60 THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES 



Size. In warm, congenial situations, as on the northern rivers, it attains 

 .a height of several feet, with a stem thicker than a man's finger; hut in the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney, and further south and west, it is a very much 

 .smaller, scrubby shrub, rarely attaining a height exceeding 3 feet. 



Distribution. The warmer coastal districts of New South Wales in 

 particular, and as far south as the Illawarra. It is an Australian native, 

 which of late years has assumed a very aggressive character, and has travelled 

 south, even invading the Blue Mountains and southern ranges, until it gets 

 nipped with the cold. But it is undoubtedly developing increased icsistance 

 to cold, and is slowly encroaching on localities in which at one time it could 

 not obtain a footing. About the suburbs of Sydney it may often be noticed 

 by the sides of the roads and footpaths. After it has been a great pest in 

 a district for a few years it gradually diminishes in luxuriance, and finally 

 almost dies away, as if it had exhausted the sustenance it requires from the 

 soil. 



Paddy's Lucerne, in one or other of its forms, is to be found in the warmer 

 countries of both hemispheres, but I am not aware that circumstances in 

 any country cause it to be such a pest to agriculture as it is in eastern 

 Australia. 



A Graf ton correspondent writes : '' It grows here only too luxuriantly, 

 and is a perfect nuisance on some grass lands. One of the Grafton parks 

 is entirely overrun with the pest, and this is the condition of man;/ paddocks 

 in the district. No difficulty need then be apprehended as to its successful 

 culture if it could be made a commercial product." 



A paragraph in the Sydney Morning Herald of 17th March, 1892, from 

 Nowra, states : " The Municipal Councils of the district are co-operating 

 in the extermination of a noxious weed known as Sida. Cattle eat it, but 

 the weed destroys the natural grasses. Some years ago it began to spread 

 between Kiama and Gerringong, and now hundreds of acres have been 

 rendered useless by it. The weed grows strongly, and is difficult to exter- 

 minate. In many cases a plough will not reach the roots." 



Propagation. From seed, of which it bears an enormous quantity. If 

 anything is to be done with this plant as regards utilisation of its fibre (see 

 l>elow) it must be cultivated. 



Stock eat up the tops of it without detriment, if in moderation ; but it must 

 IDC exceedingly indigestible if eaten in quantity, on account of its fibrous 

 nature, while the ripe seeds are hard and prickly, and therefore irritating. I 

 think its value as a fodder plant is unconsciously exaggerated for, unless 

 there be plenty of grass (in which case the Paddy's Lucerne is not required 

 at all), cattle are -always liable to injury through eating this fibre plant. 

 In Queensland, in the coastal districts, the further north one goes the more 

 and more esteemed for a cattle browse this weed becomes. Indeed, I have 

 seen some areas so thick with it that there is nothing else for the cows to eat. 



This plant is sadly too well known by land owners in our coastal districts, 

 and the very mention of Paddy's Lucerne awakens painful reflections, for it 

 nas rendered vast areas of excellent land largely unfit for pastoral and 

 agricultural purposes. Property holders keep it down as far as they can, 

 but when once it gets a firm hold of the land it is practically impossible to 

 eradicate it, for it yields abundance of seed, which germinates freely. 



