moist 
 conditions, for acid soils or for soils deficient in lime. 
 It is valuable as a top dressing for pasture where there 
 is moisture enough, and it is a good fertiliser for 
 leguminous crops. 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 153 
 
 Guano. Guano is a term covering a wide range of 
 fertilising substances. It is not of very great import- 
 ance at the present time in Australia, except perhaps 
 in Western Australia, where there are still considerable 
 deposits of phosphatic guano obtained from the 
 Abrolhos and other islands of the coast, and from 
 the extensive series of limestone caves along the west 
 coast between Geraldton and Perth. Deposits of 
 phosphatic material have also been or are still worked 
 from various islands off the coast or other parts of 
 Australia, and from caves in South Australia and 
 Queensland. The value of these guanos is often 
 overstated by the sellers, the fact being ignored that 
 the phosphoric acid they contain is chiefly in the 
 tri-calcic or acid soluble form. They contain varying 
 percentages of organic nitrogen in a slowly available 
 form, and have their greatest value when used in light 
 soils inclined to be leachy. 
 
 Peruvian guano is not of very great importance in 
 Australia. The only form in the market is Ohlendorf s 
 dissolved Peruvian guano, which has been specially 
 treated to make the phosphoric acid available. The 
 composition is standardised by the addition of other 
 ingredients. It is a readily available " complete '' 
 fertiliser, somewhat expensive, but has a special value 
 for some purposes in the vegetable garden. 
 
 The use or function of phosphates. Hall says ; 
 " Just as nitrogen delays maturity by promoting 
 growth, phosphoric acid has an opposite effect, it is 
 in some way closely bound up with grain formation, 
 being always found in greater proportions in the re- 
 productive parts of the plant than elsewhere." The 
 
154 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 same authority also states that " Phosphoric acid 
 increases the proportion of grain to straw, and 
 decreases the nitrogen content of the grain," and in 
 another place "the action of phosphoric acid on the 
 plant is not confined to its ripening effect, it stimulates 
 the early development of the young seedling to a 
 remarkable extent. Both in the field and the pot 
 experiments, the phosphoric acid has a great effect 
 in promoting the formation of adventitious buds, so 
 leading to the tillering of the plant." He expresses 
 the opinion that " there can be little doubt but that 
 this explains why a phosphatic manuring has such a 
 valuable effect in establishing the plant even if the 
 gross yield is not ultimately advanced." 
 
 " It may also go to explain the extraordinary 
 results of quite small dressings of phosphoric acid 
 upon soils in Southern Australia, where a manuring 
 with half a cwt. per acre or even less, of superphos- 
 phate has been found to sometimes double the yield 
 of cereals. On analysis the soils are not rich, but 
 they show no such signal deficiency in phosphoric 
 acid as would account for the action of the manure. 
 
 " It seems niuch more likely that in a semi-arid 
 country, where the whole success of the crop depends 
 on the roots getting quickly down to the cooler and 
 moister subsoil, the stimulating action of the phos- 
 phoric acid upon the young roots becomes of the 
 utmost value." Phosphoric acid enables the wheat 
 plant to mature with a smaller supply of water than 
 is otherwise required. This fact is important in 
 connection with its use in the drier wheat areas. 
 It also appears to exert a beneficial influence on 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 153 
 
 micro-organisms of the soil which render nitrogen 
 available. 
 
 The results following the application of phosphates 
 to wheat lands have become so familiar that they 
 do not attract the same notice as they did ten or 
 twelve years ago, and striking examples are not so 
 common as they were when the use of superphos- 
 phate was becoming general from 1896 to 1900: 
 but some may be seen m all wheat growing districts 
 every year. From a mass of notes on the subject, 
 extending over fourteen seasons in four States, two 
 examples will be given, because photographs are 
 available for illustrations. 
 
 Influence of super on wheat. In November, 1905, 
 near County Peak, Western Australia, the writer took 
 a photograph illustrating the remarkable effect which 
 a small dressing of superphosphate often has in 
 Australia. The field was twenty-five acres in extent, 
 and the soil was admittedly of a poor gritty nature, 
 derived from granite, and in its original state was 
 covered with scrub, with no large trees. The field 
 was carrying its first crop. A bushel to the acre 
 of seed wheat was drilled in during the second 
 week in May, together with 56 lbs. of superphos- 
 phate. When the seed was being drilled in, the 
 manure attachment failed to act through the greater 
 part of one trip of the drill across the field. When 
 the crop was inspected the wheat was nearly ripe, 
 and the strip of unfertilised land looked like a 
 roadway across the field, so great was the difference 
 in the development of the plants. The photograph 
 illustrates the contrast fairly well. In the presence 
 
156 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 of three farmer witnesses we gathered average 
 samples of the product, from the fertilised and the 
 unfertilised land, and they were afterwards photo- 
 graphed to show the contrast. On the manured land 
 the wheat had stooled fairly well, grown well, and 
 stood between 3 and 4 ft. tall, with nice well-developed 
 
 Effect of Phosphate. 
 The centre is a strip the width of the drill. 56 lbs. per acre \v.-\s being 
 applied with a combined drill, but on this strip the fertiliser mechanism 
 failed to act. 
 
 heavy heads. The crop was estimated to }'ield from 
 16 to 20 bushels per acre. The plants on the un- 
 manured strips were weak and spindly, generally only 
 one small stem to a seed, and the heads were small 
 and poorly developed. The contrast was remarkable. 
 Eflfect of small dressings of superphosphate. \Mien 
 inspecting the crops in South Cowcowing, Western 
 
]MANURES AND FERTILISERS 
 
 157 
 
 Australia, at the end of September, 19 lo, the writer 
 was shown a remarkable example, illustrating the 
 
 The Product of an equal num- 
 ber OF GRAINS OF WhEAT WITH AND 
 
 WITHOUT Phosphate. 
 
 The effect of Phosphates. 
 
 Cowcowing, Mr. Jones' farm, 
 Western Australia. 
 
 effect of a small quantity of superphosphate on the 
 wheat crop. The field under notice comprised 200 
 
158 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 acres of land, and was cleared of timber in the 
 summer of 1907-8. 
 
 In April, 1908, the surface was scratched with a 
 spring tooth cultivator, and wheat was drilled in 
 without fertiliser. The result was a very fair crop 
 of hay, but the owner has no record of the actual 
 yield. In April, 1909, the soil was again scratched 
 with a cultivator, and drilled with seed wheat and 
 25 lbs. of superphosphate. The crop varied in 
 different parts of the iield from 18 to 27 bushels to 
 the acre. In April, 19 10, the paddock was again 
 sown, without ploughing, being merely worked with 
 a cultivator and drilled with seed and 30 lbs. of 
 superphosphate. During the operation of drilling 
 one strip, the mechanism of the fertiliser attachment 
 worked badly. The seed was sown as on the rest of 
 the field, but only a little superphosphate was 
 dropped here and there. Where the superphosphate 
 was applied, the crop on this strip was the same as 
 the average of the field, but where the fertiliser 
 missed, the plants were miserable, puny, and only 
 from 12 to 20 ins. high, whereas the rest of the field 
 was over 4 feet. In the presence of four witnesses, 
 careful average samples were taken from the ferti- 
 lised and unfertilised land. Twelve plants of each 
 are shown in the illustration. The appearance of 
 the crop indicated a yield of quite 20 bushels to the 
 acre. It will be noted that this was the third crop 
 from virgin land without ploughing the ground. It 
 is probable that the crop on the land at the time of 
 inspection was removing about 1 5 lbs. of phosphoric 
 acid to the acre, whereas the 30 lbs. of superphos- 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 159 
 
 phate supplied with the seed would only supply 
 about 5 J lbs. Yet the absence of this small 
 quantity made the remarkable difference in the crop. 
 The only explanation that can be given is that the 
 small dressing of phosphoric acid enabled the plant 
 to form a healthy root system, so that it was able to 
 secure the rest of its supplies from the reserves held 
 by the soil ; but it may be that the wonderful result 
 is due to some unknown and unsuspected effect on 
 soil bacteria, and on the reserve supply of potash in 
 the soil. 
 
 Action of various phosphatic mauiures. Mr. A. D. 
 Hall says : " In considering the action of the various 
 phosphatic manures in the field, the most important 
 factor to be taken into account is the soil, for the 
 relative value of the fertilisers will change entirely 
 with different types of soil. For example, the choice 
 between superphosphate and basic slag or bone 
 meal, as a phosphatic manure, must be determined, 
 not by their comparative solubility, but by the 
 amount of calcium carbonate in and the wetness or 
 dryness of the soil to which the fertiliser is to be 
 applied. A very large number of experiments have 
 been made to institute a comparison between these 
 fertilisers, but without resulting in any very general 
 information, just because the question is really settled 
 by those soil factors which are generally unrecorded, 
 On certain soils one or other of these manures will 
 always give the best results ; on other soils their 
 effects may be so much alike that the choice 
 between them can be settled by price alone or by 
 any consideration of convenience that may enter. 
 
160 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 " On nearly all normal soils superphosphate is 
 the most effective phosphatic fertiliser when equal 
 amounts of phosphoric acid are compared. The 
 exceptions are the light sands and gravels, very 
 deficient in carbonate of lime, peaty soils where the 
 humus is of the sour type, and all other soils that 
 have developed an acid reaction.'' 
 
 Why superphosphate is so effective. Wherever the 
 conditions are favourable, there seems little doubt 
 that superphosphate is the best form of phosphatic 
 manure to use, and in the wheat areas it is the only 
 one to be depended on. The reason is simple. 
 When the superphosphate is applied to the soil, 
 the first rains dissolve it and the solution is carried 
 through the soil, to be rapidly re-precipitated on the 
 soil particles with which it comes in contact. If 
 carbonate of lime is present, as it should be in well- 
 constituted soils, it takes the chief part in the re- 
 action, di-calcium phosphate being formed. Clay 
 also acts as a base, and the result is that every tiny 
 soil particle with which the solution comes into contact 
 receives its share of phosphoric acid. It is no longer 
 soluble in pure water, but it is available for the root 
 action of the plants. It is the wonderfully fine state 
 of subdivision and the wide distribution which gives 
 it its value. It does not appear to have ever been 
 definitely stated, but it would seem that in farm 
 practice plants obtain their supplies from the citrate 
 soluble or citric soluble forms of phosphoric acid. 
 
 Phosphoric acid not lost. The Rothamsted ex- 
 periments prove positively that in well-constituted 
 soils the soluble phosphoric acid of superphosphate 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 161 
 
 is not washed away, for so rapid is the precipitation 
 that practically none is washed into the subsoil. It 
 remains in the surface soil in a finely divided form, 
 which is readily available under the action of weak 
 acids, such as the natural solution of carbon dioxide 
 occurring in the soil. The all-important fact in con- 
 nection with the application of phosphatic fertilisers 
 is to get them thoroughly disseminated through the 
 soil. " Fine grinding and early application are the 
 two great factors in making phosphatic manures 
 available." In the use of superphosphate the im- 
 portance of having sufficient carbonate of lime in the 
 soil cannot be too strongly enforced. In the wheat 
 growing areas of Australia this is usually the case. 
 
 Roseworthy Agricultural College farm seems to 
 afford the most complete example known to the 
 writer, of the increasingly good results following the 
 consistent applications of heavy dressings of phos- 
 phatic fertilisers, over a fairly long period of years, to 
 land naturally very rich in carbonate of lime, and an 
 average rainfall of between 1 7 and 1 8 inches, rang- 
 ing from about 13 to 27 inches. Commenced by 
 Professor Custance in the early eighties, the practice 
 was continued and emphasised by Professor Lowrie, 
 and under Professor Perkins the policy has been 
 carried on with zeal, and the results, recorded with 
 that gentleman's customary methodical accuracy, in 
 reports, which, for comprehensive detail, are unique 
 on this side of the world, promising in years to come 
 to be as valuable for corresponding conditions in 
 Australia as the famous Rothamsted experiments 
 are in England. 
 
162 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 On heavy clays, especially where lime is deficient 
 and moisture abundant, and on peaty soils basic slag 
 has special value. It should be applied early, and 
 be given plenty of time to become distributed 
 through the soil. . " The choice, between basic slag 
 and superphosphate should in the main be deter- 
 mined by the soil." This, of course, is. presupposing 
 suiificient moisture. Hall says, and Australian ex- 
 perience supports the statement, " The more cal- 
 careous and loamy the soil the more effective is 
 superphosphate, but heavy soils and land, poor in 
 carbonate of lime, respond better to basic slag, and 
 on wet sour soils no other phosphatic manure should 
 be used." 
 
 On light sandy soils the less soluble forms of 
 phosphatic manures should be used. It is on these 
 soils that bone dust, which should be finely ground, 
 is specially valuable. In many cases it is advisable 
 when carbonate of lime is deficient to mix super- 
 phosphate and bone dust. The proportions will vary 
 from equal quantities to two to one either way. Hall 
 advises that super and basic slag even may at times 
 be mixed with advantage under such circumstances 
 in order to obtain a neutral manure. In making 
 these mixtures they should be left in a heap for a 
 short time for the reactions to take place, then broken 
 down to a fine powder for application to the soil. 
 He says : " This is probably the cheapest way of 
 obtaining an easily available neutral phosphate for 
 use on light arable land where superphosphate is 
 unsuitable because of the lack of carbonate of lime." 
 There is not wanting evidence to show that the above 
 
MANUEES AND FERTILISERS 163 
 
 advice is applicable to special conditions in each of 
 the Australian States, but nowhere more so than on 
 the light sandy soils of the coast districts of Western 
 Australia. 
 
 Importance of nitrogen. If we take up any book 
 on manures, written in Britain or America, we find 
 the first place given to nitrogen. Aikman says in 
 his Manures and Manuring, " Of manurial ingre- 
 dients nitrogen is by far the most important, and on 
 the presence and character of the nitrogen it contains 
 the fertility of the soil may be said to be the most 
 largely dependent." 
 
 Hall, in his most recent standard book, Fertilisers 
 and Manures, says : " Among the elements of the 
 nutrition of the plant the first place must be given 
 to nitrogen. Not only does it cost more per pound, 
 but as a fertiliser, applied to ordinary soils, it seems 
 to have a more direct and immediate effect upon the 
 plant." 
 
 The nutrition of plants is the same in Australia 
 as in the old world, and European trained agricul- 
 turists, brought out to teach the science of agriculture, 
 have usually strongly urged the importance of nitro- 
 genous manures until they learned by experience 
 that for wheat production, in what are recognised as 
 the wheat growing areas of Australia, nitrogenous 
 fertilisers, as a rule, show no results at all, and in 
 some cases are found to be positively harmful. In 
 vegetable growing and intense culture in the cooler 
 wetter districts of the various States the importance 
 of nitrogenous manures is recognised, but even under 
 such conditions not usually to the same extent as in 
 
164 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 England. In the cooler wetter farming districts the 
 value of top dressing cereal crops in early spring 
 with a nitrogenous fertiliser is well known to the more 
 advanced farmers, but the practice is not general. 
 
 What is at present known, or supposed, as to the 
 reason why nitrogenous fertilisers are not necessary 
 over vast areas of Australia is summarised in another 
 place. Combined nitrogen is equally important for 
 plant growth here as in Britain or America, and, 
 if we so far find no need to supply it in the form of ' 
 fertilisers, we have to thank nature's mysterious pro- 
 cesses for the saving. Our climate has some draw- 
 backs, especially in respect to the irregularity of the 
 rainfall in many places and the intense dry heat. 
 The nitrogen supply is one of the equally pronounced 
 beneficial features. What little we have to say about 
 nitrogenous fertilisers will apply to the cooler wetter 
 districts and to land used for intense culture, such as 
 market gardening and the raising of quick growing 
 succulent crops. Other conditions being favourable, 
 the development of plants is proportional to the 
 supply of combined nitrogen, and if that is not natur- 
 ally available it must be added. 
 
 Chief nitrogenous fertilisers. The chief nitrogenous 
 fertilisers used or available in Australia are : 
 
 1. Nitrate of soda. 
 
 2. Sulphate of ammonia. 
 
 3. The recently introduced products of electric 
 furnaces, such as nitrate of lime, calcium cyanamide, 
 or nitrolim. 
 
 4. Organic manures, such as dried blood, bone 
 manure, farmyard manure, etc. 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 165 
 
 The first three may be grouped together as quick- 
 acting nitrogenous fertilisers. 
 
 Nitrate of soda. Nitrate of soda is obtained from 
 the nitrate beds of Chili, and is sometimes called 
 Chili saltpetre, the output being over one and a 
 quarter million tons per year. Its export to England 
 dates back to about 1830. As manufactured for 
 export, the nitrate of soda of commerce contains 
 about 95 per cent, pure sodium nitrate, of which 
 about I S J per cent, is nitrogen in the form most 
 readily available for the use of plants. It is very 
 soluble in water, and is easily leached out of the soil. 
 For this reason it is best used as a top dressing, but, 
 as it will scorch or destroy green tissue, care should 
 be exercised not to allow it to come in contact with 
 the foliage of plants, unless it can be quickly and 
 completely washed off. 
 
 Nitrate of soda may be mixed with other fertilisers 
 except superphosphate, the acid of which gradually 
 liberates nitric acid, the valuable plant food consti- 
 tuent of the fertiliser. It may be mixed with super- 
 phosphate if applied to the land immediately, but 
 separate applications are preferable. 
 
 Nitrate of soda exercises two indirect influences on 
 the soil ; one beneficial and the other injurious. The 
 nitric acid is quickly made use of by the growing 
 plant, and the soda left behind acts on the insoluble 
 potash compounds in the soil and helps to render 
 them available. On the other hand, the free use 
 of nitrate of soda on heavy soils has a prejudicial 
 influence on its texture, tending to make it sticky 
 when wet and to cake hard when dry. We do not 
 
166 AUSTRALIAN AGEICULTURE 
 
 know of any trouble in this connection having yet 
 arisen in AustraHa. 
 
 As a fertiliser, special value of nitrate of soda is 
 its immediate availability. It is for this reason that 
 it exercises such a marked effect on quick growing 
 vegetables, and in a few days a top dressing will change 
 the colour of a wheat, oat or barley crop, after a cold, 
 wet winter, from a sickly yellow to healthy green. In 
 the wet, colder districts of Australia the use of this or 
 other quick acting nitrogenous fertiliser for top dressing 
 hay crops at the end of winter should be encouraged. 
 If farmers would only try the effect of such a top 
 dressing on a portion of a sickly looking yellow crop 
 in August they would realise its practical value. 
 
 Sulphate of ammonia. In Australia, sulphate of 
 ammonia is practically all obtained as a bye-product 
 from the gas and coke works. Pure sulphate of 
 ammonia contains 21.2 per cent, of nitrogen, but the 
 commercial article usually has about 20 per cent. If 
 mixed with lime it gives off ammonia gas, and it 
 should therefore never be mixed with lime or Thomas 
 phosphate. No change takes place where it is mixed 
 with superphosphate. It is the nitrogenous fertiliser 
 chiefly used by manure manufacturers in making 
 " complete " fertilisers. 
 
 For most practical purposes sulphate of ammonia 
 is equally effective as a fertiliser as is nitrate of 
 soda, and, as a given weight contains more nitrogen, 
 it is more costly per ton to buy. It is now known 
 that many plants can use nitrogen in the form of 
 ammonia, but apart from this the process of nitri- 
 fication in suitable soils is so rapid that the effect of 
 
MANURES AND PERTltlSERS 167 
 
 a dressfng of sulphate of ammonia is seen almost at 
 once. It may be used for top dressing hay crops in 
 spring in place of nitrate of soda. Mr. A. D. Hall 
 shows that one effect of the free use of sulphate of 
 ammonia is to rapidly remove carbonate of lime from 
 the soil, forming ammonium carbonate and calcium 
 sulphate, and for this reason it is not a desirable 
 fertiliser for soils deficient in lime. He recommends 
 the use of a mixture of nitrate of soda and sulphate 
 of ammonia in order that the after influence of the 
 one may neutralise that of the other. They should 
 only be mixed just prior to being used. 
 
 Nitrate of lime, etc. These new nitrogenous 
 fertilisers are hardly )'et on the Australian market. 
 European experience shows' the nitrogen they contain 
 to be about equal in its effect to sulphate of ammonia. 
 The writer has experimented with nitrate of lime as 
 a top dressing, and the results corresponded with 
 English tests. 
 
 Organic nitrogen. The nitrogen in organic sub- 
 stances has first to be broken down by soil bacteria 
 before it is available as plant food. For this reason 
 the nitrogen in bone dust, dried blood, and organic 
 manures is slow acting. When the soil is leachy and 
 the crop holds possession of the ground for a con- 
 siderable time this is an advantage. Bone dust is, 
 however, a costly form in which to supply nitrogen. 
 Organic manures should be applied to the soil in time 
 to allow of the natural changes taking place. Their 
 beneficial influence on the physical condition of the 
 soil is in their favour, and this partly explains their 
 popularity with gardeners. 
 
168 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Function of nitrogenous fertilisers. A too liberal 
 supply of nitrogen, by forcing vegetative growth, is 
 often prejudicial to crops. Many an amateur gar- 
 dener has ruined his turnip crop by trying to grow it 
 in soil too rich in nitrogen. He is at first pleased 
 with the luxuriant growth of tops, and then wonders 
 why the turnips are not correspondingly fine. Onion 
 growers sometimes fail from the same cause, and ask 
 why their onions are all tops and do not bulb well. 
 Hay growers appreciate a liberal supply of nitrogen, 
 except when it causes their crops to lodge, but the 
 wheat grower who admires his tall luxuriant crop, and 
 finds that the yield is not in proportion, not infre- 
 quently may find the cause in the too rich supply of 
 nitrogen associated either with a lack of phosphoric 
 acid or potash, or a too rapid closing in of the season, 
 preventing the final stages of development. There is 
 much to learn in this connection. An excess of 
 nitrogen is favourable to the development of fungus 
 diseases such as red rust, other conditions being of 
 course favourable, because an excess of nitrogen 
 tends to produce a late crop, with much succulent 
 foliage. 
 
 Fertilisers supplying potash. Up to 1861, when the 
 Stassfurt mines were opened up, the chief source of 
 potash was wood ashes, saltpetre or nitre of potash 
 from India, and a little sulphate of potash obtained 
 by burning kelp. With the opening of the Stassfurt 
 mines the use of potash fertilisers grew rapidly, and 
 the output is now enormous. 
 
