AGRICULTURE.

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1663, 26 August 1873, Page 4

AGRICULTURE.

Att tinier fictMn atfi tfeeoelotiij (says an Australian contemporary). Thd new Department for Agriculture is a plane of only sii months' growth, yet it has burßt out into flower already; The Secretary Ha* managed to collect materials for a report extending through 137 folio pages, and by bis obliging consideration we are in pbsSes* sion of.a copy. The publication, which cost the country £150, is certainly worth the outlay; for, besides the report'proper, are found a variety, of papers likely to prove of great use to tha farmers, vignerons, and horticulturists, for whom they, are principally written. The papers all have reference to subjects of immediate importance. Thus, the complete instructions relative to the sowing, management, and preparation of flax are afforded for the purpose.of ensuring the successful planting of that industry in the Colony, of which confident hopes are now entertained. A well timed advocacy of breeding and feeding stock on farms, for the twofold purpose of restoring fertility to worn out soils, and increasing the stock available for export, is penned by the Secretary himself. There are papers on the fluke in sheep, oq the natural history of locusts, on the Oidium and Phylloxera, on two poison plants recently observed in herbage, on meat preserving, and the history of the production of wine in the Colony, contributed by writers everyway .conversant with their themes. . .

It has again and again been shown that what we here need is an official, readily accessible, qualified by personal acquaintance of every district of the Colony, to guide the * choice of all applicants for information. The central office should be the focus to which all ways of provincial light converged, and from which the. combined light of all was again distributed. Great good would ensue from setting apart one competent man to explore and point out to the community at large what the soil and climatic resources of the Colony leally are, and how they should be availed of. Settlement would then be less experimental than it now is; people would be directed to take up situations suited to them, and. would not be left to waste their means in finding out that their first chance selection was a mistake, made in ignorance of circumstances that should have been known to them. It Bhould be borne in mind that if a man produces no more than he consumes his transplantation from Europe is of little immediate good to the Colony ; he may be a happier man, and so far so good ; but his Colonial gravitation is of no sensible benefit to the Colony. For this reason it is of importance that he should be located on the public estate, where hjs labor may prove of advantage to himself and the public/and this can only be accomplished by the intervention of the Government who administer this estate, after the. fashion' adopted in most of the continental States of Europe and in America, and now,, at we: perceive, in Victoria. . . : . The force of this observation is illustrated by one paragraph in Mr. Walha's report, wherein he says that having spent'some timein arranging the machinery of his; office, he started for a tour through the Goulbourn' valley district, "an extensive tract of fertile; land previously, but little known to the farming community." Well, his leisurely) and critical examination was [followed by a; description, which, appearing in the public prints, resulted in the settlement of a great: many farmers in circumstances of greatpromise. A report appearing from a privateindividual would have been questioned and viewed with suspicion. Erom a public; officer whose function it is to settle the country, and, as far as possible, to see to the profitable occupation of the public estate, ■ it is looked upon as impartial and reliable The {Secretary's intention is of course to make himself intimately acquainted with every portion of the colony in the same way, < so that he may direct hie recommendations ■ for the good of all. . ... ' ' '.- ■> There were two great objects before the , department at present, namely, to bring > about intercourse and union amongst the agricultural population by means of clubs '<■ and societies, with all the associative 'forces <■> pertaining thereto, and also to ensure the dissemination of knowledge respecting the "> principles and practice of what JethroTull calls ' " G-oode Husbandrie" by means of the silent ' ministry of the printing press, or the active ministry of the schools. To bring about : sound and vigorous local action is at the ' foundation of all sucsees. If the department * of agriculture were supposed to supersede ■ this it would prove a great failure, and we i are glad to see that the, {Secretary does not > make this mistake. The farmers most be > got to confer, and think, and act for them- ■>■ selves—districts must be brought into union —and the whole apparatus must be in direct communication with the central office. Thus, > whenever the fraternity require legislation, : the channel is open by which to make known ' their want; and whea they desire to avert a threatened danger they hare but to express their mind to the same source of power. Jabbah Timbeb.—The jarrah forests of Western i Australia have been estimated by a competent judge to be worth £100,000,000.— Southern Cross. Death from Intemperance.—The Wellington Post of August 21st states: —" Early yesterday morning a man named James Corlett was found by (he ' police helplessly intoxicated in Willis-street. He wu conveyed to the look-up, and by the evening re* ; covered his senses, and spoke sensibly to the man in . »charge. This morning, he seemed to be stupid, and - had stripped off his clothes. These were put on him, ' and he *as left until he could be brought before the Bench. A few minutes before 10, he wu found • to have again divested himself of clothing, and..one of the police were sent into the cell to. help him to dress. The appearance of Corlett at this time tm such that the policemsn deemed it necessary to call ', '' assistance. He left the cell for a couple of minutes - for this purpose, and on his return with helpi Cor- •"■ lett was found dead on the floor. There is -little .• doubt that death; resulted from an effusion of terum . on the brain—the reßult of long-continued habits of, intemperance."' - ' "% " , ' FOR SUMMARY FOR HOME READERS-* SEE ■ SUPPLEMENT. . ■; \ ■ (; * ■ •;" '•'