590 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
grow in even more adverse circumstances of drought and heat. 
To give even a synopsis of all the introduced plants that have 
proved a pest in the country would occupy much time. There is 
one more, however, I should like to draw attention to. It is the 
European dodder (Cuscuta trifolit), a parasitic plant which grows 
on the roots of lucerne and clover, and is doing much harm to 
those pastures in New South Wales. The dodder seeds, no doubt, 
have been imported with unclean samples of clover and lucerne 
seed, and the climate being favourable, it has spread very rapidly 
of late years. 
I must confess that at one period I held the views of those 
persons who thought to supplant our native herbage by a free 
introduction of exotics, but after an observation extending over 
fifteen years, I have outlived these erroneous ideas. My first 
observations were made when I had charge of a series of experi- 
ments, carried out with both native and exotic fodder-plants and 
grasses, with a view of proving their true qualities by comparison.* 
To enumerate all the species experimented with (upwards of one 
hundred), together with a detailed description, would occupy too 
much time ; but to sum up briefly, I may state that the native 
ones yielded more at the rate per acre than did exotics, with the 
exception of such tall-growing grasses as Panicum maximum, 
Panicum spectabile, Reana luxurians, Sorghum vulgare, Zea mays,and 
some of the larger kinds of millet. But these were run very close 
by the following native ones :— Anthistiria avenacea, Astrebla 
pectinata, Heteropogon insignis, Panicum crus-gallt, FPollinia 
fulva, Rottboellia ophiuroides, Sorghum halepense, and Sorghum 
plumosum. It is a well-known fact, however, among agricul- 
turists that tall-growing grasses are not always, in fact, scarcely 
ever so nutritious as the more dwarf ones, though they are of the 
greatest use for ensilage, where bulk is a great consideration. 
Another point to be noted with these fodder plants and grasses is 
that horses eat the native ones in preference to exotics, which 
proves conclusively that with cultivation native grasses will 
become as succulent, as tempting to the appetite, and as 
nutritious as the best of exotics. Those species experimented 
with, that were indigenous to Northern Europe and North 
America, proved to be the most unsuitable, with two exceptions— 
one of annual growth, Ceratochloa unioloides, a capital winter 
species, and the other a perennial, Poa pratensis (var. virginiana). 
This grass has underground stoloniferous stems like our native 
Cynodon dactylon, so on this account is not easy to exter- 
minate, while it affords a good fodder for sheep. Those from 
South Africa did fairly well, especially Z7icholena rosea, 
which is quite acclimatised in some situations. Its ripe seeds, 
being light, are distributed far and wide by every wind that 
* They were sown or planted in spaces exactly one yard square, which was an accurate 
way to compute the yield of produce per acre of each species, 