 Four forms of potash fertilisers from Stassfurt are 
 on sale in Australia. These are sulphate of potash, 
 
MANUEES AND FERTILISERS 169 
 
 muriate (or chloride) of potash, 30 per cent, potash 
 manure, and kainit, which is a crude mixture of 
 common salt, salts of magnesia and potash. As sold 
 in Australia, sulphate of potash, which is the form 
 more generally used, contains about 50 per cent, of 
 pure potash; muriate, about 58 or 60 per cent. The 
 Fertiliser Acts require that they shall be sold with a 
 guarantee of the actual percentage of potash they 
 contain, and purchasers of these as of other fertilisers 
 should insist on this guarantee at the time the purchase 
 is made, and see that the certificate supplied with the 
 invoice agrees with the guarantee. 
 
 It should be explained that what the analyst calls 
 potash is potassium oxide (K^O), a compound which 
 does not occur in that form in nature, but is a con- 
 venient and customary means of comparison. 
 
 Influence of potash fertilisers. Apart from market 
 gardens, potato growing and orchards, the application 
 of potash fertilisers in Australia has been so small 
 that it is impossible to speak with any degree of 
 certainty as to the present need for their use. If one 
 thing more than another must be impressed on the 
 farmer, in connection with the use of manures, it is the 
 fact that only actual experiment will show whether 
 or not any particular fertiliser is necessary and profit- 
 able. In connection with wheat growing the evidence 
 indicates that the use of potash fertilisers is not so far 
 profitable. At the same time the experiments carried 
 out in New South Wales on thirty-four farms in 
 various parts of the wheat growing district in 1909 
 showed that while the use of potash made little or 
 no difference in the appearance of the crop, the yields 
 
170 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 were sufficiently increased to make the application 
 profitable. The report, as published by the Agri- 
 cultural Offices of the Potash Syndicate, Sydney, 
 states that the average of the thirty-four experiments 
 gave the following results. 
 
 1. No manure, 20 bus. 10 lb. 
 
 2. Superphosphate, 56 lbs. per acre, costing 2s. 3d., 
 
 22 bus. 36 lbs. 
 
 3. Superphosphate, 42 lbs. and sulphate of potash 
 
 14 lbs., costing 3s. 3d., 25 bus. 2 lbs. 
 
 The potash plots therefore give an average increase 
 over the superphosphate of 2 bus. 26 lbs., at a cost 
 of one shilling. One year's results are not enough 
 on which to base an opinion, but they suggest further 
 trial. The results from the " no manure " plots show 
 that both soils and seasons were good. 
 
 For potato growing, potash is recognised as being 
 generally a necessary ingredient of the fertiliser, ex- 
 cept on specially rich potato land which produces 
 heavy crops without any manure at all. In market 
 gardening, potash is also necessary for the best results. 
 Sulphate of potash is the form most generally used. 
 The use of potash by fruit growers is on the increase, 
 and experiments carried on during recent years show 
 that the application is in many places profitable, as it 
 has also proved to be in a number of instances for 
 lucerne and peas. As potash is one of the important 
 essentials for the development of plants, sooner or 
 later it will probably become necessary to use potash 
 fertilisers to maintain the supply in our wheat lands. 
 It is, of course, bad business to spend money in 
 buying and applying any manure which fails to give 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 171 
 
 a profit, and all we suggest is that farmers should 
 experiment. It is an accepted fact, based on careful 
 experiment, that in all well constituted soils, potash 
 fertilisers are not leached out of the ground. If not 
 utilised by the crop they are there for future use, but 
 no business man will spend money putting fertiliser 
 in the soil merely for future use. It is better to 
 put the money out at interest until the fertiliser is 
 required. 
 
 Speaking of the importance of potash to plants, 
 Hall says : " Enquiry goes to show that in some way 
 potash is an essential part of the mechanism of the 
 process of assimilation; when it is deficient the 
 manufacture of carbohydrates, like starch, sugar and 
 cellulose, is greatly reduced, and in practice it is the 
 crops rich in carbohydrates which are ftiost dependent 
 upon a full supply of potash." This probably explains 
 the value of potash for potatoes. Next to their effect 
 upon carbohydrate making crops, the most striking 
 action of potassic manures is their value in promoting 
 the growth of clover and all leguminous crops. 
 
 On some of the Rothamsted plots, where nitrogen 
 is applied and potash omitted, no leguminous plants 
 are to be found. This applies even where there is 
 an abundance of phosphoric acid. It is also found 
 that on the potash-starved plots the grasses fail to 
 a large extent to develop any seed. The thought 
 occurs that the richness of our indigenous vegetation 
 in genera and species of the natural order Legu- 
 minosse may be associated with the good supply of 
 potash in the soil. 
 
 Experiments also show that potash makes the 
 
172 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 plant more resistant to the attacks of fungoid 
 diseases. If the soils, in good physical condition, 
 produce good crops without potash it is waste of 
 money to apply it. If they do not, the use of potash 
 fertilisers should be tried. 
 
 Farmyard manure. Farmyard manure, which means 
 the solid and liquid excrement of all classes of farm 
 animals, together with the straw or other material 
 used for bedding and to absorb the liquids, is valu- 
 able not only because of the plant food which it 
 contains, but also because of the important influence 
 on the physical condition of the soil and the humus 
 it adds to the soil. Climatic and labour conditions 
 in Australia are not favourable to the production of 
 farmyard manure on a large scale. In no part is it 
 necessary to house stock entirely, and in only a few 
 places is partial housing needed or desirable from 
 health considerations. Rugging cows is all that is 
 necessary for dairy cattle, and the value of the 
 manure as a rule is not sufficient to induce owners 
 to stall feed even dairy cows and pay for the labour 
 involved in the proper making and saving of the 
 manure. Sheds open on the sheltered side are more 
 healthy for horses than close stables, and the dryness 
 of the climate during the greater part of the year 
 reduces the litter required for bedding to small 
 proportions. 
 
 Throughout the greater part of the farming 
 district, and especially in the so-called wheat areas, 
 it is not practicable to apply English and American 
 ideas to the farmyard manure question. In the 
 colder and wetter districts of the southern part of 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 173 
 
 Australia, from Cape Howe to the Leuwin, the con- 
 ditions are more favourable for making farmyard 
 manure, and its value is greater; but even here old 
 world practices do not apply. 
 
 It is necessary to recognise these facts, and the 
 additional one that farmyard manure, applied to 
 wheat land in the dryer areas, will cause a vigorous 
 development of straw and flag, and, as the season 
 is not long enough for slow maturing, the crops 
 " blight," and are ruined for grain. A heavy dress- 
 ing will have that effect for several seasons. But 
 when we have given full consideration to all the 
 objections, it must be acknowledged by all who 
 consider the question thoughtfully that the loss 
 throughout Australia due to the lack of care in 
 saving farmyard manure, and neglecting to use even 
 the little that is made, amounts to a huge sum every 
 year. We must be using up the reserves of organic 
 matter in the soil, and although the problem is not 
 serious at present, it should not be lost sight of 
 
 The droppings of the animals out in the paddocks 
 have their value there, and we do not desire to advo- 
 cate any practice which labour conditions render 
 unprofitable. But we do wish to urge with all the 
 emphasis possible the importance of using organic 
 manures to the fullest possible extent. The market 
 gardener requires no such advice, neither do many 
 hundreds of " old fashioned " farmers, especially in 
 the districts with a good rainfall, but the average 
 Australian has absolutely no conception of the truth 
 expressed by the old English writer, who said, 
 " Muck is the mother of money." 
 
174 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Faxmyard manure in the wheat areas. In the 
 wheat areas the amount of manure made on any 
 farm, apart from that dropped in the paddocks, is 
 comparatively small, and its direct plant food content 
 not very great. For reasons stated it must not be 
 used direct for the wheat crop, because it induces a 
 too luxuriant growth ; but even light dressings have 
 an important physical and biological effect on the 
 soil. There are always special poor portions of a 
 farm where it is highly profitable to go to consider- 
 able expense in giving a dressing of stable manure 
 for the production of hay, and the sheep feed in the 
 following season will be increased several fold. On 
 thousands of farms the stable manure is considered a 
 nuisance, and if it will blow or wash away so much 
 the better. This is radically wrong. Whatever 
 may be the precise explanation of the present abun- 
 dant supply of nitrogen, it may be safely asserted 
 that it is largely associated with the organic content 
 of the soil. This must be maintained, and it is 
 sinful waste of valuable materials to take no care 
 of the farmyard manure. We have more than 
 once laid down the principle that it is not good 
 business to apply fertilisers merely to build Up 
 soil reserves when the money may be earning 
 interest in other ways, but the maintenance and, 
 under most conditions, the increase of the organic 
 content of most Australian soils is a different matter, 
 which should on no account be neglected. Farming 
 is a business, and it is bad business to wantonly 
 waste animal manures which no chemical fertilisers 
 can replace. 
 
MANURES AM) FEETILISERS 175 
 
 The composition of farmyard manure. The excreta 
 of animals varies greatly. The solid excrement may 
 be considered as merely the undigested portions of 
 the food consumed, with variable quantities of water. 
 Rich concentrated foods produce rich manure, watery 
 foods correspondingly poor dung. The character of 
 animal droppings is also affected by various other 
 considerations. Cows in milk and young growing 
 animals take more from their food than do animals 
 in the stages of fattening. Horse and sheep manures 
 are dryer and richer than that of cows and pigs. 
 Horse manure ferments more rapidly and produces 
 greater heat than that of cows and pigs. We 
 cannot consider this matter in the same way as 
 the British farmer, because our feeding practices are 
 so different. 
 
 The liquid excrement, or urine, represents the 
 waste from the body of the portion of the food 
 which has been digested, and in soluble forms has 
 passed into the blood, being eventually excreted 
 through the kidneys as urea, uric acid, etc. Herein 
 is the great difference between the manurial value of 
 dung and urine. Dung represents the undigested 
 food, that is the portions which resisted the digestive 
 ferments of the body, and are only slowly decom- 
 posed in the soil. The urine, on the other hand, 
 consists of soluble compounds which are either avail- 
 able as plant food or require but slight changes to 
 become so. 
 
 Urine decomposes very rapidly, and under ordinary 
 conditions in most of our farmyards the larger part 
 of the nitrogen is lost by being changed into 
 
176 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 ammonia, but " as long as the liquid containing 
 the ammonium carbonate is protected from evapor- 
 ation, no loss of nitrogen will result, but the more 
 the surface is exposed to the air and the higher 
 the temperature the greater will be the amount of 
 ammonia passing off in a gaseous condition." The 
 reader will see how favourable to such loss are the 
 conditions usually found in Australian farms. Fortu- 
 nately the loss is least important where the conditions 
 are most favourable for its taking place. The more 
 manure is stirred the greaj:er the loss, and the more 
 quickly it can be applied to the land and ploughed 
 in, the greater is its fertilising value. In intense 
 farming the value of farmyard manure is altogether 
 in excess of its actual plant food content. This fact 
 is most important where the supply is scanty. It 
 adds organic matter to the soil, it increases its water 
 holding capacity and it improves the physical condi- 
 tions, which is quite as important as mere richness. 
 We can add the necessary plant food in the form of 
 chemical fertilisers, it is the biological and physical 
 influence of farmyard manure which is of so great 
 importance in Australian farming. 
 
 Analyses of farmyard manure. Even in England, 
 where making and using farmyard manure plays 
 such an important part in the yearly operations, it is 
 only possible to give an approximate average com- 
 position. In Australia no figures are possible with 
 regard to the actual plant food content of the material 
 collected about farmyards and stables. Here and 
 there a good manure pit is seen, but very rarely does 
 this contain much of the liquid excrement. 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 
 
 177 
 
 The following figures, from Mr. A. D. Hall's 
 Fertilisers and Manures, are included for reference : 
 
 Description. 
 
 Water. 
 
 Nitro- 
 gen. 
 
 Phos- 
 phoric 
 Acid. 
 
 Potash. 
 
 I. Fresh long straw manure, 
 
 66-17 
 
 •544 
 
 ■318 
 
 •673 
 
 2. No. I after rotting, 
 
 75-4 
 
 •597 
 
 •454 
 
 •491 
 
 3. Very old and short from mush- 
 
 
 
 
 
 room bed, 
 
 53-14 
 
 •80 
 
 •63 
 
 •67 
 
 4. Fresh (French data), 
 
 75 
 
 •39 
 
 •18 
 
 •45 
 
 5. Rotten „ „ 
 
 75 
 
 •50 
 
 •26 
 
 •53 
 
 6. Very old „ 
 
 79 
 
 .58 
 
 •30 
 
 •SO 
 
 7. Rothamsted average. 
 
 76 
 
 ■64 
 
 •23 
 
 •32 
 
 8. Fresh liquid manure. 
 
 98 -02 
 
 .044 
 
 •051 
 
 •355 
 
 9. Old 
 
 99-13 
 
 •026 
 
 •014 
 
 •22 
 
 10. London stable manure (straw). 
 
 70 
 
 ■62 
 
 ■48 
 
 •59 
 
 Money value of farmyard manure. It is quite 
 impossible to accurately estimate the money value 
 of farmyard manure on a basis of the plant food 
 it contains. This is true in England, where it is 
 made with care. It is doubly true in Australia, where 
 the liquids are either not saved or are evaporated. 
 Apart from this the plant food is in a different form 
 to that in the soluble fertilisers. Probably it would 
 be about right to value the nitrogen, phosphoric acid 
 and potash in a ton of good manure from a city 
 stable at from 8s. to los. But its chief value is its 
 physical and biological effect on the soil. If the soil 
 requires organic matter, stable manure is worth much 
 more than the unit value of its contents. If the soil, 
 on the other hand, is rich in organic matter and is 
 
 G.A. M 
 
178 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 sweet and mellow, stable manure may be of little 
 benefit and be hardly worth the cost of applying it, 
 but such cases are rare. There is always some 
 portion of the farm where it is needed, and for vege- 
 table growing it is invaluable, although it is not 
 uncommon to find market gardeners absolutely wast- 
 ing money over an excess of stable manure when 
 fertilisers would be cheaper and give quicker and 
 better results. A little knowledge of the principles 
 of manuring, together with a little thoughtful experi- 
 ment, would often save market gardeners big sums 
 every year. 
 
 Green manuring. By green manuring is meant the 
 growing of a crop for the purpose of ploughing it in 
 to add organic matter to the soil and improve its 
 physical condition. This practice is not at present 
 applicable to large areas of wheat lands, but it is an 
 important operation in orchard work, as well as on 
 many farms where intense cultivation is carried on. 
 
 The ploughing of land carrying a growth of weeds 
 is the most common form of green manuring in 
 Australia, and as the weeds often consist partly of 
 annual clovers and trefoils the value of this operation 
 is nearly as eifective and a great deal cheaper than 
 growing a special crop. It is thoroughly good 
 practice to sow peas, tares, burr trefoil or crimson 
 clover seed in an orchard at the end of summer, at 
 the same time applying a dressing of superphosphate 
 and potash. Where stable manure is scarce it is a 
 good practice to turn in a sod of clover and grass in 
 preparing land for potatoes. 
 
 There is no question whatever that the problem of 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 179 
 
 keeping the soil well supplied with organic matter in 
 our wheat areas is as difficult as it is important. The 
 following system is necessary for the conservation of 
 moisture as well as for the convenience of cropping 
 large areas, but it leads to the rapid exhaustion of 
 the already too scanty supply of organic matter, and 
 the problem of replacing it will have to be faced 
 sooner or later. The practical difficulties in the way 
 are great. We have already referred to the matter 
 in our discussion on farmyard manure, and have seen 
 that very little can be done in this way. The work- 
 ing conditions for growing special crops for green 
 manure is as equally impracticable under present 
 conditions. In the major portion of the wheat areas 
 the growth of summer crops is quite out of the 
 question. In districts where summer rains occur 
 with sufficient regularity, the growth of cow peas on 
 the fallows and feeding them off with sheep is a plan 
 to be recommended, but the area in Australia where 
 this can be done is comparatively small. The growth 
 of summer crops cannot be relied upon in the northern 
 and north-western part of Victoria, in the wheat areas 
 of South Australia or in many parts of New South 
 Wales, while in Western Australia they are quite 
 impracticable except under irrigation. 
 
 The only solution of the problem at present appears 
 to be the fertilising of the stubble land and the growth 
 of any suitable green crop during the years of rotation 
 when the land is not under wheat and turning in as 
 much growth as possible when fallowing the land. 
 This, of course, is burying green fodder which might 
 be used for feeding sheep, which themselves are a 
 
180 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 great assistance in maintaining the supply of organic 
 matter in the soil. 
 
 In advice on green manuring it is always recom- 
 mended that a leguminous crop should be grown, but 
 our nitrogen problem seems so perfectly simple, where 
 there is a supply of organic matter in the soil, that 
 the farmer need not trouble very much what kind of 
 green manuring crop he grows as long as he can 
 provide a supply of organic matter. As a matter of 
 fact the introduced annual clovers and trefoils, which 
 have spread over every agricultural district and grow 
 luxuriantly wherever the ground is fertilised with phos- 
 phates, seems to largely answer the question. Possibly 
 the common burr trefoil, sown before the first rains and 
 well supplied with phosphate and lime, is one of the 
 best crops to grow for green manuring in many parts 
 of Australia. The use of this plant for this purpose has 
 not been advocated so far as the writer is aware, and 
 of course its value yet remains to be proved. He 
 makes the suggestion because, of all the annual 
 clovers and trefoils, it seems to come first, make 
 the best growth in winter and early spring, is very 
 hardy, and gives a good supply of green stuff for 
 ploughing in. 
 
 How plant food is held in the soil. The farmer 
 uses superphosphate, in which the phosphoric acid is 
 in the water-soluble form, nitrate of soda, sulphate of 
 ammonia, the liquid manures from the stable are also 
 soluble in water, and so also are the potash manures 
 commonly used. It is important that we try to 
 understand what becomes of these substances when 
 they are applied to the soil, and rain follows suffi- 
 
MANURES AJSTD FERTILISERS 181 
 
 ciently heavy to percolate through the soil. Are the 
 fertilising substances washed away, if not used at 
 once, or do they remain in the soil for the future use 
 of plants when required ? This is a practical matter 
 to the agriculturist. 
 
 Elaborate experiments have been carried on by 
 various investigators at Rothamsted and elsewhere. 
 Daily analyses have been made of the drainage water 
 from heavily fertilised fields in fallow and carrying 
 crops, and the evidence seems conclusive that all well 
 constituted soils have the power of quickly taking up the 
 plant foods from the fertilisers, and of holding most of 
 them until required for the use of plants. The excep- 
 tions are ammonia compounds and nitrates. In the 
 case of phosphoric acid, no leaching takes place in 
 well constituted soils, and practically the same may 
 be said of the potash. Investigations at Rothamsted 
 showed that the phosphoric acid was not even washed ■ 
 into the subsoil, but in the case of the potash the 
 percentage in the subsoil was increased. It is recog- 
 nised that the percentage of carbonate of lime, clay 
 and humus in the soil plays an important part in this 
 connection. This point must be remembered in 
 relation to the treatment of very sandy leachy soils. 
 
 Practical bearing on phosphatic fertilisers. These 
 facts have a practical bearing on the application of 
 phosphatic and potash fertilisers. With ordinary 
 soils there is no danger of losing soluble phosphates, 
 or even of their being washed deep down into the 
 soil. The exceptions are sand and powdered silicates 
 like feldspar, for, according to Hall, these have been 
 found to possess little or no power of removing 
 
182 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 phosphoric acid from solution. Carbonate of lime 
 possesses the greatest power of fixing soluble phos- 
 phates, and next to this, red and yellow clays ; but 
 the compounds formed with clay are less available 
 for the use of plants. Therefore, if superphosphate 
 is applied liberally to soils deficient in phosphoric 
 acid, as most Australian soils appear to be, in order 
 to build up a reserve of this important plant food, it 
 is important that there be a sufficient supply of car- 
 bonate of lime in the soil with which the phosphoric 
 acid may combine. 
 
 Bearing on potash manures. To a considerable 
 extent what has been said of phosphates applies to 
 potash manures. These also may be safely applied 
 to the soil, without danger of loss, well in advance of 
 the actual needs of the crop, in order to be well 
 distributed through the soil. 
 
 Retention of nitrogen. The retention of nitrogen 
 compounds in the soil is a different problem, because 
 they are so intimately associated with bacterial life in 
 the soil. When soluble organic nitrogen compounds, 
 such as urea and ammonia salts, enter the soil in 
 solution, they are removed from solution by well 
 constituted soil, but nitrates are only slightly retained 
 when there is a flow of water through the soil. These 
 facts are illustrated practically in the case of sewage 
 farms, and in the deodorising effect of earth closets. 
 In the retention of ammonia salts the presence of 
 carbonate of lime, clay and humus play an important 
 part. When organic nitrogen compounds are changed 
 to nitrates, they are liable, unless at once used, to be 
 washed away in drainage water. 
 
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 183 
 
 Bearing these facts in mind, nitrates should only 
 be applied to the land when the plants are growing 
 and ready to use them, and they should only be 
 applied in quantities which can be used. To a lesser 
 degree the same remark applies to sulphate of 
 ammonia and such quickly changing organic nitro- 
 genous fertilisers as urea and blood manure. 
 
THE USE OF LIME IN AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Necessity for lime. The practice of applying lime 
 to agricultural land is a very old one, but as with 
 many other customs the reason why it exercises so 
 good an effect has only comparatively recently been 
 explained. In Australia, liming the land is uncom- 
 mon, and there is very little regular trade in ground 
 limestone or in ground quicklime. A considerable 
 amount of advertising has been done in advocating 
 the use of gypsum, especially in Victoria and South 
 Australia, but gypsum is not lime. Its action is in 
 many respects different, and it must not be confused 
 with lime. There is a little trade in each State in 
 quicklime and the waste from the lime kilns for use 
 on the land, but liming the land is not a recognised 
 custom in connection with Australian agriculture, 
 and its importance in connection with soil fertility is 
 hardly thought of This is greatly to be regretted. 
 
