^S- Journal of Agriculture. [8 June, 1908. 



The specific gravity of the blood is about 1056, that i'; to sav 1056 

 volumes of pure water would weigh the same as 1000 volumes of blood. 



The reaction of the blood is that of pure water, namely, neutral. 



The freezing point of blood also remains wonderfullv constant, namely 

 0.56 C. below that of water for mammalian blood. 



THE PROCLAIMED PLANTS OF VICTORIA. 



(Continued from page 2^2.) 



Alfred J. Eivart, D.Sc, Ph.D., F.L.S., Government Botanist; and 

 J. A'. Tovey, Herbarium Assistant. 



The Drooping or Common Prickly Pear. 



O-pHiitia monacantha, Haw. 



The spines of the Drooping or Common Prickly Pear are mostly single, 

 but often in pairs, and then frequently sharply bent at their bases, so that 

 one or both diverge widely. Occasionally more than two large spines occur 

 together. The spines arise from more or less prominent cushions, which 

 often bear bundles of minute hair-like spines, especially well shown on the 

 fruits. The joints are obovate-oblong, often a foot long, usually distinctly 

 stalked, the whole plant 3 to exceptionally over 12 feet in height but usually 

 5 to 8 feet. The flowers are yellow, the outer petals reddish, the fruits 

 pear-shaped and clustered on the usually more or less drooping ends of 

 branches. Every joint will strike root under favorable conditions, and 

 both the ripe and unripe fruits will do the same. The joints mav remain 

 alive several months after cutting. They can be destroved by boiling, and 

 may then be fed to stock if care is taken to see that the spines, especially 

 Ihe smaller ones, have come away. It is not, however, good food, being 

 too bulky and watery. Otherwise it can be buried in pits and covered with 

 soil, or piled in heaps and covered with quick lime. In South Africa 

 spraying with arsenite of soda is recommended (2| to 4 per cent, solu- 

 tion), but this is costly (probably ^3 to ^5 per acre in Victoria), and 

 the plants need to be burnt off as soon as they have dried and before 

 new shoots appear. Spraying the standing plants with dilute sulphuric 

 acid in calm, dry weather is also fairly effective but less so than cutting. 



This plant appears to be increasing in Victoria, and is spreading 

 along the railways around the shores of Port Phillip Bay, where it is likely 

 to_ prove a great nuisance or even danger if unchecked. The plant would 

 without doubt do great harm in the Mai lee district if allowed to spread 

 there. Several other less common species grow in Australia, and an account 

 of them has been given by Maiden in the Agricultural Gazette for New 

 South Wales, Vol. IX., p. 1002, 1899. 



Proclaimed for the whole State, Februarv, 1907. 



