In Time of Drought 87 



tion of areas of forest, the deep-rooted Australian 

 trees actually perishing for want of moisture. 

 Never before in the records of the history of the 

 continent had the effects of the drought been so 

 far-reaching. 



Such an experience, quite without precedent 

 during the white man's occupation of Australia, 

 has not been without the educational effect. The 

 Australian pastoralist has learned, from bitter 

 experience, a great deal about fighting the 

 drought that was not previously known. Ex- 

 periments made with native shrubs and trees have 

 proved that many of these are of considerable 

 value as fodder plants when all else fails. Among 

 the plants so used was the despised prickly pear, 

 the fleshy leaves being boiled and used as fodder, 

 and serving to keep much valuable stock from 

 absolute starvation. In the same way, the hungry 

 stock learned to devour the bulbous trunks of the 

 Australian bottle-tree and the leaves and twigs 

 of a forest tree known as the kurragong. 



These, however, were the expedients resorted 

 to in desperation. The more valuable lesson 

 gained from the drought was the necessity for 

 caring for and propagating the priceless drought- 

 resisting shrubs, such as the saltbush, which are 

 natural to the saline lowlands of the interior. 

 Transplanted to California, the value of the salt- 

 bush was at once recognised there, and measures 

 for its scientific propagation were taken with the 

 most successful results. From this example, and 