 Hall says : " Of all methods of improving the soil, 
 other than actual manuring and cultivation, none is 
 more important than the incorporation of lime." 
 Many of our soils are rich in lime, but there is ample 
 evidence to show that Australian agriculturists should 
 devote much greater attention to this matter than has 
 
THE USE OF LIME IN AGRICULTURE 185 
 
 been the custom. In some districts with regular and 
 ample rainfall, where mixed farming is carried on, 
 the use of carbonate of lime will often produce as 
 wonderful an influence as the application of super- 
 phosphate has done in wheat growing ; and where 
 superphosphate is used, the use of lime is a necessity 
 if there is not already sufficient in the soil. 
 
 Strictly speaking, lime should mean calcium oxide 
 or quicklime, such as is used by builders, but the 
 term is commonly used in a much wider sense. 
 
 Limestone. Limestone, or carbonate of lime, is 
 calcium carbonate or a combination of calcium and 
 carbonic acid. Carbonate of lime may be in the 
 form of rock, and vary much in appearance and 
 texture. Marble is almost pure carbonate of lime. 
 Limestone may have a sandstone-like appearance and 
 vary much in purity. It may be in deposits left by 
 evaporation of water charged with lime, as in the 
 cave stalactites and in the deposits of limestone 
 crusts or travertine limestone, so common over large 
 areas in many places in the various States. This 
 kind may vary from a hard rock to soft, white, 
 powdery material, varying greatly in purity through 
 the admixture of clay and sand. Any of these 
 forms is readily acted on by acid, which will cause 
 effervescing, the gas given off being carbonic acid gas, 
 the same as in soda water, for producing which the 
 pure crystalline forms are often used. 
 
 Quicklime. Quicklime, burnt lime, caustic lime, or 
 calcium oxide, are names meaning the same thing, 
 and in English and American books several other 
 terms, such as cob lime, shell lime, lump lime are 
 
186 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 applied to it. When carbonate of lime in any of 
 the forms mentioned in the previous paragraph is 
 heated strongly in a kiln the carbonic acid is given 
 off and lime oxide is left. In burning marble or 
 other forms of fairly pure carbonate of lime, about 
 44 per cent, of the weight is lost in the form of gas ; 
 or, in other words, if a limestone be very pure, one 
 ton will produce about 1 1 \ cwt. of quicklime. 
 Caustic lime has a special value for application 'to 
 heavy clay soils. 
 
 Slaked lime. Slaked lime is the combination of 
 quicklime with water. Everyone knows the pro- 
 perties of quicklime, how greedy it is for water, and 
 how it swells, becomes boiling hot, and, if too much 
 water is not used, crumbles into a fine dry powder. 
 This powder is slaked lime, or calcium hydrate, and 
 will, if the lime be pure, consist of about 76 per cent, 
 of calcium oxide and 24 per cent, of water. A ton 
 of quicklime will therefore make 26^ cwt. of slaked 
 lime, or in other words, one ton of pure limestone 
 gives about 1 1 J cwt. quicklime, and this produces 
 with water about 14! cwt. of slaked lime. The ex- 
 pansion caused by wetting quicklime in a barrel, bag, 
 or box is sufficient to burst anything but an immensely 
 strong vessel, and the heat will cause fire. As the air 
 always contains water-vapour, the only way to keep 
 quicklime is in closely-fitted air-tight drums or tins. 
 
 Air-slaked lime. It is well known how quicklime, 
 left exposed to the air, crumbles into powder. It is 
 also known that bags of quicklime begin to swell 
 when exposed to the air, and then burst. In a very 
 moist atmosphere the production of slaked lime is 
 
THE USE. OF LIME IN AGRICULTURE 187 
 
 very rapid, and in this case the product is practically 
 slaked lime as above described, but in ordinary air- 
 slaked lime this is not so, for the change is a double 
 one. Not only does the lime absorb moisture, but it 
 also takes up carbonic acid from the air, and forms a 
 mixture of slaked lime and carbonate of lime. The 
 longer it is exposed to the air the more carbonic acid 
 it absorbs, so that after lying in the air for sufficient 
 time it is simply powdery carbonate, having lost all its 
 caustic qualities. This is precisely what takes place 
 in the soil. Quicklime and slaked lime are not found 
 in nature. They are prepared from carbonate of lime 
 and revert back to it. Their use in agriculture 
 is chiefly a matter of convenience. Carbonate of 
 lime is what the soil specially requires. 
 
 Calcium sulphate, or gypsum. Gypsum, or calcium 
 sulphate, is quite a different mineral from calcium 
 carbonate or common limestone. It is not lime. In 
 the carbonate we have seen that the oxide of the 
 metal calcium is the base combined with carbonic 
 acid. In gypsum the same base is combined with 
 sulphuric acid. When we heat the carbonate we get 
 quicklime, but when we do the same with gypsum, 
 we drive off water and get Plaster of Paris. 
 
 A great deal of confusion exists about the value 
 of gypsum to the farmer. It is valuable in certain 
 cases, but, as may be seen from its composition, it 
 cannot be used as a substitute for lime. Its action 
 is different. It will serve as a supply of calcium as 
 plant food and it acts chemically on various substances 
 in the soil, in some cases setting free potash, and 
 making it available for plant food. In America; 
 
188 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 gypsum is known as land plaster. It is used con- 
 siderably in some places for clover lands, but the 
 point we wish to strongly emphasise is that when 
 farmers are advised to lime the land, gypsum is not 
 the substance referred to. It is not and cannot take 
 the place of carbonate of lime. One point more may 
 be mentioned, and that is, when gypsum is used, it 
 should be applied in the form of a fine powder, i.e. 
 flour gypsum, and not sand or crystal gypsum. The 
 finer the material the greater its value, provided the 
 composition is good. Natural flour gypsum or ground 
 gypsum should be used, not burned gypsum. 
 
 Why lime is applied to the land. The next step is 
 to consider the objects sought in applying lime to the 
 soil. As in most other matters of practical agriculture, 
 modern science has only explained the reason for 
 doing things which agriculturalists have done for 
 unknown centuries. Sometimes the understanding of 
 the reason suggests the accomplishment of the object 
 by more simple means, and this is the case with lime, 
 but even then it is practical experiment alone which 
 determines the matter. The application of marl, 
 shell sand, chalk, limestone, quicklime, etc., has been 
 practised in almost every country where agriculture 
 has progressed from the most remote periods of 
 history. Theories have from time to time been ad- 
 vanced to explain the reason for the benefits known 
 to be derived, and many of these have been shown to 
 be absurd, but the simple fact remains, that the 
 application of carbonate of lime in one form or 
 another produces beneficial results under various con- 
 ditions, and modern science has explained why. 
 
THE USE OF LIME IN AGRICULTURE 189 
 
 It is now generally recognised that the action of 
 lime in producing better crops is indirect. Calcium 
 is a necessary constituent of plants, but it is very 
 seldom that there is not enough in the soil in one 
 form or another for this purpose. 
 
 Physical and chemical action. i. Lime may serve 
 a useful and valuable purpose in altering the physical 
 character of soil. This is explained elsewhere. 
 
 2. It acts chemically in setting free other plant 
 food, such as potash, etc. It may even, according to 
 Hall, act in some cases as a liberator of phosphoric 
 acid from phosphates of iron and alumina. 
 
 3. It is necessary as a base to satisfy the require- 
 ments of such fertilisers as sulphate of ammonia and 
 superphosphate. The retention of ammonium salts is 
 dependent on the presence of both calcium carbonate 
 and of clay and humus in the soil. In this connection 
 A. D. Hall says : " Only carbonate of lime, or 
 quicklime and slaked lime, which promptly become 
 carbonate of lime when incorporated with the soil, 
 are capable of acting as the required base." 
 
 4. Carbonate of lime corrects the acidity of soils, 
 and the result of this chemical action is to make the 
 soil a more congenial home for the micro-organisms 
 which act on organic matter, changing the complex 
 nitrogen compounds into nitrates, and at the same 
 time it affords the necessary base for the formation of 
 the new compounds which are available as plant food. 
 This is one of its most important functions. 
 
 Lime and micro-organisms. The processes of decay 
 of organic matter in soil are really slow methods of 
 combustion or oxidation. These processes give rise 
 
190 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 to the formation of acids, and all know that it is a 
 common thing to speak of swamp soils rich in 
 vegetable matter as sour. 
 
 But a soil need not be swampy to gi-ve an acid 
 reaction, and, as a matter of fact, whenever there is 
 a considerable amount of organic matter or humus in 
 a wet soil, acids are formed,, and the presence of an 
 available, easily attacked base, is necessary for their 
 fixation as a preliminary to the oxidation work of the 
 soil bacteria. The process is complex because the 
 work itself is done by the micro-organisms, and when 
 these by their work have created an acid condition, 
 the soil is no longer congenial to their existence. 
 Carbonate of lime affords the necessary base, and leads 
 to the more rapid decay of organic matter and the 
 consequent release of plant food. 
 
 Mr. A. D. Hall says, referring of course to English 
 conditions, which in this case we think will apply 
 here : " The use of artificial manures generally demands 
 an increased rather than a lessened attention to the 
 periodical liming of the land." If, however, the farmer 
 or gardener uses lime to hasten the process of oxidi- 
 sation of the humus of his soil, he must not neglect 
 to keep up the supply. This can be done by the use 
 of stable manure or the ploughing in of some kind 
 of vegetable matter, whether it be weeds, stubble, 
 green crops, or pasture. The increased supply of 
 roots, resulting from the big crops grown on limed 
 land, helps to keep up the supply of humus. 
 
 Applying lime. We are now in a position to discuss 
 the application of lime. It will be seen that car- 
 bonate of lime is the natural article, but, as a rule, it 
 
THE USE OP LIME IN AGRICULTURE 191 
 
 is in the form of rock which cannot be economically 
 applied to the land. To be useful the lime must be 
 in the form of a powder, the finer the better. Marl 
 can be applied as dug, and is good where available. 
 Beds of soft carbonate are often fairly pure, and can 
 be readily reduced to a fine powder, and are there- 
 fore valuable to the farmer. It cannot be too clearly 
 understood that the value of a lime material to the 
 agriculturist depends on its richness in carbonate of 
 lime, and agricultural lime should be sold on analysis 
 the same as fertilisers. 
 
 Ground carbonate of lime. It is amply proved by 
 experiments carried out by the Agriculture Depart- 
 ment of the Lancaster County Council, and recorded 
 in the Journal of the Board of Agriculture, January, 
 1907, that ground carbonate of lime is "easier to 
 handle, and involves less labour than does ordinary 
 quicklime," and as " compared with ground quick- 
 lime it has not the same irritating effect on the eyes 
 and nose, and drops more readily from a slag sower 
 (drill) in breezy weather. " The results indicate 
 (cost, carriage, and other factors are duly considered) 
 that ground limestone is a more profitable dressing " 
 than either ground quicklime or lump lime. American 
 experience has proved the value of ground carbonate 
 even more widely and conclusively ; and it has been 
 tested with success in New Zealand. It is suitable for 
 every purpose, except the liming of heavy clay lands, to 
 modify the physical condition ; but there is one draw- 
 back to its use when it has to be carted long distances. 
 Allowing for impurities, about 1 2 cwt. of quicklime 
 are as good as one ton of ground limestone. 
 
192 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Ground ciuicklime. The report above referred to 
 says : " Ground lime should not be delivered at the 
 farm until all arrangements have been made for its 
 application, as loss will be occasioned by the bursting 
 of the bags. The ground lime should be finely 
 ground, so that not less than 35 per cent, will pass 
 through a sieve with 1 0,000 holes to the square inch, 
 and should contain 90 per cent, of lime (calcium 
 oxide)." This high percentage is only possible when 
 the lime is made from very pure material such as 
 marble or crystalline limestone. This shows the 
 necessity for having lime sold on analysis the same 
 as fertilisers, a wider margin of error being allowed. 
 
 Our present conditions. At present neither finely 
 ground carbonate nor ground quicklime is as a rule 
 available to the farmer, so that the practical considera- 
 tion at the present time is, which of the available 
 forms of lime is it best to use? The best plan at 
 present seems to be to get good fresh burnt lime and 
 cart it to the field in that condition, then shake it 
 carefully to secure as fine a dry powder as possible, 
 and apply to the land with a fertiliser distributor, or 
 failing that, a drill with the hoes off. If limestone 
 be available near at hand the farmer can burn it 
 himself, cart the burnt lime into the field and dump 
 it in heaps like stable manure. Cover these with a 
 little soil, and when the lime is slaked carefully 
 spread it with a shovel the same as stable manure. 
 It is well to spread it as soon as it falls to a fine 
 powder. Any convenient time will do for the appli- 
 cation. It may be put on the fallow land and 
 cultivated in, and that is probably as good a plan as 
 
THE USE OF LIME IN AGRICUI.TURE 193 
 
 any. In sour land a good method is to spread a 
 dressing on the land before the ploughing, and give 
 another with the fertiliser distributor afterwards. It 
 is worth remembering that the best effects may not 
 be seen for a season. 
 
 Quantity to apply. The quantity per acre depends 
 on the character of the soil, the purpose for which 
 it is being applied, and the cost. A dressing of 
 5 cwt. of quicklime, which is equal to a little more 
 than 6|- of slaked lime, or nearly 9 cwt. of carbonate 
 of lime, may be put down at a minimum, while four 
 times this quantity of mild lime may be wise. 
 Some care as to quantity and time of application 
 should be exercised with quicklime ; but with car- 
 bonate the only consideration is one of expense. 
 Carbonate of lime is neutral and can do no harm. 
 Fifty tons to the acre of ground carbonate would be 
 under three per cent, in the top foot of soil, and many 
 rich calcareous soils contain much more than that. 
 Work according to the soil and other practical con- 
 siderations. If the soil needs lime, the farmer will 
 find that it will pay to give as much as he can afford 
 up to one per cent, in the top nine inches. For 
 lucerne on land poor in lime even five or ten tons of 
 carbonate of lime per acre may prove profitable. 
 Wing states very emphatically that in America lack 
 of lime is responsible for more failures of lucerne 
 than any other single factor. 
 
 Liming involves manuring. There is a very old 
 couplet running : 
 
 " Lime and lime without manure 
 Will make both land and farmer poor." 
 
194 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 In another form the saying reads : " Lime enriches 
 the father and impoverishes the son." As with many 
 old sayings, while conveying a good idea, the state- 
 ments are entirely misleading in the light of modern 
 knowledge. It is rare indeed that there is not 
 sufficient of the element calcium in the soil in 
 some form to supply what the plant needs for its 
 development. The application of lime improves the 
 physical condition of the soil, and renders the plant 
 food in the soil available alike by its direct chemical 
 action and its promotion of bacterial life. Its use is 
 a part of good farming under many conditions, and 
 is an important factor in building up a fertile soil, 
 which will enrich the farmer and his son and his 
 son's sons for many generations. Joseph E. Wing 
 modernises the old saw and says : " Lime enriches 
 the father and the want of it impoverishes the son." 
 
 The soil of a farm which has long been under 
 intense cultivation with heavy manuring may contain 
 big reserves of accumulated plant food, which are of 
 no use because unavailable. What is the use of it 
 either to the father or to his son ? The use of lime 
 makes these reserves available, pays its own cost, 
 sweetens and ameliorates the soil, gives the micro- 
 organic life new vigour and favourable conditions, and 
 provides the farmer with cash to further enrich the 
 land. Of course it leads to the more rapid oxida- 
 tion of humus, but it produces bigger crops of grass 
 and fodder, especially clovers and lucerne, to replace 
 it by the decay of roots and through the stock of the 
 farm. It has a marked effect in rendering the 
 reserves of potash available, but it provides cash to 
 
THE USE OF LIME EST AGRICULTURE 195 
 
 pay for more. It is necessary as a base to enable 
 the soil in humid districts to retain and use artificial 
 fertilisers, and it often exercises a most beneficial 
 effect in preventing the destructive effects of some soil 
 fungi, such as " funger-and-toe " in cabbages, turnips, 
 rape and so forth. From many years' observation the 
 writer is convinced that no single practice is more 
 needed on many of the old farms and gardens in the 
 older settled districts of good rainfall in all the 
 States than the free use of lime, finely powdered 
 carbonate or ground limestone being the preferable 
 form if procurable. It is to be hoped that before 
 many years are passed facilities will have been pro- 
 vided for enabling farmers to obtain cheap supplies 
 of this important soil ameliorator. 
 
PASTURES. 
 
 Probably no section of this book is more difficult 
 to deal with than the subject of pastures. Australia 
 is the biggest producer of sheep and wool in the 
 world, and her herds of cattle and horses are by no 
 means insignificant even as compared with those of 
 other countries. The vast majority of the flocks and 
 herds are raised on the natural pastures, which owe 
 nothing to man, unless it be overstocking and bad 
 treatment. The treatment of purely pastoral country 
 is beyond the scope of a text-book on the principles 
 of general agriculture, but when we remember that 
 we are feeding over ninety-two million sheep, 
 over eleven million cattle and over two million 
 horses on natural pasture, we see the absurdity of 
 such statements as Australia has few permanent 
 pastures. 
 
 Indigenous and introduced pasture plants. In the 
 early days of settlement, the natural pasture grasses 
 and other fodder plants were wonderfully luxuriant 
 over wide areas of the more open country in the 
 regions of more regular and heavier rainfall. The 
 general effect on the soil from two generations of 
 settlement is referred to elsewhere. In the pasture 
 
PASTURES 
 
 197 
 
 itself, the result in many cases has been to eat out or 
 destroy many of the more valuable perennial fodder 
 plants. In some cases their place lias been taken 
 by more hardy, harsher and less valuable species of 
 indigenous vegetation, like " spear " and " corkscrew " 
 grasses, while in others introduced plants have more 
 
 Eradicating Bracken Fern in South Gippsland. 
 The hillside shows natural bracken. The top of the hill was the same 
 the year before. It was disc ploughed in early Summer and harrowed 
 well. The treatment was repeated at the end of Summer and grass and 
 clover was sown. 
 
 or less completely taken possession of whole districts. 
 A few of these are probably as valuable as those 
 they have supplanted ; but as a rule this is not so. 
 So greatly has the character of the vegetation 
 changed, and so general and widespread are some of 
 these exotics, that the majority of people look upon 
 
198 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 them as native plants. Among three hundred and 
 sixty -four given in Ewart's Weeds, Poison Plants, 
 Naturalised Aliens, the following will illustrate the 
 point. The burr clover {Medicago denticulatd) and a 
 number of other common widely spread clovers and 
 trefoils, of greater or less value according to circum- 
 stances, are natives of Europe. The common sorrel 
 {Rheum acetosella, L.\ wire weed or hog weed 
 {Polygonum aviculare, L!) is an introduction, as is 
 also the Cape weed {Cryptostemma calendulacium, 
 R. B!) ; sow thistles {Sonchus oleraceus, L.), cockspur 
 {Centaurea melitensis, L.), barley grass {Hordeum 
 murinum, Z.), all have come to us from Europe. 
 The common couch grass {Cynodon dactylon, Pers.) is 
 the doub grass of India, and is called Bermuda grass 
 in America ; and so we might go on for pages. 
 
 Effect of cultivation. When the land has been at 
 some time broken up and brought under cultivation, 
 the indigenous vegetation has to a very large extent 
 disappeared altogether. This is to be regretted, 
 because many of the grasses, etc., possessed high 
 feeding value and were entirely suited to our climatic 
 conditions. It would appear highly desirable that 
 systematic work should be undertaken, by either the 
 Federal or State Governments, to select the best of 
 these nearly extinct plants and adapt them to condi- 
 tions of cultivation. We go to vast trouble and 
 expense in introducing fodder plants from other 
 parts of the world and entirely neglect our own. 
 This does not appear to be sound policy. All that 
 the individual farmer can do with any natural pasture 
 he has is to exercise care in stocking, allow the few 
 
PASTURES 199 
 
 survivors to mature and seed, and in many cases 
 apply fertiliser to the land. 
 
 With the cultivated land the problem is entirely 
 different. In the wheat areas the only practical 
 rotation at present is first, wheat, second, pasture, 
 third, fallow, and then wheat again. In the regions of 
 better rainfall the system may be extended. This 
 question of rotations in our districts of better rainfall 
 has not yet been worked out. Rape, peas, oats and 
 crimson clover should certainly have regular places 
 in many districts. The work being done by Professor 
 Perkins at Roseworthy Agricultural College is the 
 best of its kind in Australia, and will in due time 
 practically settle the question for districts having 
 similar climatic and soil conditions, and might well 
 be taken as a model for similar work elsewhere. 
 
 The meaning of the word grass. At this point it 
 is desirable that we should explain the difference 
 between the meaning of the word grass, as used by 
 the farmer and as defined by the botanist. 
 
 Botanically, a grass is an endogenous plant, the 
 seedling of which has a single leaf and the adult 
 plant simple leaves, a stem generally jointed and 
 tubular, the husks or glumes in pairs, and the seeds 
 single. Botanically, the bamboo, maize, sorghums, 
 millets, sugar cane, wheat, oats, barley, rye, and rice 
 are as much grasses as cocksfoot, ryegrass, paspalum, 
 couch or prairie grass ; while clovers, trefoils, lucerne, 
 peas, beans, melilot, vetches, sheep's burnet, saltbush, 
 geranium. Cape weed, thistles, and a multitude of 
 other good fodder plants are not. 
 
 On the other hand, as commonly used the word 
 
200 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 grass excludes a great many of the botanical grasses 
 like the bamboo, wheat, maize, barley, etc., and 
 includes any herbage or small plant, not large enough 
 to be called a shrub, which forms pasturage for 
 stock. 
 
 It is well to remember this difference, but it is 
 useless in everyday life to attempt to keep the two 
 terms distinct. As a matter of fact, the popular use 
 of the word is centuries older than the botanical 
 classification, and has its origin in an old English 
 word meaning to graze. The use of the terms 
 pasture plants and pasture gets over the difficulty to 
 a large extent, but the use of such expressions as 
 grass land, grass seeds, fed on grass, are too general 
 to be changed. 
 
 Climate and nutritive value of pasture. The char- 
 acter of a pasture chiefly depends on climate, although 
 the soil conditions often determine what particular 
 pasture plants will thrive. This is so true that it is 
 easy to judge by the nature of the pasture what must 
 be the general character of the climate. Further 
 than this, if we know the climate we can very often 
 judge the nature of the soil by the character of the 
 vegetation. Another point to be remembered is that 
 the nutritive value of a pasture cannot be judged by 
 its freshness, greenness and luxuriance. Very often 
 has the writer heard stockmen say in varying terms, 
 " Oh, yes, the Mount Gambier grass is green enough, 
 but give me the grass of the north to fatten stock," 
 or " Gippsland grass may be green and luxuriant but 
 it has not the fattening qualities of the Riverina 
 feed." Similar comparisons might be made in New 
 
PASTURES 
 
 201 
 
 South Wales and Queensland, but these will illustrate 
 the point. 
 
