THISTLES. 33 
feet high. If merely cut down so that no flowering occurs, it may last 
tor several years. Hence, on pasture land, the sole remedy is either to bring 
the land temporarily under cultivation, or to grub out the plants, pile and 
burn them before flowering. The plant is especially likely to establish 
itself on roadsides and waste places. Here, cutting before flowering would 
prevent further spread if thorough eradication is too costly. 
Cassinia arcuata, R. Br. The Chinese Scrub. An erect shrub, the 
branches and under-sides of the leaves thinly woolly. Leaves narrow linear, 
rounded at the ends, or with short, recurved points, the margins closely 
rolled back. Flower-heads small and numerous in a long, loose, terminal 
‘panicle. Involucres cylindrical, often curved, not two lines long, straw- 
coloured, white or brown, the bracts very thin, smooth, and shining. F lorets 
two, three, or rarely four. This native shrubby composite often attains a 
height of three to six feet, and is usually found on clayey ground, being 
very abundant in many parts, especially in the North. The popular name 
is a misnomer; it has no connexion whatever with the Chinese, being a 
native plant. It is quite useless as a fodder plant, though not actively 
poisonous. Stock rarely touch it, but if driven by hunger to browse upon 
it are bound to suffer. The plant is a perennial, seeds freely, and the seed 
are carried long distances by wind or in the wool of passing sheep. The 
seed have a limited duration of vitality in the soil. 
The plants should be cut or grubbed out before flowering, at once piled 
in heaps, and burnt. Being somewhat resinous or oily, they burn readily 
when green. Scarifying and manuring the pasture will aid the grasses in 
suppressing seedlings, which may. be cut or hoed“if they become too large. 
‘Ordinary cultivation will keep arable land clean from this weed. 
Proclaimed for the Shires of Maldon and Waranga. 
THISTLES, 
Under this head are included various species of Carduus and Centaurea. 
All the Thistles common in this State are proclaimed for the whole State,, 
and all, with the exception of Carduus arvensis, L.., are annual or biennial, 
occasionally lasting more than two years if the flower heads are continually 
removed without cutting down the plant close to the base. In all these 
cases, on pasture land, and, in fact, all land which cannot be put under 
the plough, the plants should be cut close to the ground, hoed up, or hand- 
pulled before they have attained any great size (six inches or so). The seed- 
lings will then nearly all die without needing any treatment. If the plants 
are allowed to exceed six inches in height before treatment, the stem and 
root left after cutting will usually shoot again, and the upper part of large 
stems may ripen seed after cutting, so that the cut parts need to be piled 
and burnt with the aid of brushwood. It is often the case that the treat- 
ment of thistles is delayed until they have begun to flower, when, if the 
seed are allowed to ripen, all the trouble is in vain, since the plants would 
have died in amy case as soon as seeding had exhausted them, and the 
handling merely favours the spread of the seed. It appears to be very 
generally the case that the notices under the Act are issued too late to be 
‘of much service, and that on this plea convictions are commonly suspended 
according to the provision at the end of Section 4 of the Act.* This pro- 
vision treads: ‘‘It shall be lawful for any such Justices to suspend any 
conviction upon its being proved to their satisfaction that the person 
receiving such notice has used, and is using, reasonable exertions to destroy 
such thistles.’’ It is difficult to see how any one who has allowed thistles 
» See, for instance, Police Court Report, Charlton, Ist March, 1907. 
