40 THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



and then give it no quarter. When it has got a thorough hold on the 

 ground it is almost impossible to get rid of it. Never let it flower if 

 possible. The usual sulphate of ammonia treatment of a lawn is useful in 

 dealing with Wild Onion, but the method is too laborious and expensive 

 except in pleasure lawns. In garden-paths (and these are very often 

 important sources of infection), the usual sodium arsenite treatment is most 

 efficacious; indeed it has been proved that, wherever it can be applied, 

 arsenic is the most certain agent for the destruction of weeds available to 

 the cultivator. Obviously arsenic cannot be applied to the soil of a garden, 

 or to a lawn. 



A congener. Attention may be invited to a close relation of our pest, 

 viz., Allium vineale L., which is such a terrible pest in many parts of 

 the southern United States. I trust that, by taking A. fragrans in time, it 

 will never become such a pest as A. vineale is to many American farmers 

 and orchardists. This is the subject of a special bulletin (No. 2, vol. viii, 

 July, 1895) of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of 

 Tennessee. It is considered by many to be " the vilest weed pest in our 

 State." Equally serious reports are made from New Jersey, Maryland, 

 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. In Texas its 

 place is taken by Allium striatum. The most serious complaint against it 

 is that " it ruins our milk, butter, and beef " ; a danger may, though to a 

 less intense degree, be looming before us as regards A. frag tuns. 



Where Found. South Europe and North Africa, from whence it has 

 spread to most warm countries. 



In our State it prefers good soil, fairly moist, hence low-lying, rich 

 alluvial soils, but it is very accommodating in this respect. 



A Wild Onion or Onion Weed (Asphodelus fstulosus L.). 

 (LiLiACE^E: Lily, Onion, &c., Family.) 



Popular Description. A perennial onion-like plant, or more like spring 

 onions, or perhaps chives. The base near the roots is enveloped in a silvery- 

 white membrane ("Onion skin."). Flowers whitish, with a faint purplish 

 flush and down each " petal " a pinkish or purplish stripe. The fruit 

 contains the seeds in a jelly-like bladder. 



There is a figure of the plant at t. 984 of the Botanical Magazine, under 

 the name of " Onion-leaved Asphodel." It is a native of the Mediterranean. 



Botanical Description. 



Stem hollow; leaves radical, striate, cylindrical; perianth petaloid, the seg- 

 ments almost free, deciduous; pedicels jointed; anthers introrse,- versatile; 

 filaments surrounding the ovary, papillose on the back at the base; stigma 

 three-lobed ; fruit a three-celled capsule ; seeds triangular, wrinkled. 



Its nearest relation in the Australian flora is the yellow-flowered Bulbine, 

 concerning which there is some difference of opinion as to its harmlessness 

 to stock or the reverse. 



Experience in other States. It is common in South Australia, and Black 

 speaks of it as " a common weed in waste places, roadsides, pastures." I 

 saw it over considerable areas in the Port Lincoln district as thick as it was 

 possible for a plant to be. Ewart says that it is proclaimed for several shires 

 in Victoria. I saw it around Perth and Albany, Western Australia. In the 

 Queensland Agric. Journ. for September, 1909, p. 158, the late Mr. F. M. 

 Bailey says it " has begun to run out into the pasture near Toowoomba." 