 Climatic conditions and pasture. One of the char- 
 acteristics of much of the Australian agricultural 
 country is the more or less dry summer. The 
 seasons are not clearly defined. In Tasmania and 
 
 !■' 
 
 
 
 %M-- 
 
 - -f^. ■ '■ ■ :ir: "■■ 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^-'■^ ' 
 
 
 _a«iaai^ 
 
 ^^ 
 
 n^^ 
 
 ■^MjMg|||Mili|| 
 
 A Pastoralist's Da]\i. 
 
 Southern Victoria the rainfall is fairly evenly dis- 
 tributed through every month of the year. Queens- 
 land, the Northern Territory and the North-West 
 of Western Australia have their rainy season in 
 summer, and the coastal and northern districts of 
 New South Wales generally have summer rains ; but 
 speaking generally with regard to the agricultural 
 districts in the more temperate parts of the southern 
 half of Australia the year may be divided into 
 
202: AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 two periods of sqven rainy montlis, from April to 
 October, and five dry months, from November to 
 March. In the agricultural areas of Western Aus- 
 tralia this is so strictly true that about 90 per cent.- 
 of the average .rain falls in the seven months. At 
 Adelafde, about 75 per cent, of the average of 21 
 inches falls during the same period, and in the dryer 
 more uncertain northern areas and in Northern Vic- 
 toria about 66 per cent. The summer fall is in the 
 form of uncertain thunderstorms and cannot be relied 
 upon. Under such conditions we have a rapid 
 autumn growth, if the rains come early ; and, always 
 in normal years, a luxuriant spring growth and only 
 dry feed in summer. This dry feed is, however, 
 more like natural hay, and on it the stock maintain 
 condition and thrive. 
 
 Permanent pastures. In Britain a permanent pas- 
 ture is land laid down to mixed fodder plants and 
 kept for grazing for many years. It is comparatively 
 unproductive during the cold winter season, but is 
 permanently green during the spring, summer, and 
 autumn. Such pastures are only possible in the cool 
 south-east part of Australia, where there is a good 
 regular summer rainfall. In Tasmania the conditions 
 are more favourable for pastures on the English plan, 
 and in New Zealand they are a prominent feature of 
 farming. In the extra-tropical portions of Eastern 
 Australia, where the rains fall chiefly in summer, the 
 conditions are entirely favourable for such grasses as 
 paspalum and Rhodes grass, as well as lucerne, and 
 these plants have revolutionised the pasture conditions 
 of the coastal district of New South Wales and 
 
PASTURES 
 
 203 
 
 Southern Queensland. It may be repeated that the 
 pasture problem is largely a question of rainfall, dis- 
 tribution being as important as amount. For this 
 reason hundreds of tons of English grass seeds, used 
 from time to time, have not returned their cost to the 
 purchasers. Every year, however, a fresh lot of 
 
 A Sheep Fakmer's Home. 
 
 enthusiasts try again, only to find that grasses which 
 thrive in a climate where a fortnight of rainless 
 weather is a novelty are not suited for a climate with 
 five hot months which may be practically rainless, or 
 only subject to occasional thunder storms. 
 
 In the English sense, there are not, and cannot be, 
 permanent pastures over the greater portion of the 
 Commonwealth, and yet Australia is the greatest 
 sheep, and one of the best dairying, countries in the 
 
204 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 world. Leaving out the purely pastoral country, and 
 considering only the portions where the rainfall is 
 sufficient in amount and regular enough in distribution 
 to render farming profitable, we have to consider the 
 character of the fodder plants on which the farmer 
 feeds his stock. The problem is solved by the natural 
 
 V if \ 
 
 1 1' 1 tl.'i'i- ('■■ 
 
 I ' I 
 
 ' ■ 
 
 r 
 
 \ 
 
 1 4 
 
 Dairy Country, South Gippsland. 
 The timber is rung, scrub cut and burned .tnd grass sown. 
 
 law of equalisation. Where pastures are permanently 
 green in summer they are not of much use in winter. 
 Where they are dry in summer they make propor- 
 tionally greater growth during the rainy season. 
 
 Under the climatic conditions of, sa)-, seven rainy 
 and five dry months, perennial grasses become 
 dormant in summer. They are almost invariably 
 tussocky in character, and seldom or never make a 
 
PASTURES 205 
 
 close sward. They are, as a rule, very nutritious, and 
 even when dry support stock very well, because under 
 summer conditions in Australia an animal requires 
 but little food to maintain the warmth of the body. 
 Under these conditions, the most profitable seeds to 
 sow are annuals, and very much can be done in 
 supplanting the common poor silver grass, barley 
 grass, sterile brome grass, etc., by more nutritious 
 plants, such as the creeping clovers and trefoils, 
 which, with phosphates, will crowd out the more 
 worthless things. Two cultivated annual pasture 
 plants, which seem to have not received the attention 
 they deserve, are crimson clover and Italian rye. 
 
 Effect of grazing on soil fertility. The question of 
 the effect of grazing stock on pasture land has been 
 referred to in the chapter on soils ; but it must be 
 considered more in detail here, because it may be 
 looked at from several points of view, and is of very 
 great importance. These may be clearly put in the 
 form of questions. 
 
 (i) Do stock grazing on pasture land remove soil 
 fertility ? 
 
 (2) Which will improve the fertility of a paddock 
 the more, leaving it absolutely idle for, say, five or 
 ten years, or keeping it fed down by stock for the 
 same length of time ? 
 
 (3) Does leaving a field in pasture, which is fed 
 down by stock, improve the fertility ? 
 
 At first reading, these questions may appear to be 
 the same, but such is not the case. 
 
 The answer to the first question is — Stock grazing 
 on pasture remove from the soil an amount of fertility 
 
206 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 corresponding to the quantity of wool, butter, and 
 meat produced from eating the herbage. 
 
 In reply to the second question, it may be said 
 with equal definiteness that the fertility of a paddock 
 left absolutely alone, so that all the herbage which 
 
 A Northern Tasmanian Farm near Devonport. 
 
 grows is allowed to decay and go back to the soil, 
 will improve much more than one kept down by 
 stock. 
 
 The answer to the third question is that, laying 
 down a field to pasture, or even allowing it to grow 
 any self-sown herbage, and grazing it for a number 
 of years, is an old and proved method of improving 
 fertilit}^ 
 
PASTURES 207 
 
 We will now briefly discuss the three questions 
 together. We have seen that soils are practically 
 inexhaustible, that fertility,- provided climatic condi- 
 tions are favourable, is only a question of degree, that 
 plant food exists in the soil in two forms known as 
 available plant food, and reserve materials which 
 slowly become available, that if soil is kept under 
 crop, or even under grass continually, the annual 
 growth under favourable climatic conditions, in pro- 
 portion to the amount of available plant food, and 
 that the growth is determined by the form of plant 
 food which is least plentiful. 
 
 If the annual crop of vegetation of any kind is 
 returned each year back to the land, the soil becomes 
 annually richer. If we remove the annual crop either 
 by harvesting or grazing, and that crop takes from 
 the soil more plant food than becomes available during 
 the year, we decrease the available plant food by 
 that amount. We may go on doing this until a stage 
 is reached when the annual crop of vegetation exactly 
 balances the yearly available supply of the least 
 plentiful plant food ; but during these years there 
 may be a considerable increase in the other plant 
 foods, and then a dressing with a special fertiliser 
 supplying the one which is deficient has a wonderful 
 effect. This was the case all over Australia when 
 the use of phosphatic fertilisers became general in 
 the nineties. Land which was so exhausted that it 
 refused to grow profitable crops gave a fourfold 
 return. Land which had been under grass for years 
 producing only a scanty pasture, when top dressed 
 with phosphate responded in a marvellous manner 
 
208 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 by keeping from two to four times the number of 
 stock. 
 
 When stock graze on pasture they return the 
 larger portion of the food they consume in the sohd 
 and liquid droppings, the amount of plant food they 
 take away in the form of wool, milk and flesh being 
 seldom equal to the annual reserve made available 
 by natural agencies. At the same time the effect of 
 top dressing with phosphates is generally so pro- 
 nounced that we can only conclude that most of the 
 pasture lands of Australia, within the region of good 
 regular rainfall, have, to a very considerable extent, 
 had their supply of phosphoric acid reduced, and the 
 general use of phosphatic fertilisers would prove as 
 profitable as on wheat lands. 
 
 Effect of phosphates on pastures. Having made it 
 quite clear that grazing of stock on pasture land does 
 remove plant food, and may so reduce the available 
 supply of the least abundant, and therefore the one 
 which controls the growth, we are in a position to 
 consider the question of applying fertilisers to pasture 
 land. We must look at the matter from the practical 
 economical point of view of profit. 
 
 From the experience or evidence available we may 
 limit our discussion to phosphates, with the use of 
 which we must also consider the importance of lime. 
 As a rule, at present the use of lime may be post- 
 poned, especially if Thomas phosphate is the form of 
 phosphate used. The farmer must, however, remem- 
 ber what has been said about the use of lime 
 elsewhere. 
 
 First: If superphosphate be applied to land 
 
PASTUEES 209 
 
 deficient in lime, liming is a necessary part of the 
 business. 
 
 Second : Lime itself may have such a marked effect 
 on pastures that it is often profitable to use it alone, 
 because it sweetens the soil, renders potash, nitrogen, 
 and other plant food available, and often quite 
 changes the character of the herbage. On tens of 
 thousands of acres of land, in the wetter districts of 
 Australia, the use of lime would pay a profit on the 
 application, even at present high prices. 
 
 The effect of phosphates on pasture is seen in two 
 ways. First, where it is needed, it will often entirely 
 change the character of vegetation without any 
 seed being sown. This is a matter of common 
 knowledge in Europe and America as well as in 
 Australia. Many examples could be given from 
 available literature, particularly from the Rothamsted 
 experiments ; but they would not convince the farmer 
 who has the means of proof in his own hands. This 
 is a severely practical matter, and all he has to do 
 is to apply a dressing of phosphate across a pasture 
 field and watch the result. 
 
 1. If the stock are running on it, he will almost 
 invariably find that they love that strip better than 
 the balance of the paddock. 
 
 2. If he shuts up the paddock, or fences off a 
 portion of treated and untreated he will find, if 
 phosphates are required, that the fertilised por- 
 tion makes a marvellously more rapid and luxuriant 
 growth. 
 
 3. If he examines the plants carefully, especially 
 the second year, he will find that the poor grasses 
 
210 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 are being crowded out by luxuriant wild clovers, 
 trefoils, and the more valuable varieties of grass. 
 
 From time to time results of top dressing pasture 
 have been published in the Agricultural press of all 
 the States, and there is no manner of doubt about 
 what we are saying ; but one illustration from our 
 own experience will perhaps fix attention better than 
 a mass of details. In order that the reader may 
 see that fertilising pastures should not be confined to 
 poor land, where it certainly gives wonderful results, 
 the analysis is given of the soil of the field under 
 notice. 
 
 The field in question is on the Ferndale estate, 
 Balingup, Western Australia, but the' results were not 
 more pronounced than on other farms in other States. 
 The soil is a dark alluvial, which has not been 
 ploughed for at least ten years, and is covered with 
 a dense sward of couch grass which is dormant in 
 winter, during which season the paddock carries a 
 good growth of wild clovers, trefoils, etc., and without 
 fertiliser was considered one of the best paddocks in 
 the district. 
 
 The following are the chemical and mechanical 
 analysis before the application of about two cwt. of 
 Thomas phosphate to the acre, applied with a Jack's 
 fertiliser distributor at a cost of about los. an acre. 
 The result is from an average of six samples taken 
 by the writer, the analysis being made by the Govern- 
 ment analyst. Apart from its relation to the present 
 question, it will serve as an illustration of what a 
 soil analysis teaches : 
 
PASTURES 
 
 211 
 
 Report of Analysis of Soil. 
 
 Nature of soil, Sandy. 
 
 Colour of soil, Black. 
 
 Reaction of soil, Slightly acid. 
 
 Apparent specific gravity, 1-14. 
 
 Absolute weight per acre (g ins. deep), 2,324,460 lbs. 
 
 Mechanical Analysis. 
 
 Coarse gravel, more than 1 millimetre diameter, -90, 
 
 Fine gravel, more than i millimetre diameter,- 1-96. 
 
 Coarse sand, -i to -5 millimetre, 5-38. 
 
 Medium sand, '5 to -i millimetre, 35"iS 
 
 Fine sand, -i to -05 miUimetre, 8-53 
 
 Silt, -05 to -02 millimetre, 7-64, 
 
 Fine silt, -02 to -oi millimetre, 4-28 
 
 Clay, less than -oi millimetre, - 36-16, 
 
 Proportion of Fertilising Substances. 
 
 
 
 Total (soluble in strong 
 hydrochloric acid). 
 
 Available soluble in 
 I per cent, citric acid. 
 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Quan. in i acre of 
 soil (9 in. deep). 
 
 Per cent. 
 
 Quan. in 
 
 I acre 
 
 (9 in. deep). 
 
 Nitrogen, 
 Lime (CaO), 
 Potash (K2O), 
 Phosphoric acid (P2O5), 
 Chlorine, 
 
 •28 
 
 •49 
 
 •214 
 •048 
 •012 
 
 6 1 50 lbs. 
 
 11,387 „ 
 
 4973 „ 
 121S „ 
 460 „ salt. 
 
 •012 
 ■005 
 
 279 lbs. 
 
 116 „ 
 
 Result of an application of phosphate. The fertiliser 
 was applied in March, 1 907, and the field was grazed 
 as usual with horses, cattle and sheep. When 
 inspected in July there was no difficulty in noting 
 any parts which had been missed, partly by the way 
 
212 
 
 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 the stock persistently fed on the fertilised land. As 
 the season advanced and the pasture got away from 
 
 Naturally Sown Clovers from the same Area of Ground. 
 The effect of phosphates on pasture. Ferndale, Balingup, Western Australia. 
 
 the Stock the difference became more noticeable. 
 About the middle of October the paddock was shut 
 up until December, when it was cut for clover hay. 
 
PASTURES 213 
 
 An inspection was made and photographs were taken 
 during the first week in December. The unfertihsed 
 portion, after the rest, was patchy and uneven. Where 
 the soil had been enriched by cow and horse drop- 
 pings the growth was rank, and was chiefly clover. 
 Between these tufts, it was thick but short and poorly 
 developed with a good deal of silver grass. Where 
 fertilised, the land carried a dense even crop of clover. 
 We carefully measured a rod of average fertilised and 
 unfertilised land, cut the crop, and next day weighed 
 the produce. The product of the unfertilised ground 
 worked out at 1.77 tons of wilted stuff to the acre, 
 while the fertilised plot gave 8.2 tons, and these 
 figures may be taken as the average difference. 
 
 Taking a small patch of average fertilised and un- 
 fertilised, away from droppings, we cut the plants from 
 the one and pulled them up from the other, tied them 
 in bundles and photographed them side by side. 
 The comparison fairly shows the effect of the dressing 
 of phosphate. The results were not as good the 
 second year, and were still less the third ; but the 
 effect is still pronounced in the fourth season. 
 
 A careful examination of the clovers showed that 
 Trifolium minus predominated, the balance being made 
 up of yellow hop clover {Trifolium procumbens), 
 clustered clover '{Trifolium glomeratum), and burr 
 trefoil {Medicago denticulata). 
 
 In estimating the value of the dressing of phos- 
 phate, we must not only consider the increase of, say, 
 four times the yield of hay after the paddock had 
 been shut up seven weeks, but also the value of the 
 pasture for the rest of the year and subsequent years, 
 
214 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 for during the summer the effect on the couch grass 
 is very pronounced. 
 
 How to apply phosphate to pasture. For top 
 dressing pastures where the rainfah is under, say, 
 twenty to twenty-five inches, the use of superphos- 
 phate is recommended where the rainfall is heav)^ 
 Thomas phosphate is generally the cheaper and 
 
 Clover and Trefoil Hay on Couch Grassland not Cultivated 
 
 FOR Eight Years. 
 
 The result of the application of phosphates : yield over 30 cwt. to the acre. 
 
 better form. For distribution, if the weather is per- 
 fectly calm, a broadcast seed sower, on a cart, answers 
 well, and by this means light dressings can easily be 
 applied, and the effect will be seen where the dust 
 blows. Where small areas only have to be dealt 
 with, an ordinary drill, with the tubes off, answers 
 fairly well, but the distribution is not perfect. The 
 best plan we know of is to use a Wallace, Jack's, or 
 similar fertiliser distributor. These machines are in 
 
PASTURES 215 
 
 general use in Britain, and they are becoming fairly 
 common in Western Australia. The quantity to 
 apply will depend on conditions and the money which 
 the farmer can spare for the purpose. It may range 
 from 5 6 lbs. to two cwt. per acre. Where the rainfall 
 is good not less than one cwt. should be used. The 
 application may be made at any time before or soon 
 after rainy season starts. One of the effects is to 
 force early feed, and the reason for an early appli- 
 cation is evident. The effect of one dressing will be 
 seen for a number of years. 
 
FOOD AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 
 
 Australian conditions. Apart from working horses, 
 dairy cattle, pigs, poultry, and, to a very small extent, 
 stud sheep, hand feeding of stock is not practised in 
 Australia. In spite of the wonder expressed by the 
 new arrival in summer, our stock thrive on what they 
 can gather. The price of labour exercises considerable 
 influence on our practice, but the controlling factor is 
 the climate, which is so mild that housing of stock is 
 not necessary. There is room for vast improvement 
 in many directions, especially in connection with dairy 
 cattle, which might be made to double the present 
 average product by systematic testing, culling and 
 feeding. 
 
 Our feeding practice differs from that of Britain and 
 America in another important way. Our range of 
 available food stuffs is much more limited, so that 
 the rations of standard books help us but little. Our 
 methods are rough and ready, but the supreme test is 
 the condition of the animal fed ; together with, in the 
 case of the horse, his capacity for work, and in the 
 cow the product of milk ; and, judged by this 
 standard, our methods are not as far wrong as some 
 would have us believe, although it is probable they 
 are often wasteful. 
 
FOOD AND ITS FUNCTIONS 217 
 
 The function of food. The food taken by an animal 
 serves several purposes in connection with the functions 
 of the body : 
 
 1. The young animal has to grow, and material 
 is required to form the tissues and organs of the 
 body. 
 
 2. Food is necessary to provide fuel to maintain 
 the heat of the body, without which the vital processes 
 cannot go on. 
 
 3. The animal uses energy, and food is required to 
 repair the waste of the various tissues, organs, etc., of 
 the body. 
 
 4. The female requires extra food when she is to 
 produce young. 
 
 5. If the animal is performing muscular labour, if 
 it be producing milk, growing wool, or laying on a 
 reserve of fat, food is required in proportion to the 
 effort. The digestion of food requires energy, and if 
 the food is indigestible energy is wasted. The value 
 in fodder is the difference between the available 
 energy in the fodder and that required by the animal 
 to extract it. In other words, a cow will give more 
 milk, a horse will do more work, and a beast will lay 
 on more fat when fed on digestible suitable food than 
 otherwise. Some substances require so much energy 
 on the part of the animal to even partially digest 
 them that they are quite unsuitable for fodder. It is 
 only after the needs of the animal to maintain heat, 
 to grow, and to exert the necessary energy for 
 digestion, movement, work, etc., are satisfied that it 
 will begin to lay up a reserve in the form of fat. 
 
 Only part of the food consumed by an animal is 
 
218 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 digested ; and it is only that which is digested that 
 is of use. That which is not used passes out through 
 the intestines as sohd excrement. Good easily 
 digested food is necessary for animals required to 
 produce commercial products, such as milk, wool, or 
 Gggs ; or to perform work, as with the horse ; or to 
 lay on condition ready for market as fat stock. 
 
 The proportion of food digested varies with the 
 character of the food and the individual disposition 
 of the animal. One animal may digest 80 per cent, 
 of a given food, while another will not utilise much 
 more than half the proportion. The farmer desires 
 a good doer, or an animal that wiU use as much as 
 possible of the food it consumes. As a general 
 rule, animals digest from one-half to two-thirds of 
 what they consume. 
 
 Composition of fodders. In the study of the plant 
 we found that, as a rule, it consists of about thirteen 
 elementary substances, but they are combined into a 
 vast variety of compounds. These may, however, 
 be readily classified into five important groups : 
 I, water; 2, ash ; 3, carbohydrates, including fibre; 
 4, fat; and 5, albuminoids, or proteins. 
 
 In the chapter on how plants grow, we referred 
 briefly to these groups. It was there seen that some 
 plants used for food, such as cabbages, turnips, rape, 
 etc., may contain over 90 per cent, of water, whereas 
 air-dry fodder like grain and hay may contain 10 to 
 1 5 per cent. Watery fodder reduces the amount of 
 water which the animal using it requires to drink ; 
 but no food is so watery that it will supply the 
 domestic animals with all the water they require. 
 
POOD AND ITS FUNCTIONS 219 
 
 Water renders food more tender, juicy, and generally 
 more palatable. Thus, fresh lucerne is more palatable 
 than lucerne hay, and steamed lucerne hay comes 
 between. Professor Henry, in his standard work 
 Feeds and Feeding, which the student who desires 
 to thoroughly study this subject should read, says : 
 " Contrary to general opinion, green fodders are no 
 more digestible than the same forage when carefully 
 preserved by drying." This fact is important, because 
 drying is the cheapest method and so easy in our 
 Australian climate. But we have to remember that 
 in drying, very often, especially with such plants as 
 lucerne, a proportion of the finer parts of the plant 
 are lost during the process. 
 
 The percentage of ash in plants is small ; but it 
 contains the mineral matter necessary to supply the 
 requirements of the animal, and need not be further* 
 considered. 
 
 Carbohydrates. The meaning and composition of 
 carbohydrate was explained in the chapter on the 
 plant. Sugar, starch, flour, gum, vegetable fibre, etc., 
 are carbohydrates. They contain no nitrogen. They 
 are the source of heat and energy in food, and may 
 be called the heat and energy producers. After 
 digestion they pass into the blood, and in the lungs 
 are decomposed into carbonic acid gas and water, 
 and heat is produced in the process in the same way 
 as when wood is burned. 
 
