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Kimberley Research Station : A Progress Report, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

INTEREST in the agricultural potential of the Kimberley region in Western Australia dates from its early exploration and settlement in the last century.

Several farming development schemes were considered for the area, but were never implemented.

This could be mainly attributable to lack of knowledge of agricultural potentialities, limitations of the local environment and ways of exploiting the local environment.

Up to the present the economy of the region is almost entirely based upon the extensive production of beef and to a lesser extent, wool.

Commercial Vegetable Growing In The Perth Metropolitan Region, L T. Jones

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

MARKET gardening with sprinkler irrigation on deep sandy soils around Perth is really a commercial application of hydroponics or sand culture principles.

Provision of a continuous and adequate supply of nitrogen is the major problem. Peat swamps scattered among the sandy areas have higher natural fertility. However, their common problems are drainage, acidity ("sourness"), salt and various special soil deficiencies. Over-liming of acid swamps can cause new problems.

The Development Of Western Australian Sand Plain Soils For Agriculture, Richard Philip Roberts, F. L. Shier

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

IN a recently published economic survey of the Australian wheat growing industry, it was reported that nearly two-thirds of the farms surveyed in Western Australia were located on lateritic "sand plain."

As a random selection was made of the eighty farms that were visited it is reasonable to conclude that a similar proportion of all the State's wheat producing farms are on that type of country.

This constitutes a remarkable change from the earlier days of wheat belt settlement when the sand plain soils were regarded as virtually useless and by-passed for development.

It is the purpose of this article …