Aftor a learned disquisition upon the relative chemical constituents of the soil, in which by the way, he made no mention of having a knowledge of the "wooden boulders " which are in such quantities and " exist " so persistently in our local soils, he considered that the comparative failure of agriculture here was the absence of any recognised system of rotation in cropping the land, ffe certainly gave most elaborate and scientific directions as to the best rotative plan to be followed, and if the farmers don't profit by his instructions it is not for want of telling. His opinion is to a great extent endorsed by a well known writer on agricultural matters in a Southern paper, who says, " That he is fully convinced that if agri culture is to flourish the soil must be made to give its increase by the intelli gent use of manures, and by a system of alternate husbandry, when double the crops will be produced from the same land with less labor, leaving the remainder to produce what it will, until it can be brought under a rational system of farming. The same authority argues that hy paying attention to proper manuring not only a better and more nutritious sample of grain, will be produced, but the live stock will be im proved in a like degree, and no doubt

with a corresponding influence upon the physical health and development of the population. The use of artificial manures has not yet become genaral among the farmers in the Grey Valley, although in some localities it has long ago become ab solutely necessary. As many as five crops of oats, either for grain or chaff, have been taken offpatches of land with out a pretence of giving the soil rest or assistance, and it is therefore no wonder it is giving out and getting exhausted. The system of shallow ploughing is also one of the objectionabie features in our tillage, and one which at once arrests the attention of strangers, first paying a visit to our farming districts. This system of shallow ploughing has, to a certain extent, been encouraged by the judges at all our previous ploughing matches on Totara Flat, who have apparently sacri ficed depth and solidity to mere surface scratching and fine straight mathematical lines. 