 Fats. The fats of fodder contain the same three 
 elements as carbohydrates, i.e. carbon, oxygen and 
 hydrogen, but, proportionately, much less oxygen. 
 They have, therefore, a greater proportion of carbon, 
 
220 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 and yield more energy when decomposed. They are 
 greater heat-producers than carbohydrates, which 
 explains their value as food for man in the Arctic 
 regions. In calculating the relative energy-producing 
 power of fats as compared with sugar, a pound of fat 
 is considered as being worth about two and one 
 quarter times as valuable as a pound of sugar. In 
 ordinary fodder the percentage of fat is not great, but 
 such materials as oil-cake, linseed, sunflower seeds, 
 contain large quantities. In analyses of foods the 
 carbohydrates and fats are often classed together as 
 nitrogen free extract. 
 
 Albuminoids, or proteins. The albuminoids, or pro- 
 teids, are of great importance in fodders, being called 
 the flesh or muscle formers. We have seen that 
 carbohydrates and fats contain no nitrogen, and the 
 value of proteins lies in the fact that they furnish 
 nitrogen, and also usually sulphur and phosphorus. 
 Nitrogen is essential to the animal economy, and 
 proteids are therefore necessary in fodders. The 
 growth of an animal and its muscular power largely 
 depends on the supply of albuminoids in the food ; 
 and fodders which are rich in nitrogen are usually 
 high priced. It should be here noted that both sugar 
 and fat can be formed in the body from nitrogenous 
 foods, so that we have an additional reason for the 
 value of these substances. It is, however, wasteful 
 to use them for this purpose when carbohydrates are 
 so much cheaper. 
 
 Nutritive ratio. It has been shown that the carbo- 
 hydrates and fats go together as heat and energy 
 producers, while the proteids or albuminoids are the 
 
FOOD AND ITS FUNCTIONS 221 
 
 providers of nitrogen. These three classes of sub- 
 stances are called nutrients, and a ration is said to be 
 well balanced when they exist in the proportions 
 found by experience to be most suitable for the 
 animal under given conditions. In cold weather 
 more carbohydrates or fats are required than when 
 the temperature is high. It has been found con- 
 venient to express the relation between the proteins 
 and the other nutrients in the form of a ratio which 
 is spoken of as the nutritive ratio. Exactly defined 
 it is the proportion or ratio which one part of the 
 digestible protein bears to the corresponding parts of 
 digestible carbohydrates, plus two and a quarter times 
 the digestible fat. 
 
 The nutritive ratio of any ration is found in the 
 following manner : First, ascertain the amounts of 
 digestible proteins, carbohydrates and fats it contains. 
 Second, multiply the amount of fats by two and a 
 quarter and add the result to the amount of carbo- 
 hydrates. Third, divide the result of the second 
 operation by the amount of proteins. 
 
 For example, the commonest fodder in Australia 
 is wheaten hay. According to Guthrie, this contains 
 on an average 3.6 per cent, proteins, 46.1 per cent, 
 carbohydrates, and i.i per cent, fat, making a total 
 of 50.8 per cent, of nutritive matter. To find the 
 nutritive ratio we multiply the i . i per cent, of fat by 
 two and a quarter, making 2.47. We add this to 
 46.1 and get 48.57, which we divide by the protein 
 3.6 and obtain 1 3. So that the nutritive ratio of 
 wheaten hay is 1:13, which means that for each 
 pound of digestible protein, or flesh-forming food, in 
 
222 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 wheat hay, there are thirteen pounds of digestible 
 heat and fat-forming elements. 
 
 A ratio is said to be narrow when the proportion 
 of heat producers is small compared to the protein ; 
 and it is said to be wide when the proportion is large. 
 Thus, the ratio of lucerne hay is i : 3 1, which is very 
 narrow as compared with the wheaten hay. 
 
 It may be at once asked, which is the better 
 fodder, one with a wide or one with a narrow nutri- 
 tive ratio ? 
 
 The answer depends entirely on the purpose for 
 which the fodder is used ; but as fodders with a 
 narrow ratio are always rich in nitrogen, and that is 
 the most valuable food constituent, because it is the 
 least plentiful, fodders with narrow ratios are worth 
 more per ton than those with wide ratios. Lucerne 
 hay is worth more per ton than wheaten hay, because 
 of its higher percentage of protein, so that to speak 
 of a food as rich in protein is practically the same as 
 to say it has a narrow nutritive ratio. 
 
 It is recognised that animals that are growing 
 rapidly, that are rearing young or are producing milk, 
 wool or eggs, require food richer in protein than do 
 similar animals that are working, fattening, or simply 
 living without gain or loss in weight. In practical 
 feeding it is found that animals have wonderful 
 powers of adapting the food to their uses, so 
 that provided it is palatable, digestible and nutri- 
 tive, the animal will deal with the ratio in its own 
 way. 
 
 The chief object of considering the nutritive ratio 
 of foods is to use expensive proteids economically. 
 
FOOD AND ITS FUNCTIONS 223 
 
 We know that stock thrive well on lucerne, but a 
 study of the ratio shows that using it alone is not 
 economical, for we can supply carbohydrates more 
 cheaply in wheaten hay. 
 
 Analysis of Salt Bush by Mr. F. B. Guthrie, Chief 
 of the Chemical Branch Department of Agriculture, 
 N.S. Wales : 
 
 
 A. nummularia. 
 
 Grown at Wagga. 
 
 (Under cultivation.) 
 
 A. nummularia. 
 From Bourke. 
 (Uncultivated.) 
 
 Moisture, 
 
 
 75-11 
 
 56^73 
 
 Oil, 
 
 
 •66 
 
 •67 
 
 Digestible fibre, 
 
 
 8-21 
 
 11-59 
 
 Woody fibre, - 
 
 
 3-29 
 
 3-93 
 
 Soluble albuminoids, 
 
 
 •SO 
 
 1^76 
 
 Insoluble albuminoids. 
 
 
 2-56 
 
 3-54 
 
 Soluble ash. 
 
 
 577 
 
 14-14 
 
 Insoluble ash. 
 
 
 ■15 
 
 2-04 
 
 Chlorophyll, amides, and other 
 
 
 
 extractives (by difference). 
 
 
 3-85 
 
 5-60 
 
 
 lOO- 
 
 100- 
 
 Total nitrogen, 
 
 
 ■74 
 
 I-20 
 
 Amide nitrogen, 
 
 
 •25 
 
 •36 
 
 Percentage of common salt in 
 ash, - 36-6 56-6 
 
 The great difference in the percentage of mois- 
 ture is due to the fact that the Wagga specimens 
 had not so far to travel, and were more carefully 
 packed. 
 
 The following table is taken from a paper by Mr. 
 F. B. Guthrie, Chemist to the Department of Agri- 
 culture, New South Wales, and gives the average 
 
224 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 composition of common Australian dry fodders with 
 the nutritive ratios : 
 
 Composition of Australian Fodders. 
 
 Fodder, 
 
 Water. 
 
 • 
 
 Ash. 
 1-8 
 
 Fibre. 
 
 Total 
 dry 
 
 mat- 
 ter. 
 
 Albu- 
 min- 
 oids. 
 
 Carbo- 
 
 hydra- 
 
 tes. 
 
 Fat. 
 
 Total 
 
 nutri- Nutrient 
 ent ratio, 
 matter. 
 
 Wheat (grain), - 
 
 10-5 
 
 1-8 
 
 89-5 
 
 1 1-9 
 
 71-9 
 
 2-1 
 
 8s-9 I 
 
 6^ 
 
 Oats (grain), 
 
 II-O 
 
 3-0 
 
 9-5 
 
 8g-o 
 
 II-8 
 
 597 
 
 5-0 
 
 76-5 I 
 
 6 
 
 Maize (grain), 
 
 10-9 
 
 1-5 
 
 2-1 
 
 89-1 
 
 lo-s 
 
 69-6 
 
 5-4 
 
 8S-S I 
 
 7f 
 
 Lucerne hay, 
 
 8-4 
 
 7-4 
 
 25-0 
 
 91-6 
 
 I4'3 
 
 427 
 
 2'2 
 
 59-2 I 
 
 3j 
 
 Wheaten hay. 
 
 8-8 
 
 4-5 
 
 35-9 
 
 91-2 
 
 3-6 
 
 46-1 
 
 I-I 
 
 50-8 I 
 
 13 
 
 Oaten hay. 
 
 lO-O 
 
 5-0 
 
 35-3 
 
 90-0 
 
 4'5 
 
 43-7 
 
 i-S 
 
 497 I 
 
 loj 
 
 Wheaten straw, 
 
 9-6 
 
 4-2 
 
 38-1 
 
 90-4 
 
 3-4 
 
 43-4 
 
 1-3 
 
 48-1 I 
 
 13^ 
 
 Oaten straw. 
 
 9-2 
 
 5-1 
 
 37-0 
 
 908 
 
 4-0 
 
 42.4 
 
 2-3 
 
 487 I 
 
 12 
 
 Bran, 
 
 II-9 
 
 5-8 
 
 9.0 
 
 88-1 
 
 15-4 
 
 53-9 
 
 4.0 
 
 73-3 I 
 
 4 
 
 Pollard, 
 
 lO-O 
 
 3-8 
 
 S-2 
 
 90-0 
 
 17-4 
 
 58-0 
 
 5-6 
 
 8i-o I 
 
 5 
 
 Molasses, - 
 
 25-0 
 
 S-o 
 
 
 75-0 
 
 
 70-0 
 
 
 70-0 
 
 
 Cocoa-nut cake. 
 
 7-3 
 
 S-4 
 
 9-7 
 
 927 
 
 17-2 
 
 41-3 
 
 ig.i 
 
 77-6 I 
 
 5 
 
 Mangels, 
 
 90-9 
 
 i-i 
 
 0-9 
 
 9-1 
 
 1-4 
 
 5-5 
 
 0-2 
 
 7-1 I 
 
 4l 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 
 
 In nature, plants are reproduced by two methods, the 
 asexual and the sexual. Lowly forms, such as 
 bacteria and many single-celled fungi, are reproduced 
 with marvellous rapidity by the simple process of 
 subdivision. In the higher plants, new generations 
 are usually produced from seed, but not a few also 
 propagate themselves by suckers, layers, and by 
 detached branches or twigs, which take root and grow. 
 A willow branch, broken by an animal or the wind 
 from the parent tree, will, if it falls into the mud, 
 take root even if upside down. 
 
 The farmer, fruit grower, or gardener by his skill 
 improves nature's products until they may almost be 
 said to be artificial, because without his constant care 
 and protection they become a prey to disease and 
 adverse conditions and die out. The wild oat is 
 always iighting the farmer for a place in his fields, 
 and his efforts are equally constantly directed to its 
 suppression, so that it will not choke out his more 
 valuable and more productive but less hardy crops. 
 The wild plum and pear will fill the orchard with 
 suckers which will crowd out the valuable commercial 
 varieties. The wild dock will smother its relative, 
 
226 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 the huge, succulent, edible rhubarb. Examples 
 might be multiplied indefinitely, but these are 
 sufficient to impress on the student the fact that the 
 special plants which constitute the crops of the farmer, 
 fruit grower, and gardener are highly developed, 
 specialised products of man's care and skill through 
 unknown ages. The origin of many cultivated plants 
 is quite unknown. For example, we are by no 
 means certain what was the original progenitor of 
 wheat. It has been developed for its seed, and one 
 acre will produce enough seed for forty acres ; but 
 leave a field of wheat to itself, and in a few years it 
 will die out, or rather be choked out with weeds. 
 
 Some varieties of plants have been developed until 
 they have almost lost the power of producing seed. 
 The banana is an example. Seeds are a drawback 
 to the banana fruit from man's point of view, and so, 
 mutations which do not have seeds have been pro- 
 pagated by suckers for centuries. In the same way 
 we artificially reproduce seedless orange trees, have 
 developed cucumbers in which most of the seeds are 
 undeveloped, and were it possible to reproduce them 
 we would soon have perfectly seedless varieties. 
 There are a multitude of abnormal plants in culti- 
 vation which would die out in a generation but for 
 man's constant care. The navel orange, the currant 
 vine, the sultana grape, and the highly prolific 
 varieties of potatoes are common examples. 
 
 Propagation by seed. In propagating plants man 
 usually follows nature's methods, the most general of 
 which is by seed. A seed consists of: 
 
 (a) The embryo plant, and 
 
THE PEOPAGATION OF PLANTS 227 
 
 (d) A store of nutriment to feed the developing 
 embryo until it is able to support itself 
 
 Such crops as wheat, maize, oats, barley, rye, rice, 
 peas, beans, nuts and so forth, have been developed 
 so that the store of food intended by nature for the 
 nourishment of the embryo plant has been largely 
 increased in amount, and often improved in character, 
 so that it will be better adapted for human food. 
 This work is still going on. In America the plant 
 breeding stations are materially altering the character 
 of many varieties of maize. Some are being bred 
 with increased starch content, while others are being 
 developed for richness in nitrogen. The late Mr. 
 Wm. Farrar, of New South Wales, and other wheat 
 breeders of Australia, have by cross breeding 
 originated varieties of wheat which not only yield 
 heavy crops of grain but possess special chemical 
 characters rendering them more valuable for milling 
 and bread-making. This is man's work. Nature's 
 object in providing seed is merely to secure the 
 survival of the species. 
 
 There are so many excellent Nature Study books 
 and works on elementary agriculture, with chapters 
 dealing in the most simple and complete manner with 
 the growth of seeds, that it is quite unnecessary to go 
 into details here. It is necessary for the grower to 
 remember that, in the practical commercial production 
 of wheat, oats, barley, maize, peas, or other farm 
 crops, or of fine onions, cabbages,' cauliflowers, 
 tomatoes, melons or other vegetables, the character 
 of the plants he grows will primarily depend on the' 
 seed he sows. 
 
228 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Germination. The chief factors which influence the 
 germination of seeds are : 
 
 (a) The condition of the parent plant, i.e. its 
 healthiness, vigour and suitability of the conditions 
 under which it grew. Some plants appear to thrive 
 well under climatic conditions where they will not 
 produce good seed. This fact is recognised by the 
 big firms of seed growers and merchants. 
 
 (d) The method of preservation. This depends 
 somewhat on the kind of seed, but, as a rule, seeds 
 kept in dry air-tight tins or bottles and in the dark 
 retain their vitality longer than when exposed to air 
 and light. Moisture and extreme dryness, as a rule, 
 shorten the period of vitality of seeds. 
 
 (c) The character of the seed itself Some seeds 
 are specially provided with tough waterproof coats, 
 which preserve their vitality for very long periods. 
 
 (d) The age of the seed. Some seeds, like those of 
 the parsnip and onion, are not reliable when more 
 than one season old, others, like the seeds of the 
 various Australian acacias (" wattles "), retain full 
 vitality for an indefinite number of years, up to forty 
 or fifty or more. Most agricultural seeds retain their 
 full germinating power for a few years only, and seed 
 of the previous season is nearly always to be preferred. 
 There are exceptions. Many gardeners think that 
 cabbage seed gives the best results when two years 
 old, and prefer melon seed to be two or three years 
 old. The writer has grown both sweet and water 
 melons each year for ten years from the same packets. 
 The oft told story of wheat grown from a few grains 
 found in a mummy case in Egypt is not authenticated. 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 229 
 
 It is not wise to use seed wheat more than three or 
 four years old. The writer sowed four varieties of 
 wheat, obtained from an Odessa miller in 1896, each 
 season on to 1906, in which year not one grain grew. 
 
 Given good seed, satisfactory germination will 
 depend on favourable conditions of soil, moisture, 
 warmth and the proper supply of oxygen. These 
 matters have been considered in connection with our 
 study of the soil. 
 
 When seeds possess very tough outer coats, it is 
 often a good practice to soak them for a time in warm 
 water. Care must be taken not to continue the pro- 
 cess too long. To soak a short time and then wrap 
 in damp flannel or canvas, and keep them in a warm 
 place, is a safer plan. Some seeds, like wattle seeds 
 or the seeds of Sturt's pea, may have boiling water 
 poured over them, or they may be actually boiled 
 for a minute or two to secure rapid germination. 
 Seeds must not be planted too deeply. The smaller 
 the seed the less deeply it should be planted. The 
 looser the soil the more deeply may the seed be 
 covered with safety. For the best germination many 
 practical gardeners have a rule, " Cover a seed with 
 soil no deeper than its own length." This is not 
 practicable in farm operations, especially in our dry 
 climate, but much seed is lost through being covered 
 too deeply. Seed, like that of rape and lucerne, is 
 best merely rolled into the soil or covered with a 
 brush harrow. 
 
 Some seeds have the power of re-germinating. 
 Farmers are familiar with this quality in wheat, 
 which may start, be dried off by a spell of warm, 
 
230 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 dry weather, and then come again when favourable 
 conditions occur. Professor Bailey states that '' some 
 seeds have been known to resume germination iive 
 or six times, even when the rootlet had grown half 
 an inch or more, and the seeds had been thoroughly 
 dried after eac^ re-germination." 
 
 Importance of pure good seed. The good farmer or 
 gardener takes great pains in preparing the ground 
 for the sowing of the seed which is to produce his 
 season's crop. He sows his seed at the time experi- 
 ence tells him is most likely to produce the best 
 results. If it fails to germinate his season is wasted. 
 Supposing the seed germinates well he has many 
 weeks or many months to wait for the maturity of 
 his crop, and during all this time it is liable to 
 damage from insect and fungus pests and diseases, 
 adverse weather conditions, such as too much or too 
 little rain, frost, and so forth. He is never sure of 
 his crop until it is harvested, and then he has the 
 problem of marketing. But even when the con- 
 ditions are all favourable he may have all his hopes 
 shattered by finding that the seed was not pure, or 
 the variety was bad. His onion seed may germinate 
 well, but the plants may run to seed. The cabbage 
 plants may start all right, but may prove compara- 
 tively worthless. He may buy supposed lucerne seed, 
 and a large proportion of the plants may prove to be 
 clovers and trefoils, or the field may be infested with 
 dodder. He may desire to grow clean seed wheat 
 on a clean field, and find his crop mixed, and of 
 twenty per cent, less value, because the seed he had 
 purchased as pure was not so. He may have bought 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 231. 
 
 seed of an early wheat, say bunyip, expectfng to be 
 able to reap it early, but, because of a proportion of 
 late sorts mixed with it, his plans for harvesting may 
 be upset, and part of his crop may be destroyed by 
 a storm. 
 
 The above are a few of the unnecessary troubles 
 which may be avoided by care in securing pure good 
 seed. The Federal and State Governments can, and 
 should, do much to pr-otect the producer. All seeds 
 imported and offered for sale in quantity should be 
 examined for purity and tested for vitality. Much 
 can be done in this way ; but nothing that a Govern- 
 ment can do can protect a gardener from badly 
 grown onion or cabbage seed, or a farmer from mixed 
 seed wheat. In such matters the only safeguard is 
 either to grow the seed or buy it from known and 
 reliable men. While we cannot teach a man to farm 
 from a book, it is possible to point out the import- 
 ance of matters like this, and save the farmer from 
 much unnecessary loss. No wise farmer or gardener, 
 on any consideration whatever, will buy cheap seed. 
 The best is the cheapest, whatever the price. We 
 do not mean that the most costly is always the best, 
 because the high price may be merely due to the 
 popularity of a special variety which has been well 
 advertised. It is a good rule to stick to well-tried 
 varieties which have been found reliable, productive 
 and suitable to one's conditions. Always be ready 
 to experiment, but never rely on advertised qualities 
 or on one season's results. 
 
 The testing of seeds. Much annoyance, loss of 
 time and expense may be saved by testing the 
 
232 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 germinating qualities of seeds before purchasing, 
 or, in the case of seeds saved on the farm, before the 
 time for sowing. When asking for quotations for such 
 seeds as rape, lucerne, clovers, or any seed to be sown 
 in quantity, a sample should be secured and tested in 
 the following manner : Saturate several thicknesses 
 of heavy blotting paper or pieces of calico, and fit 
 them into the bottoms of plates or other suitable 
 vessels. Count out i oo average seeds of each sample 
 and distribute them over the paper or calico. Cover 
 each plate with a sheet of glass and keep in a warm 
 place. See that the paper or calico is kept just nicely 
 moist. Watch carefully and note : i , How soon the 
 seeds begin to sprout ; 2, Do they germinate evenly; 
 3, The percentage of seeds that grow. Good seed 
 will germinate quickly and evenly with few failures. 
 
 Examine for purity. A little practice and very 
 careful observation will make the farmer or gardener 
 familiar with the characteristics of each variety of 
 seed, and it will pay him to study this matter in 
 connection with any kind of seed he is depending on 
 for a staple crop. Lucerne seed should always be 
 examined with a lens, and a sharp look out should be 
 kept for dodder. Any new sample of seed should 
 be carefully examined to see whether the type of 
 grain is uniform. So much depends on seed that it 
 is a sound principle to adapt the old saying to 
 read, " Test and try before you buy." 
 
 Seed reciuired for an acre of ground. The following 
 quantities of commercial seeds required to sow or 
 plant an acre of ground are those usually advised. 
 In considering them it is necessary to remember that 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 233 
 
 the farmer as well as the gardener finds it advisable 
 to sow at least four times the quantity actually 
 necessary. He does this to provide for various con- 
 tingencies, such as : Defective seed ; too deep or too 
 shallow planting ; unfavourable conditions ; loss from 
 pests of various kinds, and other contingencies. Thus 
 the usual quantity of seed wheat used throughout 
 Australia is about one bushel per acre. This is the 
 result of practical experience, but it is theoretically 
 from four to six times the actual requirements. Ten 
 pounds of good sound wheat will provide on an 
 average quite 100,000 seeds, and after allowing 
 1 2 per cent, of failures, these will provide two plants 
 for every square foot of surface, and with a fair 
 stooling variety this is more than will properly 
 mature in a good deal of our wheat country under 
 normal conditions. It is all right to plant a plot 
 with this proportion of selected seed when the con- 
 ditions are such that each seed may be fairly 
 expected to grow and mature ; but under ordinary 
 conditions the wheat grower should stick to the 
 practice proved by experience to give the best 
 average results. In the case of vegetable seed, 
 even greater allowance has to be made for con- 
 tingencies, and the table forms a fair guide for the 
 inexperienced. 
 
 Barley, i^ to 2 bushels. Cauliflower, | lb. 
 
