PasTuraGeE Metuops. 3 
When sheep are penned on crops raised for their consumption, the whole 
ground is cleared, weeds that are not eaten are trampled into the ground, 
the whole of the manure is conserved in one spot, and, if soon turned into 
the soil, or spread and broken up by spreaders, harrows, or scarifiers, less 
waste of nitrogen occurs than with any other form of manuring. The future 
should see this method of sheep-feeding, coupled with the use of root crops 
and the silo, used on all ground except steep hillsides or rocky ground inac- 
cessible to cultivation. Rape cultivation for sheep has already taken hold 
in many parts, and is especially important for grain rotations where the 
jarge accumulation of nitrogen produced by green manuring with leguminous 
<rops is not so necessary. 
Rabbits act in much the same way as freely wandering sheep in favour- 
‘ing weeds at the expense of more nutritious vegetation, although wher 
pressed by hunger they are much more all-devouring. Frequently, wel.- 
defined’ zones can be seen around a much frequented burrow. F irstly, a 
bare zone, then one where the vegetation is eaten or trodden close and 
flat, then one where weeds are abundant, and further away still the normal 
pasturage vegetation. Sheep, and heavy stock generally, when wandering 
freely over ground wet by rain, do great harm by compressing and 
puddling the soil, and so lessening its aeration. ‘This diminishes the fer- 
tility of the soil for the time being, and by preventing the roots going as 
‘deeply as they otherwise would in search of moisture renders the vegeta- 
tion less prolific, and more subject to drought. At the same time, after 
-every heavy shower of rain, the water, instead of soaking in, will largely 
run off the surface, washing dissolved mineral matter and fertile soil with 
4t, and thus causing an irreparable loss. 
All these actions combined together are especially well shown along the 
‘broad stock roads so common throughout Victoria, which appear 1o be 
especially adapted for the production and spread of weeds. If broad stock 
roads are necessary, the parts of each side of the highway should be 
‘maintained in good pasture, and as free from weeds as possible by plough. 
ing, shutting off and seeding down whenever necessary. The cost of this 
could be covéred by a toll on all animals using the ground for pasturage 
either locally or when in transit. Wherever and whenever broad pasturage 
- stock roads become unnecessary, it would pay to allow the land-owners to 
absorb a third of the road on each side, when, if the provisions of the 
‘Thistle Act were put into operation, the land would no longer be a neglected’ 
‘harbouring ground for weeds. 
Instances of the disastrous effects of inattention to matters of this kind 
are abundant. Goats introduced to St. Helena were allowed to destroy the 
natural forest vegetation, and so prepared the way for the spread of a 
“host of noxious introduced European and American weeds, which have now 
almost entirely replaced the local flora, which included many valuable 
economic plants. The Karroo desert of South Africa is largely the result 
of indiscriminate and excessive grazing. Overstocking and indiscriminate 
grazing-in many parts of the Transvaal have resulted in the production of 
drift sand covering the vegetation, and producing local deserts. Although 
such extreme results are not likely to occur in those parts of Victoria which 
enjoy a high annual rainfall, the deteriorating action on pasturage is always 
possible, and in the newly-opened Mallee districts, special care will be 
‘needed to prevent the establishment of a non-nutrient flora of native and 
introduced xerophytes and stock-defiers adapted to the artificially, enhanced 
desert conditions. 
