56 THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



execrate it. I am not a farmer, and if farmers are in favour of this plant I 

 shall be glad if they will give their testimony, and state the locality on which 

 they base their experience. 



I think, and I have already so stated, that the plant may be useful in the 

 salt-laden atmosphere of King Island, with its soil consisting of nearly pure 

 sand and its comparatively low temperature, but to indiscriminately distribute 

 it in New South Wales a semi-tropical country, with much good soil is reck- 

 less, and even wicked. It is my duty to put our farmers on their guard, and 

 if I had done less I should have been culpable. 



When the millennium arrives all seeds for New South Wales will be detained 

 at the Customs House and not issued until an official seed-testing station (of 

 which we shall have many), pronounces the seed to be innocuous. In the Bible 

 we hear of the man who sowed his neighbour's land with tares at night ; in 

 New South Wales we can do such things at noonday, and, what is more, be 

 handsomely paid for it. The w r ay in which seeds actually injurious are intro- 

 duced or distributed in New South Wales is wrong, emphatically wrong. A 

 good portion of my time is taken up in warning farmers in regard to weed- 

 pests which they send to me, and many of them are directly traced to imper- 

 fectly cleaned agricultural and horticultural seeds. 



I have never said, nor do I believe, that Hexham Scent or King Island 

 Melilot is destitute of merit in suitable localities, but I take the opportunity 

 of thus drawing attention to the fact that there are practically no restrictions 

 to the admission of undesirable seeds into New South Wales. Because I 

 believe such a state of things is wrong, I intend to take every opportunity of 

 inviting attention to the matter. (8.M. Herald, 27th December, 1907.) 



Hexham Scent is allied to M . alba Lam., known as " Sweet or Bokhara 

 Clover." It is a white flowering species, and is spoken well of in California, 

 although the qualification is given that stock have to get used to it. But 

 the opinions concerning it vary in the United States. 



The official opinion (Department of Agriculture, United States of 

 America) is : " This is a weedy biennial, concerning which extravagant 

 claims have been made. It is chiefly valuable in the Southern States for 

 early pasturage and for green manure/' 



A competent British authority speaks of cattle disliking it because of its 

 bitter taste, and that it has the objectionable feature of rapidly becoming 

 hard and woody. 



In New South Wales it has been recommended by seedsmen for our 

 Eiverina country and other dry districts. 



Petty Spurge (Euphorbia peplus L.). 

 (EUPHORBIACF^E: Spurge Family.) 



Popular Description. A bright green, erect plant, a few inches high, with 

 inconspicuous greenish flowers, the whole plant exuding a milky juice, hence 

 it is known, in common with its close relations, as " Milk- weed '' in Aus- 

 tralia. Asclepiads, also with milky juice, share this name also. Common 

 enough in gardens and on rubbish heaps. 



Botanical Description. 



An erect glabrous annual with milky juice. Leaves orbicular-obovate, entire. 

 Umbel of two or three repeatedly forked rays. Involucral glands crescent- 

 shaped, with long points. 