 Beans, broad, 2 bushels. Clovers, 12 to 15 lbs. 
 
 Beans, French, ij bushels. Cucumber, | lb. 
 
 Beet, red, 5 to 6 lbs. Grasses — Rye, Cocksfoot, or 
 
 Cabbage, for transplanting, jib, mixed, i^ to 2 bushels. 
 
 Cabbage, cattle, in drills, J lbs. Hungarian Millet, 20 lbs. 
 
 Carrots, 3 to 4 lbs. Kohlrabi, 4 lbs. 
 
234 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 Linseed, ij bushels. Peas, field, 2 bushels, 
 Lucerne, for pasturing, 5 to 10 Potatoes, 7 to 10 cwts. 
 
 lbs. Pumpkins and marrows, 2 lbs. 
 Lucerne, for cutting on moist Rape, 3 to 4 lbs. 
 
 lands, 1 5 to 20 lbs. Rye, corn, 2 bushels. 
 
 Maize, i to ij bushels. Sorghum, 12 lbs. 
 
 Mangel, ,4 to 8 lbs. Sunflower, 6 lbs. 
 
 Melon, water, i^ lbs. Tares, 2 bushels. 
 
 Melon, rock, j lb. Tobacco, i oz. 
 
 Oats, for hay, 2 bushels. Turnips and Swedes, 3 to 4 lbs. 
 
 Onion, in drills, 3 lbs. Tomatoes, for transplanting, 
 Parsnip; 5 lbs. 2 ozs. 
 
 Pearl Millet, 4 lbs. Wheat, j to ij bushels. 
 Peas, garden, 2 bushels. 
 
 Table Showing the Customary Weights per Bushel 
 OF Farm Seeds. 
 Barley, 50 lbs. Oats, 40 lbs. 
 
 Beans, 60 lbs. Peas, 60 lbs. 
 
 Clover, 60 lbs. Rye, 60 lbs. 
 
 Most grass seeds, 20 lbs. Sorghum, 40 lbs. 
 
 Linseed, 56 lbs. Tares, 60 lbs. 
 
 Lucerne, 60 lbs. Wheat, 60 lbs. 
 
 Maize, 56 lbs. 
 
 Other methods of propagation. Some varieties of 
 cultivated plants either do not produce seed, or pro- 
 duce them so sparingly, that other methods of propa- 
 gation have to be adopted. Most of our best sorts 
 of fruits and many garden plants are either bud 
 variations or " sports," or are the result of cross 
 breeding and do not come true from seed. In other 
 cases the propagator desires to secure more rapid 
 maturity than can usually be got from seed. In such 
 cases plants are propagated by (a) subdivision ; {b) 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 235 
 
 suckers ; (c) layers ; {d) cuttings ; {e) grafting and 
 budding. 
 
 These operations are best taught by practical 
 demonstration. Apart from this fact, they are chiefly 
 connected with the different branches of horti- 
 culture, and are fully described and illustrated in 
 horticultural books, as well as in bulletins issued by 
 the various Departments of Agriculture. All that is 
 necessary here is to explain that all these methods 
 of' propagation are really subdivision of the parent 
 plant. All the tens of thousands of trees of the 
 l>iinn's seedling apple, often called Munro's Favourite, 
 are essentially parts of a chance seedling raised by 
 Dunn, a gardener employed by the late John M'Ewin, 
 of Glen Ewin, South Australia, in the early days of 
 that State. Mr. M'Ewin imported some apples from 
 Tasmania, and gave some to Dunn on condition he 
 planted the seeds. One of these seeds produced all 
 the Dunn's seedling apple trees now in existence. In 
 such cases the roots of other trees are used to facili- 
 tate the work of propagation ; but with some plants, 
 such as vines, every new plant is grown from a cutting, 
 essentially a part of an older one, until we get back 
 to the original seedling or sport. 
 
 The potato an example of propagation by buds. 
 Special reference should be made to the potato in 
 this connection. It is the custom to speak of the 
 potato sets as seed. They are no more seed than is 
 a vine cutting. The seed of the potato plant is in 
 the " potato apple" or fruit, which matures occasionally 
 as a result of a fertilised flower. A seed from a 
 potato fruit may produce a seedling plant having 
 
236 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 valuable characters. Such a plant may be propa- 
 gated as a named market variety and become widely 
 grown. All the millions of plants, producing 
 thousands of tons of that variety, are simply multi- 
 plications of the one parent plant, and are produced 
 from buds of the original seedling. It is both in- 
 teresting and important to clearly understand this fact, 
 because on it depends the answer to the question, why 
 varieties " run out," i.e. why varieties which become 
 popular because of their profitable characteristics 
 gradually lose them and are discarded. 
 
 To understand the problem, we must consider the 
 structure and habits of the potato plant. The seed- 
 ling grows, as does any other seedling, producing a 
 root system, stem, branches and leaves. It may or 
 may not blossom or produce seeds ; but, under culti- 
 vation, as a rule it does not. At the proper stage of 
 development, a number of underground branches grow 
 out from the stem, and on these tubers or potatoes 
 form, containing stores of nutritive materials, chiefly 
 starch, intended for the nourishment of next season's 
 tender growth. It is important to remember that 
 tubers do not grow on roots, but on underground 
 branches of the stem. 
 
 The tubers are provided with buds, which we com- 
 monly call eyes, and really correspond to cuttings or 
 buds with stores of nutritive material for their future 
 nourishment. The plant dies down and in due time 
 starts new growth from the buds, the nutritive 
 material simply serving to nourish the young growth 
 until it forms a new set of roots and leaves to carry 
 on the functions of nutrition. In the wild potato the 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 237 
 
 tubers were small. In the cultivated varieties they 
 have been enormously developed. Under ordinary 
 careless methods, the potato grower sells the tubers 
 from his best plants, and uses the inferior ones for 
 " seed " for his new crop. Is there any wonder that 
 a variety deteriorates ? 
 
 In this argument, the question of the importance 
 of imparting strength of constitution by occasional 
 cross breeding is not considered, because that is the 
 plant breeder's work. What we wish to do is to 
 impress upon the propagator of plants, by the various 
 methods of subdivision, the importance of continuous 
 selection of the most vigorous disease-resisting and 
 productive specimens for his buds, grafts, cuttings 
 and so forth. It is not too much to say that the 
 average yield of potatoes could be increased from 2 5 
 per cent, to 30 per cent, by attention to this simple 
 but very important detail. Every potato grower 
 should each season select the very best, that is, the 
 most prolific and otherwise most desirable, plants in 
 his field and save the potatoes for planting. No 
 matter what they may be worth for market purposes, 
 they will be worth more for producing a crop. On 
 no account should the potatoes from weakly non- 
 prolific or otherwise poor plants be used for planting. 
 Small potatoes from prolific plants may be used, and 
 when a prolific plant has failed to produce large 
 potatoes on account of lack of moisture the tubers 
 may be excellent for sets. Each year the tubers, 
 from a few of the very best plants in every sense, 
 should be kept separate, and each lot planted 
 separately in special plots. The resulting product of 
 
238 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 each one of the plants should be compared, and the 
 tubers from the best of the plots kept separate for a 
 special strain, while the rest are used for planting in 
 the general crop. 
 
 Such work of course involves some trouble and. 
 takes some time, but it is more expensive to omit it 
 than to do it. The grower cannot control seasons, 
 but he can so regulate his operations as to get the 
 best from either a good or a bad one. The same 
 principle applies to other crops ; but the writer has 
 selected the potato as an example, because, in no 
 Australian crop is there a greater annual percentage; 
 of loss due to careless methods, and because he has 
 practically tested the plan suggested and knows that 
 it will work out in the way indicated. No words are 
 too strong to denounce the general unbusinesslike, 
 foolish policy of selling the best and propagating 
 from the inferior plants ; or, even worse, buying a 
 " change of seed " from some one who is acting in the 
 same way. A change is only desirable when some- 
 thing better is obtained. 
 
 Improving wheat by selection. Wheat breeding is a 
 specialist's work, while the farmer's business is to grow 
 crops and secure the greatest possible return from the 
 least outlay. Therefore, unless a farmer finds pleasure 
 in the work he had better leave crossing, selection 
 and the growing of pure seed to ttiose who make 
 a speciality of it. Space will not permit of a dis- 
 cussion of the principles of selection, which are clearly 
 explained in Professor De Vries' excellent work. 
 Plant Breeding. What we wish to do is to explain, 
 as clearly and as concisely as possible, how the farmer, 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 
 
 239 
 
 willing to take the trouble, should proceed in the 
 practical work of selecting the best pure types of the 
 commonly-grown varieties found most suitable for 
 
 A 32 Bushel Crop of Square Head Wheat on Virgin 
 
 Forest Land. 
 
 "Scratched" (worked with a spring tooth cultivator) and drilled with 
 
 56 lb. superphosphates. Western Australia. 
 
 his particular condition. The yearly loss from grow- 
 ing mixed inferior seed on Australian farms is 
 
240 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 enormous, certainly amounting to a million sterling 
 a year. If the farmer goes no further, he should at 
 least grade his seed wheat and sow only perfect 
 well-developed grains. But he should do more. He 
 should either take the trouble to specially grow pure 
 seed or contract for his supplies with a reliable farmer 
 in the district, who makes growing pure seed wheat 
 a speciality. 
 
 There is no need to procure seed from a distant 
 district. The old idea of the advantage of a " change 
 of seed " has been proved to be erroneous when sub- 
 jected to exact test. Of course, good seed from 
 another district is better than poor seed grown on 
 one's own farm or neighbourhood, but, given seed of 
 equal quality, the local seed is more likely to give 
 good results than that from a locality far away, and 
 having a different climate. There is no need for 
 varieties to run out. 
 
 Selecting pure types. All work in connection with 
 growing pure improved seed should begin with indi- 
 vidual plants. This is the fundamental principle. 
 The product of each one of these selected plants 
 should be kept separate from the beginning to the 
 end. In this way only can an absolutely pure strain 
 be secured. The old plan, still frequently recom- 
 mended, is to select enough fine ears from a crop to 
 produce a bushel of graded seed with which to sow an 
 acre of clean land. From this acre enough of the 
 finest ears are again selected to produce a bushel of 
 graded seed, while the balance is used for sowing 
 a special field to produce seed for the main crop. 
 Each year the process of selection has to be con- 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 241 
 
 tinued, and, without doubt, the result is a vast 
 improvement in the yield, and in the end it produces 
 a fairly even type by the elimination of the unlike. 
 It is a laborious, tedious method, wrong in principle. 
 By actual test, the writer found that it required 
 between eight and nine bushels, by measure of wheat 
 ears, to produce 65 pounds of grain, which would 
 grade down to a bushel or less of graded seed. This 
 means that the farmer must gather three sacks, or say, 
 10,000 selected ears, hand thresh them, hand clean 
 and hand grade that quantity each season, to keep 
 up his selection work, and in the end is not likely to 
 get a pure strain. 
 
 The pure pedigree system. Dr. H. Nilsson, Director 
 of the Swedish Agricultural Experiment Station at 
 Svalof, and Willet M. Hays, of the United States 
 Department of Agriculture, have demonstrated that 
 the old method was wrong in principle, and have 
 worked out more simple, as well as perfectly reliable, 
 methods of accomplishing the object in view. 
 Nilsson's method is fully explained in De Vries' 
 work. Plant Breeding. In the same work Hays 
 method is outlined, and it is set out in detail in 
 Bulletin 62, Agricultural Experiment Station, Minne- 
 sota, 1899. We will not deal with it further than 
 to say that, having selected a considerable number of 
 types. Hays sowed selected seeds of each plant 
 separately, and judged their value by the yielding 
 capacity in the next generation of one hundred 
 selected grains. 
 
 Nilsson started on the old plan and found it failed 
 to secure the purpose sought. He discovered that 
 
 G.A. Q 
 
242 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 varieties are neither pure nor uniform, but that, in any 
 field of a given variety, there will be found a great 
 number of strains or elementary forms. He proved 
 that the true method of improvement was the selection 
 of single excellent individual plants, and that, if not 
 hybrids, they will yield a constant and uniform 
 progeny. The method had been used long before by 
 several Englishmen, but it was not recognised as a 
 principle. Nilsson proved that, having made the right 
 initial selection of the best single ear, further selection 
 from the progeny was unnecessary, for the uniformity 
 was such that another selection was simply impossible. 
 All that was afterwards necessary was to keep the 
 isolated type free from accidental admixtures and 
 multiply as rapidly as possible. Occasionally a single 
 specimen will sport and deviate from the main type. 
 Any such .plant should be separated, and, if good, be 
 tested by itself Accidental hybrids may also rarely 
 occur and may give rise to valuable new strains. 
 
 The practical application. A practical application 
 of Dr. Nilsson's method, suitable for the interested 
 practical farmer, may be outlined as follows : 
 
 At harvest time select a few of the finest plants in 
 the crop, taking the whole plant in each case. In 
 making this selection the farmer should be guided by 
 practical considerations only. The selected plants 
 should possess as many as possible of the qualities 
 desired in a good profitable wheat. To merely select 
 the finest ears may be far from securing the most 
 prolific strain, because these fine ears may be the 
 product of plants having only one or two stalks. 
 Free stooling is not a characteristic of early varieties 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 243 
 
 such as are necessary for districts with a short rain- 
 fall, but it is a desirable quality provided that, in 
 securing it, others are not lost. One ear may have 
 I OO grains, but, if that is all the plant produced, it is 
 by no means as prolific as a plant with five ears 
 averaging 60 grains. The oft-recommended plan of 
 selecting enough of the finest typical ears takes no 
 account of other characters, and may easily result, for 
 example, in the production of poor tillering strains. 
 It may be that a strain, averaging two good ears, 
 possesses qualities rendering it of special value, our 
 present point being merely to emphasise the fact 
 that merely to select for large typical ears is not 
 sufficient. 
 
 In considering the qualities most desirable in the 
 plants to be selected, each farmer will have to take 
 into consideration the requirements of his own district, 
 or, it may be, of his own farm. Heavy yielding is 
 the first consideration, provided it is not discounted 
 by accompanying undesirable qualities. As a farmer 
 will only, as a rule, select from a variety proved 
 generally suitable for his conditions, his task is to 
 select the plants from that variety which, in his 
 practical judgment, possesses the desired qualities 
 above the average. In an early variety no selected 
 plant should be later than the average, and, if earlier, 
 so much the better. It should be prolific, have 
 strong straw which will not go down where growing 
 vigorously or break with the wind when ripe. The 
 ears should not only be large and full but hold the 
 grain well. As a rule the plant with the largest 
 number of large fully-developed ears, other qualities 
 
244 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 being present, is tiie one to select. In selecting such 
 plants it is important to see that they are growing 
 under normal conditions in full competition with their 
 fellows. 
 
 Having made the selections, they can be compared 
 and a re-selection made. The five or ten best should 
 be placed in order, the ears should be cut off, rubbed 
 out, imperfect grains discarded and the balance put 
 in an envelope, tin or bottle, labelled like this, — 
 Federation, No. i Selection, 19 12, and so on up to 
 five or ten. The product of each plant should be 
 sown in a plot by itself For very special work, the 
 best grains from the best ears of the best plants only 
 may be sown, but to take the whole product of a 
 plant is a much more rapid process, and normally the 
 whole of the progeny will have the characteristics of 
 the selected plant. Careful inspection of the plots 
 will show which of the five or ten selected strains 
 has the greatest value, and this is the plot to be 
 chosen for rapid propagation. 
 
 After the five or ten best plants have been selected 
 for individual test, the balance may well be threshed 
 out and the seed used for a general plot, to secure 
 quick return of good selected mixed seed. Suppose 
 only five special plants were kept separate the farmer 
 would have six plots, five small ones and one large 
 one. The second season if he found, as he almost 
 certainly would, that one of the five possessed special 
 merit, he could mix the progeny of the other four- 
 with that of the large plot for improved mixed seed. 
 The man who takes an interest in the improvement 
 of wheat will naturally continue to make selections 
 
THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 245 
 
 each year ; but our purpose is to avoid making the 
 work appear too tedious. The plan outlined will be 
 found to give definite profitable results in accord with 
 the most modern principles ; and, at the same time, 
 necessitates less trouble than that usually recom- 
 mended. 
 
 Application to other crops. The same principle of 
 selection applies equally well to any self-fertilising 
 crop, such as oats, barley and rye ; but it does not 
 give the same results in connection with plants which 
 are cross fertilised. Work of this nature is urgently 
 required in connection with the varieties of oats com- 
 monly grown in Australia It is also important that 
 it should be done in connection with field peas. 
 Tedin's work, as outlined by Professor De Vries, 
 shows that there are immense possibilities in various 
 directions. The value of the pea crop is very little 
 appreciated by Australian farmers, except in Tas- 
 mania and a few of the districts of the mainland. 
 The plant grows well over a very considerable extent 
 of the wetter wheat areas ; but its fruiting is unre- 
 liable. The work done at Svalof indicates that there 
 is no reason why varieties should not be selected 
 from those in cultivation which would prove reliable 
 croppers where the pea is now supposed to be an im- 
 possible crop. When the value of the pea crop as 
 a soil renovator, and as a feed for sheep in the 
 dry summer months is considered, the value of such 
 work is seen. There is no finer field for profitable 
 work of a national character than in connection with 
 this crop. Tedin has been able to distinguish 500 
 different strains of peas which have proven constant 
 
246 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 in his pedigree culture, and out of such a number is 
 it not probable that at least one will prove suitable 
 for our wheat areas ? 
 
 Association of characters. In connection with the 
 work of selection of the best strains of valuable farm 
 crops, a few words should be said in explanation of 
 a principle which has only recently been discovered ; 
 but which is all important in connection with the 
 work of plant selection. De Vries says : " Experi- 
 ence has taught that qualities are often associated 
 with one another by distinct laws, and that a 
 knowledge of these laws may give us a power over 
 them, greater than any man has hitherto aspired to." 
 
 This association of characters is well known to 
 stock-breeders. The horse judge considers the 
 animal's head, because he knows that certain char- 
 acters there indicate qualities in the animal which 
 he desires it to possess. A still more striking ex- 
 ample of the principle is the importance which the 
 selector of dairy cattle pays to the size and character 
 of the escutcheon as an indication of milking qualities. 
 
 Luther Burbank, the great Californian plant 
 breeder, owes much of his success to his being able to 
 see the relation between characters in the foliage of 
 his seedlings and what he expects in the flowers and 
 fruit. The ordinary gardener must wait for the 
 plants to mature. Burbank makes his selections by 
 an intuitive or accumulated experience. Nilsson has 
 discovered that he can select varieties of cereals which 
 will have a desired quality, because they possess 
 some peculiar character which indicates the hidden 
 one he is looking for. For example, he desired to 
 
THE PEOPAGATION OF PLANTS 247 
 
 obtain a variety of malting barley sufficiently strong 
 in the straw to resist unfavourable climatic conditions. 
 He worked for years endeavouring to improve recog- 
 nised varieties of Chevalier barley and failed. A 
 minute study of the botanical characters of other 
 sorts of strong straw barleys led him to discover a 
 relation between the forms and hairiness of the ears, 
 spikelets and scales, and the desired qualities in 
 brewer's barley. He examined tens of thousands of 
 strong barley plants, and selected some sixty with 
 the related characters for comparative trial. After 
 several years of testing, keeping each pure, he selected 
 one of these which best combined the qualities of 
 fine brewer's barley with strong straw. From this 
 one plant a new race of brewing barley, called Primus 
 barley, has been developed, and is now very widely 
 grown in Sweden. 
 
 Professor De Vries shows that " insignificant char- 
 acters or organs may show us the way and guide us 
 in our selection." In all this work of selection the 
 essential point is that any commonly-recognised 
 variety of farm crop, say the dun pea, Algerian oat. 
 Cape barley, and purple straw wheat, " really consists 
 of numerous elementary species which are quite dis- 
 tinct from one another." It is the business of the 
 agriculturist to select from these those best suited for 
 his purpose and breed pure strains. The individual 
 plant is the only basis for so doing, and a close study 
 of one set of characters may guide him in select- 
 ing rightly the individual possessing other desired 
 characteristics. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 
 
 Genetics. Genetics is a comparatively new word 
 coming into general use largely as a result of the 
 spread of the principles of Mendelism. " It is the 
 term applied to the experimental study of heredity 
 and variation in animals and plants, and the main 
 concern of its students is the establishing of law 
 and order among the phenomena there encountered " 
 (Punnett). It is altogether too vast a subject for 
 anything but the most rudimentary treatment ; but 
 a modern text book on the principles of agriculture 
 would be incomplete without an endeavour to give 
 the student a clear, if elementary, idea of Mendelism, 
 and its bearing on the practical work of the stock- 
 breeder and farmer. 
 
 The stock-breeder's interest in the laws of heredity 
 is known to all, but it is not generally recognised 
 that wheat farmers, fruit growers, and by no means 
 least, horticulturists are also dependent on the 
 same principles for improvements in their crops. 
 Plant breeding, like stock breeding, is and will always 
 be a special department of the science and practice 
 of agriculture depending for success on particular 
 aptitude which is an inherited quality ; but which, 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 249 
 
 like other characteristics, must be developed. Given 
 i the natural aptitude, success will depend on training 
 and a knowledge of the laws of heredity as far as 
 they are known. 
 
 The famous stock breeders, such as Bates, Booth 
 and Bakewell knew nothing of Mendelism ; but they 
 had an intuitive insight which, coupled with experi- 
 ence, led them to apply some of the principles. The 
 same may be said of the plant breeders, including 
 Luther Burbank, who have enriched the world by 
 producing more beautiful and more useful varieties 
 of plants. The old method, which is still the general 
 custom, was to improve crops and animals by select- 
 ing the best individuals for breeding purposes. For 
 the ordinary farmer the importance of this method 
 cannot well be over-estimated. It does not produce 
 anything new. but it eliminates inferior strains and 
 preserves the most proii table. It does more than 
 this, for it secures the permanency of any valuable 
 mutation which may at any time occur in a herd, 
 a flock or a crop. 
 
