Abstract
UNTIL large schemes for the conservation of water supply with a view to irrigation have been carried out, the incidence of drought at frequent intervals is bound to have a great influence, not only on the sheep runs of the Australian Commonwealth, but also on its wheat crop. It is perhaps surprising that the relation between rainfall and wheat yield should be to a great extent directly traceable, when we consider to how many indirect influences the yield is exposed. The seed varies in such obvious characteristics as size and hardness, as well as in power of resistance to disease, partly modified by the conditions under which the crop producing the seed has been raised. There is, moreover, no constancy in the soil, which differs from place to place in composition, in aspect, elevation, and slope, from farm to farm in the amount and choice of fertilising agents, and from district to district in the dates of weather changes and precipitation. There is possible loss by barrenness of seed, by ground pests before germination, by vermin during growth, by storms, birds, insects, and disease when the grain is in the ear, and much may be shaken out when ripe if the harvest oweather be very hot and dry.
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References
Proc. Phys. Soc., vol. xxxi., p. 242, and paper read December 12, 1919.
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B., W. Australian Rainfall and Wheat Yield. Nature 104, 606–607 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/104606a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/104606a0