82 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



moth (which is getting a footing in Ireland) 

 once threatened absolute destruction to the 

 apple-growing industry in Tasmania. The Gov- 

 ernment took the matter in hand, compulsorily 

 destroyed badly infected trees, insisted on spray- 

 ing and trapping as remedies in other cases, 

 and in a few years the plague was stamped out. 

 I aroused the admiring envy of the Irish Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture with one instance of the 

 wide powers assumed in Australia to deal with 

 agricultural pests. A Thistle Act was passed 

 by one State to provide for the extermination 

 of thistles. It was made so comprehensive that 

 any noxious weed could be brought under its 

 provisions by a single proclamation that the 

 said weed " was a thistle within the meaning of 

 the Act." Finally, one genius discovered, there 

 being a nuisance of stray goats in a country 

 district, that there was nothing to prevent 

 goats from being proclaimed " a thistle under the 

 Act ! " Absurd, perhaps, but effective. 



In the provision of new cottages for farm 

 workers, the Irish Labourers' Cottages Act has 

 proved a complete success. To contrast the 

 new conditions with the old is to compare solid 