 Mutations. Darwin taught that there is constant 
 variation in the animals and plants classed as one 
 species, that a variation giving an individual a special 
 advantage over its fellows in the struggle for existence 
 was most likely to survive and propagate its charac- 
 teristics, and so very gradually new varieties arose, 
 and from these new species would be developed. The 
 process was supposed to be very gradual. De Vries 
 has shown that pronounced variations arise suddenly 
 and are permanent. These he calls mutations. Many 
 of our garden varieties of plants have arisen in this 
 
250 AUSTRALL4N AGRICULTURE 
 
 way, and there is no doubt that it is to this law that 
 we owe many strains of our domestic animals. In 
 common language such mutations are called sports, 
 and one is tempted to discuss the matter at length. 
 Space forbids, but, it may be laid down as good 
 general advice that the stock breeder, wheat grower, 
 general farmer, fruit grower and gardener should 
 always be on the look out for mutations possessing 
 apparent valuable characters, and should test their 
 value. Some years ago the writer, in inspecting a 
 block of Rome Beauty apple trees, noticed a bud 
 sport, or mutation, on one tree which had given rise to 
 a small branch bearing apples, typical of the variety 
 in every way but one. The eight apples on this 
 branch, instead of being streaked with red, were all a 
 deep rich red colour. The branch was marked, an 
 old tree was cut down in the season and grafted with 
 wood from the branch, and when it came into bearing 
 the red character came true. The apple is now on 
 the market as a commercial variety. There is little 
 doubt but that the currant and sultana seedless 
 grapes, navel oranges, and other commercial varieties 
 of plants originated in this way generations ago. 
 The law holds good with stock, and many of our 
 noted strains owe their origin to a particular sire 
 with specially valuable and prepotent qualities. 
 
 Cross breeding. Cross breeding among domestic 
 animals has been practised from time immemorial, 
 mules being mentioned in the early pages of history. 
 When the cross is between two animals so distinct as 
 to be recognised as species, the progeny are known as 
 hybrids, and are often barren. Indeed the power to 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 251 
 
 interbreed and produce fertile offspring is recognised 
 as the correct test between varieties and natural 
 species. When the cross is between varieties or 
 breeds of the one species the offspring are crossbreds. 
 In domestic animals and cultivated plants the dis- 
 tinction between species and varieties or breeds is 
 much less clear than among those not brought un^er 
 the control of man, and the terms, hybrid and cross- 
 bred, are so often used interchangeably that it seems 
 practically useless to try to make a distinction. 
 
 By cross breeding and subsequent careful selection 
 new strains of the various breeds of domestic animals 
 and varieties of plants have been produced possessing 
 the more valuable characteristics of the original parents. 
 
 Male and female germ cells. The reproduction of 
 animals and plants is a wonderful, and in some 
 respects still a mysterious process ; but it may be 
 definitely stated that there is no essential difference 
 between animals and plants, so far as the main prin- 
 ciples of reproduction are concerned. In every 
 typical case the germ which produces the new life is 
 formed by the uniting of what are commonly called 
 male and female cells. In the case of plants, the 
 female cells are the ovules which are to be found in 
 the ovary below or in the centre of a flower, and the 
 male cells are contained in the grains of pollen with 
 which every reader is familiar as the yellow powder 
 contained in the little club heads of the stamens of 
 the flower. The corresponding cells among animals 
 are the ovum of the female and the spermatozoon of 
 the male. 
 
 When a suitable male and female cell come 
 
252 AUSTRALIAN AGEICULTURE 
 
 together under favourable conditions, they unite and 
 combine into one new cell, which is the beginning of 
 a new life. In the case of birds and reptiles, the 
 mother provides the embryo thus formed with a 
 supply of nourishment sufficient to support it in the 
 early periods of its development ; and the embryo 
 with the food supply enclosed in a shell or tough 
 skin is known as an egg. In the case of plants the 
 mother plant provides the embryo with a supply 
 of nourishment and encloses it in a protective coat, 
 and the result is called a seed. In mammals the 
 embryo is parasitic upon its mother during the early 
 stages of its growth, and it continues to so live until 
 sufficiently developed to maintain a separate exist- 
 ence. It is important to remember that the seed of 
 a plant, just as much as the egg of a bird, is a new 
 generation, only wanting sufficient time and suitable 
 surroundings for its development. The beginning of 
 the new generation is the uniting of the male and 
 female germ cells. 
 
 Gametes and zygotes. The separate male and 
 female cells which are capable of uniting to form the 
 beginning of the new generation are called gametes, 
 or marrying cells. The female gametes are called 
 ovules when they belong to plants, and ova when 
 they belong to animals. The male gametes are 
 called spermatozoa when they belong to animals, and 
 pollen grains when they belong to plants. When 
 the gametes are fused or yoked together into a new 
 cell the new individual is called a zygote. 
 
 It will be noted that, as the zygote arises from 
 the fusion of two separate gametes, the new life so 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 253 
 
 formed must be regarded as of double structure. 
 This is important, because in connection with the 
 Mendelian conception, when the zygote in its turn 
 comes to form gametes, the partnership is broken 
 and the process is reversed. Professor Punnett says : 
 " The Hfe cycle of a species from among the higher 
 plants or animals may be regarded as falling into 
 three periods : ( I ) a period of isolation in the form 
 of gametes, each a living unit incapable of further 
 development without intimate association with another 
 produced by the opposite sex ; (2) a period of asso- 
 ciation in which two gametes become yoked together 
 in a zygote and react upon one another to give rise 
 by a process of cell division to what we ordinarily 
 term an individual, with all its various attributes and 
 properties; and (3) a period of disassociation when the 
 single structured gametes separate out from that por- 
 tion of the double structured zygote which constitutes 
 its generative gland." 
 
 Mendelism. What is familiarly known as Mendelism 
 is simply the explanation of the results produced by 
 cross breeding. The word is a deserving memorial 
 of the work of Abbot Gregor Mendel, who discovered 
 the governing principle of cross breeding and pub- 
 lished it in 1865. It remained unknown to the world 
 until 1900, when De Vries and two other investiga- 
 tors published papers giving the substance of Mendel's 
 long forgotten treatise and confirmed it by their own 
 experience. Professor Bateson published it, with 
 modification, in 1902, and he is to-day the leading 
 English exponent of the great discovery. What is 
 here said is based on his work, Mendel's Principles 
 
254 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 of Heredity, published in 1909, and Professor Pun- 
 nett's more popular book, Mendelism, to which the 
 reader desiring further information is referred. Men- 
 del's Laws have explained some of the hitherto 
 obscure results of breeders, and are without doubt 
 destined to exercise a powerful influence on the 
 practice of breeding of plants and animals. In con- 
 nection with plant breeding they have already done 
 wonders. Instead of taking from ten to twenty years 
 to fix a type of cross-bred wheat, Professor Biffin 
 of Cambridge has proved that the work can be done 
 more certainly in three or four generations. 
 
 In the case of animals, while remarkable results 
 have been achieved, the slowness of breeding and the 
 complexity of characters render it necessary that 
 many years must pass by before working laws are 
 elaborated. All that at present can be stated with 
 certainty is that Mendel's Laws do explain many facts 
 which have hitherto been a puzzle, and promise in 
 time to replace fair certainty for mere guesswork. 
 
 There are three important principles involved in 
 Mendelism, which are sometimes called Mendel's 
 Laws: 
 
 I. The law of dominance. Mendel worked out his 
 theory by cross breeding peas. He found that if he 
 crossed tall peas with dwarf peas, the progeny were 
 all tall. This generation is now called F. i. From 
 the fact that tallness obliterated dwarfness in this 
 first cross Mendel called it the Dominant character, 
 and because the dwarf character was hidden he called 
 it Kecessive. 
 
 The tall pea plants of the F.i generation were 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 255 
 
 allowed to produce seed by self-fertilisation. All the 
 seeds were carefully saved and when sown produced 
 the F.2 generation. These invariably proved to be 
 mixed. This fact is familiar enough, but Mendel 
 carefully classified them for tallness and dwarfness 
 and found that there were three tails to one dwarf, or 
 75 per cent, dominants and 25 per cent, recessives. 
 It must not be overlooked that he was dealing with 
 two easily recognised characters. 
 
 These were again allowed to fertilise themselves 
 and the offspring of each plant was sown separately. 
 Sowing the seeds of each plant by itself is the important 
 point in practical work in cross breeding. This genera- 
 tion is called F.3. Mendel found, and his results 
 have been checked by hundreds of others, that the 
 seeds of the recessives of the F.2 invariably produce 
 recessives in F.3 generation, and they continue to do 
 so in succeeding generations, in other words they are 
 pure bred in regard to the particular character being 
 considered. 
 
 In the case of the dominants of F.2 the case was 
 different. When the seeds grew it was found that in 
 the F.3 generation the progeny of some of the F.2 
 tails (or dominants) produced tails only, and continued 
 to do so in the following generations. In other 
 words, some of the tails of the F.2 generation bred 
 true and some did not ; and calculation showed that 
 the proportion of impure to pure was two to one. 
 The two-thirds of the tall or dominants of the F.2 
 generation which did not come true produced tails 
 and dwarfs in the proportion of three to one in the 
 F.3 generation. The dwarfs, or recessives, of this 
 
256 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 generation continued to breed true, while the tails, or 
 dominants, repeated the process in the succeeding 
 generations. 
 
 Therefore, the whole of the F.2 generation, pro- 
 duced by self-fertilisation of the original crossbreds, 
 consisted of three kinds of plants : 
 
 25 per cent. 50 per cent. 25 per cent. 
 
 Pure dominants. Impure dominants. Pure recessive. 
 
 V J 
 
 V 
 
 or 3 dominants : I recessive. 
 
 " The result is just what would be expected if both 
 the male and female germ-cells of the cross bred F. i 
 were in equal numbers bearers of either the dominant 
 (D) or the recessive (R) character, but not both. If 
 this were so, and if the union of the male and female 
 germ-cells occurs at random, the result would be an 
 F2 family made up of 
 
 25 DD : 25 DR : 25 R D : 25 RR 
 3D : iR. 
 
 But, as the first cross showed, when D meets R in 
 fertilisation the resulting individual is in appearance 
 D : therefore the F.2 generation appears as 3D to iR. 
 The results of the F3 generation are in exact agree- 
 ment with this suggestion : for the R plants produce 
 R only : and of the D plants one-third give D only, 
 while two-thirds appear as dominants ; but when 
 grown in the next generation again produce the same 
 proportions of D and R. 
 
 The recessives always come true, and one-third of 
 the dominants also come true, while two-thirds of the 
 dominants are the same mixture. 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 257 
 
 The result is represented diagrammatically thus : 
 Parents Tall (T T) x Short (t t) 
 
 Fj generation 
 
 Tall (Tt) 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 F2 Tall(TT) 
 Pure tall. 
 
 1 
 Tan(Tt) 
 
 1 1 
 Tall(tT) Short (tt) 
 Pure short. 
 
 ! 1 
 
 F3 T T T t 
 
 1 1 
 tT tt 
 
 1 1 1 1 
 TT Tt tT tt 
 
 The same result follows in each succeeding 
 generation. The pure tails (T T) and the pure 
 shorts (t t) come true : and the mixtures continue to 
 give the results above shown. 
 
 2. The law of segregation. From the above obser- 
 vations, which were repeated in regard to various 
 pairs of distinct characters, Mendel concluded that the 
 male and female germ cells of the F. i generation 
 were bearers in equal numbers of either the dominant 
 or recessive characters, but not of both. The fer- 
 tilised ovum, or zygote, formed by the original cross, 
 was made by the union of two germ cells or gametes 
 bearing respectively tallness and dwarfness. Both 
 these elements entered into the composition of the 
 original F. i zygote ; but if the germ cells which that 
 zygote eventually forms are bearers of either tallness 
 or dwarfness, there must, at some stage in the process 
 of the formation of the new germ, be a separation of 
 the two characters. 
 
 This phenomenon, the separation of the characters 
 from each other in the course of the formation of the 
 
258 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 germs, is called segregation. This fact was the 
 essential discovery which Mendel made, and it is now 
 known to be one of the normal phenomena of nature. 
 It is the foundation of heredity. Knowing that each 
 male and female germ is complex, and contains a 
 number of unit characters, we are able to realise that 
 when these are united into one which develops into 
 a new life, its nature will depend on the segregation 
 or re-arrangement of the original units. The " Law 
 of Dominance " led to the discovery of the principle of 
 segregation which explains it ; but the dominance 
 of certain characters is not an essential principle of 
 Mendelian heredity. Segregation always applies even 
 when there is no appearance of a dominant charac- 
 teristic. It is recognised that sometimes a character 
 may behave as a dominant and sometimes not, and 
 that we are as yet only on the threshold of under- 
 standing the working of the principles of segregation. 
 3. The law of recombination. The discovery of the 
 principle of segregation was necessary to explain 
 the fact of dominance, and it just as easily leads to the 
 law of recombination. We have seen that the male 
 and female germs are not simple, but are composed 
 of various unit characters, which, in the production of 
 the new germ, undergo the process of segregation. 
 On the manner in which they recombine will depend 
 the character of the resulting offspring. The law of 
 segregation supposes that each pair of unit characters 
 combines without reference to any other pair. Mendel 
 applied his method of study to seven distinct charac- 
 ters in peas, and found that in each pair the inheri- 
 tance was similar. Wherever the plant or animal 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 259 
 
 breeder is dealing with two distinctive ciiaracters, his 
 course is fairly clear, because, in regard to these, the 
 gametes, or germ cells, are of two kinds only, and, in 
 combination, they will act as in the case of tallness 
 and dwarfness in peas. 
 
 The importance of this fact is seen when it is 
 stated that purity of type is solely dependent on 
 gametic segregation and has nothing to do with the 
 prolonged course of selection, as was and is believed by 
 most stock breeders. The principles of Mendelism 
 prove without any doubt whatever, the apparent para- 
 dox, that "an organism may be pure bred in respect of a 
 given character, though its parents were cross bred 
 in the same respect. Purity depends on the meeting 
 of two gametes bearing similar factors, and when two 
 similarly constituted gametes do thus meet in fertili- 
 sation, the product of their union is pure." Too 
 much must not be understood from this quotation, 
 for it is evident that an individual may be pure in 
 respect to one character, and cross bred, or impure, 
 in respect of others. 
 
 The practical application of Mendelism. It is com- 
 paratively easy to show the plant breeder that a 
 knowledge of the Principles of Mendelism will assist 
 him ; but it is not so with the stock breeder, who 
 asks, What is its practical economical value to me in 
 my work ? It is admitted that Mendelism cannot 
 at present afford the breeder of show stock much, if 
 any, assistance, but it undoubtedly offers suggestive 
 help to the breeder seeking improvement by crossing. 
 
 The breeder knows that heredity is the basis of 
 his work. Therefore he must recognise that any 
 
260 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 contribution to a more exact knowledge of what 
 heredity is must prove of service to him. Aheady 
 some striking resuUs have been obtained. We know 
 that heredity is a question of individuals, and that 
 similarity of appearance in parents is no sure guide 
 as to what the progeny will be like. The important 
 
 Remains of an Old-Tihie Stockyard. 
 
 point in cross-breeding is to consider the individual. 
 This applies to the selection of parent stock, but 
 particularly to the progeny. In the ca.se of plants 
 resulting from a cross, the seed of each individual 
 plant of the F. i generation must be kept separate 
 and sown by itself However much alike two plants 
 may look, their seed must not be mixed ; and, if they 
 come true in the second or F.2 generation, they may 
 be depended upon to continue to breed true. In 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 261 
 
 other words : " every possible variety arising from a 
 cross appears in the F.2 generation, if only a sufficient 
 number is raised, and of all these different varieties a 
 certain proportion of each is already fixed." The 
 plant breeder is thus saved much labour, and is able 
 to fix his varieties in the shortest possible time. 
 The value of this fact in connection with raising new 
 varieties of wheat, oats, barley, peas, etc., is very great. 
 
 Another important result of Mendelian breeding 
 proves that the increased vigour which comes from a 
 cross may be obtained without losing the purity of 
 the old strain. Punnett says : " Most breeders are 
 fully alive to the beneficial results of a cross so far 
 as vigour is concerned, but they often hesitate to 
 embark upon it owing to what was held to be the 
 inevitably lengthy and laborious business of recover- 
 ing the original variety and fixing it, even if in the 
 process it was not altogether lost. That danger; 
 Mendelism has removed, and we now know that by 
 working on these lines it is possible in three or four 
 generations to recover the original variety in a fixed 
 state, with all the superadded vigour that follows 
 from a cross." 
 
 The difficulty with regard to breeding animals is 
 very much greater, but it has been clearly shown 
 that the same principles hold good here also, and 
 again quoting from Professor Punnett : " There is no 
 reason why the process of analysis, though more 
 troublesome, should not be effectively carried out. 
 At the same time, it affords the breeder a rational 
 basis for some familiar but puzzling phenomena. 
 The fact, for instance, that certain characters often 
 
262 
 
 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 skip a generation, is simply the effect of dominance 
 in F. I , and the reappearance of the recessive char- 
 acter in the following generation. " Reversion " and 
 " atavism," again, are phenomena which are no longer 
 m)'sterious, but can be simply expressed in Men- 
 delian terms. The occasional appearance of a sport 
 
 A MODHKN StOCKVARO, WinCII HAS TAKEN THE PLACE 
 OF THE OlD-TiMER. 
 
 in a supposedly pure strain is often due to the reap- 
 pearance of a recessive character. Thus, even in the 
 most highly pedigreed strains of polled cattle, such 
 as the Aberdeen-Angus, occasional individuals with 
 horns appear. The polled character is dominant to 
 the horned, and the occasional reappearance of the 
 horned animal is due to the fact that some of the 
 polled herd are heterozygous in this character. 
 When two such individuals are mated, the chances 
 
PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 263 
 
 are one in four that the offspring will be horned. 
 Though the heterozygous individuals may be indis- 
 tinguishable in appearance from the pure dominant, 
 they can be readily separated by the breeding test. 
 For when crossed by the recessive, in this case 
 horned animals, the pure dominant gives only polled 
 beasts, while the heterozygous individual gives equal 
 numbers of polled and horned ones. 
 
 " Suppose that a breeder has a chestnut mare and 
 wishes to make certain of a bay foal from her. We 
 know that bay is dominant to chestnut, and that if a 
 homozygous bay stallion is used, a bay foal must 
 result. In his choice of a sire, therefore, the breeder 
 must be guided by the previous record of the animal, 
 and select one that has never given anything but 
 bays when put to either bay or chestnut mares. In 
 this way he will assure himself of a bay foal from his 
 chestnut mare, whereas if the record of the sire 
 shows that he has given chestnuts, he will be hetero- 
 zygous, and the chances of his getting a bay or a 
 chestnut out of a chestnut mare are equal. 
 
 " It is not impossible that the breeder may be 
 unwilling to test his animals by crossing them with 
 a different breed through fear that their purity may 
 be thereby impaired, and that the influence of the 
 previous cross may show itself in succeeding genera- 
 tions. He might hesitate, for instance, to test his 
 polled cows by crossing them with a horned bull for 
 fear of getting horned calves when the cows were 
 afterwards put to a polled bull of their own breed. 
 The belief in the power of a sire to influence subse- 
 quent generations, or ' telegony,' as it is sometimes 
 
264 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 called, is not uncommon, even to-day. Neverthe- 
 less, carefully conducted experiments by more than 
 one competent observer have failed to elicit a single 
 shred of unequivocal evidence in favour of the view. 
 Until we have evidence based upon experiments 
 which are capable of repetition, we may safely ignore 
 ' telegony ' as a factor in heredity." 
 
PESTS AND DISEASES. 
 
 Survival of the fittest. All are familiar with the 
 expression " the fittest will survive," but it is not 
 always remembered that " fittest " does not mean the 
 best from man's point of view, or the most highly 
 developed in the scale of evolution. Animals, as 
 well as plants, often survive, because of their de- 
 generacy, or because of their objectionable qualities. 
 Fitness, in this connection, means being adapted for 
 resisting natural enemies, and for obtaining food. To 
 eat and be eaten is one of nature's laws. The various 
 kinds of ticks which are parasitic on fowls, cattfe, 
 sheep, and other animals, are examples of fitness to 
 survive in consequence of degeneracy. The root 
 borers, which have proved so destructive in the 
 orchards at Doncaster and other places in Victoria, 
 are merely proving their fitness to survive the destruc- 
 tion of their natural food, by adapting themselves to 
 eating fruit trees instead of acacias and eucalyptus. 
 The rabbit, the sparrow, and the starling, are pests, 
 because they adapted themselves to their surround- 
 ings, and multiplied in the absence of natural enemies 
 to keep them in check. 
 
 Natural law decrees that in a condition of nature 
 
266 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 the fittest will survive. Under the conditions of 
 intense culture, the farmer, the stock breeder, the 
 fruit grower, gardener, and the amateur flower lover, 
 are each and all working against that law. In a 
 state of nature, diseases and natural enemies destroy 
 weakly plants and animals, and those only survive 
 which are able to withstand their attacks, and so in 
 the course of ages a condition of stable equilibrium 
 is produced, which is only occasionally upset by 
 extraordinary means, such, for example, as by a 
 strange disease or a new enemy. 
 
 Artificial conditions. Our domestic animals and 
 cultivated plants are, on the other hand, always in a 
 condition of unstable equilibrium. Nature's standard 
 of fitness is the power to survive the hundred and one 
 diseases and foes. Man's standard is the possession 
 of useful or desired qualities, some of which, not in- 
 frequently, are really evidence of weakly constitution 
 and natural unfitness. Everyone knows how unsuited 
 a plant reared and forced in a hot-house is for with- 
 standing the ordinary conditions of the outdoor garden. 
 In the same way a pampered pet poodle or other 
 fancy dog is as unfit to live under the ordinary con- 
 ditions of domestic dog life, as the average dog is to 
 capture his living and survive the vicissitudes of the 
 bush. In the same way the cultivated plants of our 
 farms, orchards and gardens are quite as unfitted for 
 the struggle for life under purely natural conditions 
 as are hot-house plants for living in the open garden, 
 or the domestic dog for winning a living in the forest. 
 If all the domestic dogs were turned adrift those 
 nearest to the wild dog in character would survive, 
 
PESTS AND DISEASES 267 
 
 but their characters would change. In the same way 
 if a cultivated garden were left to nature, those plants 
 most suited to the conditions of climate, soil and sur- 
 roundings, would continue to propagate themselves, 
 but would lose their fine cultivated characters, and 
 the most highly esteemed varieties, such as the 
 Washington navel orange, would die out in a few 
 years. 
 
