588 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
to be quite harmless. Nor is my case a singular one; many 
others have had the same experience. We have a far more in- 
sidious enemy to contend against in the parasitic fungi which 
affect grasses, not only in the damp coastal districts, but far into 
the interior. Some few years ago I drew attention to the great 
increase of parasitic fungi on some of our most valuable grasses, 
and I then said, what I think now, that fungoid growth on 
grasses is the primary cause of many sheep dying so mysteriously. 
For we have abundant proof of the destructive agency of micro- 
scopic fungi on both animals and plants that have not sufficient 
vigour to repel them. The life history of these native fungoid 
growths is well worthy the attention of specialists, if only to show 
what their effects are upon animals. 
As long as a greater portion of this continent is devoted to 
depasturing sheep and cattle, and Australia intends to hold her 
own against the world in the production of high-class wool, also 
in the matter of the frozen meat export trade, it becomes of vital 
importance to the population that more attention should be paid 
to our native fodder-plants and grasses than has hitherto been 
the case, to save some of them from extinction by a proper system 
of €conservation, and even cultivation. There is no gainsaying 
the fact that duri ing recent droughts large tracts of country have 
been so overstocked that many valuable pasture-plants and 
grasses have become so scarce that it would take years of careful 
conservation to bring them back to anything like their original 
state. Being so closely fed down, their only natural means of 
reproducing themselves by seed is partially destroyed, and every 
year makes matters worse. An occasional good season may, to a 
slight extent, remedy this ; but observant and thoughtful persons 
can see that in the near future more vigorous action will have to be 
taken to keep our pastures up to their normal state, or the number 
of sheep and cattle to each station will have to be considerably 
lessened, which, of course, means the export of less wool, tallow, 
hides and mutton. It should also be borne in mind that every 
fleece of wool which is produced takes a percentage of potash and 
other fertilising substances out of the soil, and nothing so far 
has been done to restore these natural elements to the earth. 
It must naturally follow that the more valuable herbage will 
gradually give way and a more worthless one take its place, that 
is, from an economic point of view. An instance of this is 
alre ady taking place in the interior, where the pine scrub 
(Frenela) has already taken possession of thousands of acres of 
what was, at one time, splendid pastoral country. 
By the following figures some idea may be formed of the 
quantity of grass-seeds required for one acre, supposing it to be 
sown at the usual rate of thirty-six pounds (36lbs.), which, 
approximately stated, is equal to about twenty-two (22) millions 
ot grains. This applies to ordinary grass-seeds, such as some 
