35^ Mans Work on the Farm 



He had, to be sure, no conscious share in bringing 

 the Pampas-artichoke to Australia; for the seeds made 

 use of his cattle and his ships without consulting him ; 

 but he negligently allowed the plant to establish itself. 

 He did not eat its heads, or boil its stems, as he might 

 have done ; and it has improved the opportunity to 

 form an impenetrable belt along the margins of the 

 creeks in many parts of Victoria and New South 

 Wales. But in other cases man has directly brought 

 his troubles upon himself, though it would be hard to 

 blame him ; for who, seeing the sweetbriar for in- 

 stance at home, could possibly guess that it would 

 prove a nuisance abroad ? Yet this is just what it has 

 done. It has grown so rampantly as to make whole 

 regions in Tasmania practically valueless, for the 

 expense and difficulty of clearing it away are so great 

 that the land has been abandoned and given over to 

 the enemy. 



The prickly pear has also proved an expensive 

 emigrant, for it has escaped from the gardens in which 

 it was to have been confined, and has taken possession 

 of extensive districts, from which it will not easily be 

 dislodged. This cactus, as well as the Scottish thistle 

 — brought over by a patriotic but misguided Scot, who 

 has not received the thanks of the community — has 

 been the subject of special Acts of Parliament, and to 

 keep the two even in check costs the country many 

 thousands every year. 



These and the Capeweed, which has nearly destroyed 

 every natural pasture plant for miles round Melbourne, 

 having sprung from seed thrown out on some waste 

 land — these are, perhaps, the worst vegetable enemies 

 of the Australian. But they do not by any means 