 Why pests and diseases have to he fought. It is very 
 necessary that the farmer, orchardist, gardener, or 
 stockman should remember the above principle in 
 order that he may understand the liability of his 
 crops to disease, and the ravages of parasitic foes 
 which are ever ready for attack, and under favourable 
 conditions often not easily distinguishable by the 
 cultivator, assume the proportions of epidemics. 
 
 In a few words, the cultivator of crops, be they 
 vegetable or animal, field or garden, big stock or 
 poultry, must remember that he is carrying on his 
 work under artificial conditions, or under a state of 
 unstable equilibrium, which is constantly being upset, 
 and so he must as constantly adopt means for main- 
 taining the conditions which are profitable to him. 
 To this end he must remember : 
 
 1. That prevention is better than cure. 
 
 2. That the more vigorous and healthy his plants 
 or animals are the better are they able to withstand 
 diseases and ward off the attacks of pests. 
 
 3. That in combating diseases and pests it is 
 usually the first step which tells, so that the worker 
 should not wait for an enemy to gain a firm footing 
 before he adopts remedial measures. 
 
268 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 4. Endeavour to restore the balance by the pro- 
 tection of natural enemies, insectivorous birds, pre- 
 daceous and parasitic insects ; and the cautious 
 introduction of natural enemies and parasitic insects 
 from the countries from which the pests came. 
 
 Cause and effect. The present subject is a difficult 
 one to deal with briefly, accurately, and yet simply, 
 because it is almost impossible to avoid confusion 
 over cause and effect. Many of the troubles, loosely 
 called diseases, with which the stock raiser, farmer, 
 fruit grower and gardener has to contend with are 
 merely the results of parasitic attacks. He is familiar 
 with the effect, but the cause is hidden and often not 
 known. A dog or a horse is affected with mange : 
 the appearance and the effect of the disease are 
 apparent and the owner desires a remedy. It is easy 
 to prescribe the recognised treatment without touch- 
 ing the all-important fact that the disease as seen is 
 merely the effect of a minute skin parasite. When 
 the cause is understood the treatment becomes intel- 
 ligible. 
 
 The farmer's wheat crop is affected with smut, and 
 he is told to pickle his seed with sulphate of copper 
 or formalin. He follows directions, but may find his 
 next crop affected simply because, through not under- 
 standing that the disease is caused by a fungus which 
 grows from a spore, and enters the tiny young plant 
 and lives inside it, he has allowed his seed to become 
 again infected with smut spores. The apple grower 
 finds his apple trees unhealthy and his crop mal- 
 formed, cracked, and more or less covered with black 
 spots and scabs. This is the effect, the cause is a 
 
PESTS AND DISEASES 269 
 
 parasitic fungus called fusicladium. When he under- 
 stands the nature of the disease, he realises the neces- 
 sity of spraying his trees with Bordeaux mixture in 
 the dormant season to kill the spores and so prevent 
 an attack. 
 
 We cannot in this book deal with the treatment of 
 individual diseases, nor is there any need to do so, 
 because the Agricultural Departments of the various 
 States have specialists whose duty it is to give advice 
 as required, and excellent handbooks and bulletins 
 containing particulars of the various recognised reme- 
 dies may be had for the asking. Our purpose is to 
 enable the student to more clearly understand the 
 general principles governing the combating of pests 
 and diseases affecting farm and garden crops, stock, 
 etc. 
 
 Classification of pests and diseases. For convenience, 
 we may classify the various agencies, usually called 
 pests and diseases, which have to be combated by the 
 agriculturist in his work of controlling nature for the 
 purpose of producing animal and plant crops, under 
 five heads : 
 
 I . The larger animal pests — indigenous and intro- 
 duced — such as dingoes, foxes, rabbits, hares, crows, 
 eagles, sparrows, starlings, rats, mice, etc. Some of 
 these prey on one another and on the smaller insect 
 pests, and do good as well as harm. They are not 
 in themselves obnoxious. They are part of nature's 
 system, and are pests only because they interfere with 
 man's plans for using the products of the soil for his 
 own purposes. The same argument of course applies 
 to all pests. Trapping, shooting and poison are the 
 
270 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 means generally relied on in the control of this class 
 of pests. 
 
 2. Insects and their allies and small animals which 
 prey upon the farmer's crops or render his home 
 objectionable. In this section we have snails and 
 slugs, which are molluscs ; true insects, such as 
 aphides, scale insects, plant bugs, ticks, caterpillars, 
 beetles and their larvae, fruit flies, blowflies, house flies, 
 bot flies, house bugs, cockroaches, fleas ; the minute 
 creatures which cause mange, ringworm, itch, etc., 
 and internal parasites, such as worms, fluke, hydatids 
 and so forth. 
 
 3. Injurious plants, such as poison plants, parasitic 
 plants like dodder, noxious weeds like nutgrass, star 
 thistle, Bathurst burr. Harmless but useless weeds, 
 such as stinkwort, sorrel, pimpernel, poppy, blind 
 nettle. Plants in themselves good, but, on account 
 of their free seeding and vigour, choking out or 
 causing injury to crops, such as wild oats, cockspur, 
 couch grass, etc. 
 
 4. Parasitic fungi and disease-producing bacteria. 
 In this class we have rusts and smuts, often causing 
 great injury to wheat crops ; Irish blight and other 
 diseases of the potato ; fusicladium or " black spot " 
 of the apple and pear ; peach leaf curl ; apricot shot- 
 hole or scab ; amthracnose and oidium of the vine ; 
 tomato black rot ; and numerous others affecting 
 nearly every cultivated crop. 
 
 5. Constitutional or physiological troubles. This 
 class is a convenient method of concealing our lack of 
 knowledge, when animals and plants become sick, fail 
 to thrive, or die without our being able to find a reason. 
 
PESTS AND DISEASES 271 
 
 The essential principle. It is important that the 
 farmer, whatever be his special sphere of work, should 
 endeavour to make himself familiar with the above 
 broad classification. The first essential in combating 
 a disease or a pest is to understand its nature. For 
 this he requires a little general knowledge of natural 
 history, especially correct general ideas about ento- 
 mology and biology. A farmer need seldom trouble 
 about scientific names, and for this reason few are 
 being used here ; but he should not despise them, for 
 they are really no harder to remember when they 
 mean real things than are the names and pedigrees 
 of race horses and stud stock. They are as necessary 
 to the specialist as Christian and surnames are to 
 people, and at times must be used to prevent con- 
 fusion from inaccurate or misleading local names. 
 When common names are distinctive and well known, 
 the specialist should use them in speaking to the farmer. 
 Stinking smut or bunt is quite as distinctive as Tilletia 
 tritici. Codlin moth is as accurate for practical work as 
 Carpocapsa pomonella. It would be well if all could 
 be taught the general life histories of insects. The 
 early or larval stage of butterflies and moths are 
 caterpillars, not grubs or worms ; but it is doubtful if 
 it be practically possible to alter the custom of 
 speaking of the codlin moth caterpillar as a grub, or 
 to change the common name of the nocturnal dirty 
 green vine caterpillar, which buries itself during the 
 day at the base of young vines and other plants, from 
 " cutworm " to anything more descriptive. A worm 
 is an entirely different order of animal, but an 
 inaccurate name which people understand cannot be 
 
272 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 discarded readily. The larvae of beetles are grubs, 
 and strictly this term should be only used in this 
 sense. The larvae of flies are maggots, and are legless. 
 Simple facts like these, if generally known, would 
 save a good deal of confusion ; but they should be 
 taught from specimens and not from books. 
 
 Look for the cause of disease. The farmer, the 
 fruit grower and the gardener is familiar with the 
 results of the attacks of various pests and fungus 
 diseases ; but he is usually ignorant of the cause of 
 the trouble. He should not be satisfied, and the 
 Departments of Agriculture should not rest until he 
 knows the general nature of the causes of his troubles. 
 Literature in abundance is available, either for the 
 asking, or at trifling cost ; but the difference between 
 the reading of a thing and knowing it is as great as 
 between the appearance of ringworm and the tiny 
 creature that causes it. Owing to lack of knowledge 
 of the causes of diseases, people do very absurd 
 things. A farmer would laugh at the idea of using 
 poisoned dingo bait to destroy stinkwort ; but it is 
 not more ridiculous than using a fungicide to destroy 
 insects or an insecticide to prevent fungus disease, 
 things which scores of people do every year. 
 
 People, especially fruit growers and gardeners, often 
 confuse the method of application with the remedy. 
 They frequently quite fail to realise, for example, 
 that spraying is a means of applying remedies, not a 
 remedy itself. With few exceptions the remedies for 
 insect pests are useless, or almost so, for fungous 
 diseases, and remedies for fungus diseases are useless, 
 or almost useless, against insect pests. Therefore, the 
 
PESTS AND DISEASES 273 
 
 first duty of the gardener is to learn to identify the 
 cause of his trouble, and then consider the special 
 treatment recommended for the particular or similar 
 pest or disease. 
 
 Attack at the weakest point. A study of the life 
 history of a pest will usually show that there is one 
 period in its life when it may be attacked more easily 
 than at others. In many cases it is useless to 
 attempt to control a pest at any other time. For 
 example, the mother locusts lay their eggs in a 
 selected spot of clear ground, and, when the young 
 hatch, they congregate in a dense crowd of small, 
 comparatively helpless hoppers, which can be destroyed 
 easily with a roller, fire, or kerosene spray. Every 
 week they are allowed to live they are harder to deal 
 with, but right through the larval stage, up to the 
 time of their final moult, when they develop wings, 
 they are hoppers, and their advance can be checked 
 with screens or trenches, and they can be destroyed. 
 When they start flying, man is powerless, for it is as 
 easy to check the flowing tide on the seashore as a 
 swarm of locusts on the wing. 
 
 Weeds are easily destroyed during the first few 
 days after germination. At this stage a raking or a 
 harrowing on a sunshiny day will destroy nearly all ; 
 but wait until they get a good roothold and the task 
 becomes a difficult one. Of course it is easier to 
 state a fact like this than to carry out the work in 
 the stress of farm or garden operations, but the 
 "principle is right. 
 
 Internal and external fungi. Some fungus diseases 
 live on the outside of their hosts, and these may be 
 
274 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 cured by the application of suitable fungicides. Of 
 this class is oidium of the grape vine. More often, 
 however, the fungus grows inside the tissue of the 
 host plant, and when once it has gained an entrance 
 it is largely or wholly beyond the reach of remedial 
 measures, for anything that will destroy the parasite 
 will kill the host. But while we cannot cure we may 
 prevent ; and this fact is another reason for the study 
 of the cause and nature of diseases of plants and 
 animals. We cannot cure smuts (there are many 
 kinds) which cause so great a loss in cereal crops, in 
 fact, the farmer cannot tell that his crop is affected 
 until the damage is done. Prevention is, however, 
 comparatively easy, and no good farmer now thinks 
 of sowing seed wheat without treating it to destroy 
 any smut spores which might be present. Fusi- 
 cladium, or apple scab, which causes so much loss 
 in moist seasons, belongs to this class, and the 
 orchardist must spray as a preventive not as a cure. 
 Irish blight of the potato may be largely prevented, 
 but cannot be cured. 
 
 The importance of vigorous constitution. Another, 
 and perhaps the most important, principle in connec- 
 tion with the treatment of animal and plant diseases, 
 takes us back to the natural law of the survival of 
 the fittest. While the stock breeder, general farmer, 
 orchardist and gardener, can often do much in the 
 way of artificial protection of his crops from diseases, 
 and may in many cases use remedies to cure attacks, 
 his aim should always be to raise stock and grow 
 crops capable of resisting or escaping disease. A 
 noted sheep breeder asserted this principle when he 
 
PESTS AND DISEASES 275 
 
 said, " The first essential in a ram is constitution, the 
 second is constitution, and the third is again consti- 
 tution, for without constitution all other qualities are 
 of little value." 
 
 The fruit grower recognises it when he insists on 
 all his apple trees being worked on "blight proof" 
 stocks, z'.e. stocks which are not attacked by the 
 woolly aphis. The vine grower has found the use of 
 phylloxera resistant stocks the only method by which 
 he can carry on his industry in the presence of the 
 phylloxera insect, which has resisted all attempts at 
 eradication when once introduced. Wheat breeders 
 are seeking for rust resistant and bunt resistant 
 varieties ; and the practical farmer seeks to grow 
 early sorts which will wholly or largely escape infec- 
 tion in a rusty season. 
 
 Seek for disease-resisting strains. Whenever a crop 
 is attacked by a pest or disease, the owner should 
 examine it to see if any plants have escaped or 
 resisted the attack, and these should be saved for 
 further test. It is only under trial that resistance or 
 immunity can be tested, and no opportunity should 
 be lost of propagating disease-resisting varieties, 
 which are also commercially good. Such work is of 
 immense value to the community, and any good 
 variety handled properly will prove profitable to its 
 discoverer or originator. There is an enormous field 
 for useful profitable work. in this direction. 
 
 Provide favourable conditions. Another matter of 
 the greatest practical importance is the necessity for 
 providing stock and crops with favourable conditions 
 to resist disease. Keep them healthy and they will 
 
 G.A. S2 
 
276 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTUEE 
 
 largely resist the attacks of parasitic enemies. If 
 stock are well fed and kept under wholesome and 
 suitable conditions they will, as a rule, either not be 
 attacked or are easily cured. Grow crops under 
 suitable conditions, and they too will resist or escape 
 disease to a very large extent. This is not always 
 true ; but often the apparent exceptions really prove 
 the principle. A forced sappy plant may appear a 
 picture of vigour, which is really evidence of weakness 
 from a disease-resisting point of view. 
 
 Practical advice. A knowledge of the above 
 principles will enable the farmer, fruit grower or 
 gardener to conduct his operations with reason and 
 judgment. It will not in itself prevent attacks or 
 combat a disease. Knowing all about swimming will 
 not save a drowning man, he must swim. Knowing 
 why will help ; knowing how is like having a gun and 
 ammunition ; but the cartridge must be put in the 
 gun and the gun must be used with much patience 
 and skill to save the sheep from the dingo. In few 
 words it is very important to know the principles ; 
 but control of pests and diseases requires effort. 
 
 The writer once heard a deputation of potato 
 growers request a Minister of Agriculture to have 
 special search made for parasites to control the potato 
 moth. Within a few feet of where the request was 
 made was a potato field, from part of which the crop 
 had been dug a week or so. It belonged to one of 
 the speakers, and was strewn with the potato haulms 
 and small potatoes infected with moth, while alongside 
 was a growing crop of potatoes. Here was a man 
 doing his very best to breed the pest and asking the 
 
PESTS AND DISEASES 277 
 
 Government to find him a parasite to destroy it. In 
 some cases parasites will do wonders, and they are 
 not appreciated as they should be, but parasites are 
 allies of Providence and help those who help them- 
 selves. 
 
 The principles we have outlined are of vast im- 
 portance, but " knowledge is power " only when it is 
 applied. The secret of the successful control of pests 
 and diseases may be stated in a few words. Study 
 the principles, obtain, from the Department of Agri- 
 culture of the State you are in, the special bulletins 
 on prevalent pests and diseases, and apply the pre- 
 ventatives and remedies as recommended. Success 
 depends on, first. Knowledge ; second, Vigilance; third. 
 Work. 
 
SEASONS IN AUSTRALIA. 
 
 New settlers should follow the practices of experienced 
 fanners. This being a book of principles, advice on 
 the details of farm and garden operations has been as 
 far as possible avoided. Agricultural methods might 
 well form the subject of a special book ; but it 
 would be diiificult to prepare, because operations vary 
 so much in the different districts of each State 
 of the Commonwealth. The old Australian settler 
 knows the seasons and the work to be done in 
 each month of the year under his special conditions. 
 The new settler is advised to seek advice from 
 successful men in the district in which he settles, 
 and to follow their methods and practices. This 
 applies to the Australian who goes from one State 
 or one district to another as well as the immigrant 
 from Britain, America and elsewhere. He will have 
 ample opportunity for experiment later on, but he 
 will be wise at all times to recognise the value of 
 experience. This is one of the soundest principles 
 in Agriculture : 
 
 " Experience joined with common sense. 
 To mortals is a providence." 
 
 As farming is very largely a matter of business, it 
 
SEASONS IN AUSTRALIA 279 
 
 is sound advice to any man, be he young or old, who 
 finds himself working under new conditions, to use the 
 experience of others rather than buy it at the cost of 
 his own time and capital. 
 
 The imniigrant from Europe, or from one State to 
 another, is advised to go to the seedsmen in the 
 various capital cities and procure copies of their 
 catalogues, which contain calendars of seasonable 
 operations for farm, orchard and garden. These set 
 forth the times for seeding and planting operations 
 as nearly as can be done in brief general statements ; 
 but the advice must not be followed blindly. It 
 is intended to be varied more or less according to 
 seasons and localities, a few miles often causing 
 considerable difference in climatic conditions. 
 
 Climate. Australia is a compact continent nearly 
 as large as Europe, extending from about 1 1 ° south 
 of the Equator to beyond 39° south latitude, while 
 Tasmania is still further south, the southern extremity 
 being nearly 44° south. Hobart is about the same 
 distance south of the Equator as Marseilles is north. 
 New Zealand extends from about 34° to about 47° 
 south latitude ; so that the extreme north of the 
 Dominion is nearly as near to the Equator as 
 Sydney, and the city of Auckland is practically in 
 the same latitude as Castlemaine, Victoria. 
 
 Latitude is, however, only one factor in climate, 
 so that although roughly one-third of the continent 
 is in the tropics, only the coastal portions of 
 Queensland, the Northern Territory and the North 
 West of Western Australia possess a distinctly tropi- 
 cal climate. By a tropical climate we understand 
 
280 AUSTEALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 heat associated with a moisture-laden atmosphere, 
 and this combination is not found over the central 
 portion of Australia, where the intense heat is 
 rendered less trying by the dry atmosphere. Much 
 of the difference between the climate of New 
 Zealand and portions of Australia in correspond- 
 ing latitudes is due to the proximity of the ocean, 
 the character of the mountain system and the 
 rainfall. 
 
 The region of summer rains. The rainfall of 
 Australia is controlled by two main and several 
 minor influences, and if these are explained, the 
 general character of the rains and their relation to 
 Agriculture will be the better understood. The 
 northern section is under the influence of an 
 equatorial or tropical rain system, so that the 
 rainy season corresponds with the period of the 
 year when the days are longest and the sun more 
 directly overhead. It is this combination which 
 causes the discomforts of the climate, and, at the 
 same time, produces the luxuriant tropical vegetation 
 of Queensland, and renders it so well suited for the 
 growth of sugar cane and other tropical products. 
 The cooler season of the year is comparatively rain- 
 less, and the climate is then pleasant. Summer 
 rainfall conditions, due to more local influences, 
 extend southward along the east coast right down 
 to Gippsland in Victoria. The regions of summer 
 rains correspond with the districts suitable for the 
 growth of maize, sorghums, millets, cow peas, soy 
 beans and such like crops, and where these thrive 
 without irrigation, green summer pastures are also 
 
SEASONS IN AUSTRALIA 281 
 
 a prominent factor in Agriculture, and dairying is 
 an important branch of farming. In other words, 
 the east and south-east coastal districts of Australia 
 have summer pastures, and summer fodder crops are 
 easily grown because of the summer rains ; while in 
 the west and south-west and southern coastal districts 
 of the continent, where summer rains are absent or 
 uncertain, these crops can only be grown successfully 
 on a large scale with irrigation. This general fact is 
 of great importance, and is not generally clearly 
 understood by the public. 
 
 The southern or Antarctic belt of winter rains. 
 The central and southern portions of the Australian 
 continent are under the influence of the southern 
 Anticyclonic or high pressure belt, which is the cause 
 of the shortage of rains in the interior. Fortunately, 
 the Anticyclonic path moves northward with the 
 advent of the cool or winter season of the year, 
 and this allows a corresponding northerly movement 
 of the Antarctic low pressure belt which normally 
 lies over the ocean to the south of Australia. The 
 Commonwealth Meteorologist states that this yearly 
 north and south oscillation amounts to about 600 
 miles, and is the controlling factor in providing the 
 cool climatic conditions and regular winter rains over 
 the southern portion of the continent. 
 
 As the high pressure area moves north, the influence 
 of the winter " lows," or V-shaped depressions, is felt 
 as they move from west to east, and it is under the 
 influence of these that the rains fall. In Western 
 Australia the heaviest rains usually fall in the early 
 and midwinter months, and occur with wonderful 
 
282 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE 
 
 regularity, usually starting in April and extending to 
 October. 
 
 In the State of South Australia the rains over the 
 agricultural areas, although not quite so regular, 
 are of the same chara.cter. In addition, there is 
 an increase in the number of irregular or summer 
 rains under the combined influence of the southern 
 extensions of tropical or monsoonal disturbances, and 
 the occasional northern movements of Antarctic low 
 pressure areas. 
 
 The western and northern portions of Victoria 
 and the western slope districts of New South Wales 
 are under the same influences as South Australia, 
 but away from the coast there is a falling off" in 
 regularity. 
 
 In the central, western and northern interior of 
 New South Wales, and the north of the central 
 State, the rains lack the distinctive type previously 
 mentioned, the irregularity being due to the fact 
 that these portions of the continent are betwixt and 
 between the zones of influence of the monsoonal 
 and Antarctic rains, and while subject to both may 
 not be blessed with either, and are much more liable 
 to spasmodic thunder-storms during the summer 
 months; 
 
 In Victoria, to the south and east of the ranges, 
 the distinctive character of the rainfall, as seen in 
 Western and South Australia, is disturbed by the 
 geographical features of the country, and rains are 
 much more regularly distributed through the year. 
 
 Roughly, Australia may be divided into three 
 main rain belts, and a minor fourth : 
 
SEASONS IN AUSTRALIA 283 
 
 1 . The northern or tropical region of summer rains. 
 
 2. The southern or temperate area of winter rains. 
 
 3. The central neutral or uncertain area between 
 I and 2. 
 
 This is the part of Australia most subject to 
 drought. 
 
 4. The Eastern Coastal district receiving summer 
 rains due to the special local conditions. 
 
 The following table shows the average monthly 
 rainfall at typical stations in the different States. 
 The figures are taken from Bulletin No. 4 of the 
 Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology. 
 
►J 
 
 ■^ 
 
 ,-1 
 
 m 
 
 < 
 
 
 b 
 
 (U 
 
 2: 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 ;-< 
 
 « 
 
 
 w 
 
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