XXU PKOCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER. 



of your Society, it will seem presumption for me to again trespass upon 

 you. However, I respectfully ask leave to do so in support of my first 

 paper. The learned writers, Messrs. Abbott and Stephens, conclude, 

 from the tenor of my paper, that I had not made myself acquainted 

 with what had been done in attempting to elucidate the mystery of smut. 

 I desire to say that for the last 14 years I have obtained and read all 

 the papers I could find upon the subject, but scarcely two of the writers 

 agree in the most important points, and the whole ot the writings that I 

 have read deal more with effect than cause, that is, with the diseased 

 plant. We all know that when we see either cattle or horses infested 

 with vermin that the animal is weakly and poor ; but we do not believe 

 that the vermin cause the poverty, but the reason we kcowis that poverty 

 from disease or starvation breeds vermin, and this is my experience with 

 plants and trees ; and I am stronglj' of opinion that it is the same with 

 our grain plant, the plant being weakly from defective rooting it is 

 attacked by fungus. My object in asking for space in the Botanical 

 Gardens was not with a desire to carry out scientific examinations, 

 but to demonstrate that sound grains will not produce smut, and that 

 the so-called spores are as harmless as soot dust, that is if practical tests 

 of sixteen years are of any value, and I further concluded that the only 

 way to interest the public and induce other societies to take the matter 

 up, was to carry out the tests in some public place, and if my experience 

 was confirmed that some means might be devised by which the seed grain 

 could be threshed without injury, which would prove an enormous saving 

 of grain, labour, expense, and a more vigorous plant. The tests I 

 enumerated were only a few of the many ; I tried all with the same 

 result. I have now one and a half acres sown this year with wheat 

 collected upon stock that had been skaken out in removing sheaves ; 

 this I have not dressed. I do not fear the result. It is too late to 

 carry out any further tests this year." 



" Tea Tree, August 23, 1889. Curator of the Museum, Bobart.— Sir, 

 — In forwarding the exhibit of salt it cannot be classed as one of our 

 manufactures, as it is a natural product of the centre of Tasmania, 

 and it seems to me more of a curiosity, or more properly a source of 

 undeveloped wealth, as nothing has ever been done to ascertain the 

 source of the constant and inexhaustible deposit. These chains of lagoons, 

 or what are known as the salt pans, are situated nearly in the centre of 

 the colony, and are situated on the estates of Lower Park, Balochmyle, 

 EUenthorpe, and Mona Vale. I am well acquainted with these pans, 

 having known them for nearly 50 years. They extend for a distance of 

 seven miles, running as nearly as. I should say, south-east by north-west,^ 

 and there are to my knowledge 10 of them, in area from one acre to 100. 

 There may be more beyond my travels, and I think if a line was drawn 

 it would be found that they are not over one mile out of line. To my 

 mind, the most mysterious fact is that on either side of this line there 

 are similar pans containing fresh water. In one case at EUenthorpe 

 there is one large pan of probably 100 acres, and within 10 chains 

 on either side there is a lagoon of fresh water. The most prolific 

 in salt of these pans is Ballochmyle and Mona Vale, as over 

 50 years ago I went with my father to these pans for a supply, and in dry 

 seasons large quantities have been taken from those pans, many hundreds 

 of tons ; the surface, about 2in. deep, is scraped up for domestic use, and 

 the soil is used for manure. A very old hand in the colony, John Duffield, 

 who came in the prison ship Dromedary, informed me that this salt was 

 formerly a source of wealth to the aboriginals who owned the surrounding 

 lands, and was often the scene of hot battle and bloodshed. I have heard 

 several theories of the source of supply, but none of which are tenable. 

 The one is that it is brought from higher levels by streams, but 

 most of them are situated upon a level surface and have no inlet. Another 

 is that the land is impregnated with salt, and that the supply is kept up 



