no 
.MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
selves above ground, and be kept up rigorously for about 
three months, after which it will be found a much smaller 
staff of operatives will be sufficient to keep it from ripen¬ 
ing Us seed. 
Sid. I now come to a weed generally known as the 
Scotch Thistle, Carduus M Brian us. or Virgin Mary thistle, 
whose chief crime consists in monopolising large tracts of 
the best of our pasture land, but it frequently grows in 
isolated patches, varying in extent. This nuisance will be 
found more readily than the trefoil, as it is not unusual for 
it to grow to a height of eight and ten feet, throwing out 
large variegated leaves. It will, nevertheless, require very 
C3teful watching in order to prevent it ripening its seed, 
and I would recommend close mowing, where the country 
would admit of it, otherwise it should be dug up by the 
roots, for the probability is that it will shoot up several 
times after having beou cut down ; and where only a small 
quantity exists, the trouble of mowing several times will 
be greater than that of digging once. Where plants have 
been allowed to grow to a large size, the hedging bill will 
be the only tool, of those I have mentioned, which would 
be equal to the task of cutting them down 
In each of tha foregoing cases the sooner operations com¬ 
mence after the weeds shew themselves the more easily 
will they be destroyed, particularly the thistle, which 
throws out large leaves armed with sharp points, which 
occasion much pain when brought Into contact with any 
part of the body, and in addition is a strong hard flower 
stem which would resist the scythe. 
On the whole. I look upon the Dutch hoe as being the 
tool best suited for exterminating the burs in general, be¬ 
cause it may be worked with ease by the most inexperi¬ 
enced persons. In fact, I would supply every man, woman, 
and child, not excepting the blacks, with these instruments, 
of sizes suited to the Individuals who had to use them, and 
handles might be made of some suitable wood, which 
would not require to be much larger or more weighty than 
a moderate sized walking stick. Some inducement should 
then be offered to Insure the services of all, and to induce 
them to carry their hoes with them on nil occasions, and 
cut up all the burs that they came in contact with : and as 
it would only be necessary to continue this work for some 
three or four months, the inducement would not requ ire 
to be very great. 
It may be argued that my plan would entail too heavy 
an expense in the carrying of it out. In answer, T would 
urge the immense benefits which would accrue, to the wool 
grower in particular, upon the extermination of these de¬ 
structive weeds, and also that this war against the burs will 
not require a permanent annual outlay ; for if all the land 
could be cleared annually, without allowing any of these 
weeds to raa ture their seeds, the expenditure will become 
much less each year, till the fourth or fifth, when these 
weeds will almost entirely have disappeared. If, however, 
the burs are only partly kept down, the labour will be in 
vain, as the seeds attach themselves to all kinds of quadru¬ 
peds so firmly that they often carry them a distance of 
several hundreds of miles. Thus a few miles of neglected 
ground would be quite sufficient to supply seed in the 
country fora very considerable distance. However, 1 feel 
confident that these ruinous tares of the earth may be 
banished in a few years from our fair shores, by the united 
and simultaneous exertions of the various Legislatures of 
the colonies, and the co operation of all the residents in the 
pastoral and agricultural districts; but if one colony, 
where these pests are growing, should refuse to put her 
shoulder to the wheel in carrying out this great work, its 
accomplishment will be greatly retarded, if not entirely 
frustrated. Up, then, fellow colonists ! Up, l say, and 
be doing. Lend a ready band and willing hearti Let 
those who are highly favoured assist their less fortunate 
brethren, and banish these robbers from your shores else, 
ere long, they will gain such strength as will defy your 
efforts^ and in the end will swallow you up in ruin. 
LINDESAV SHEPHERD. 
Darling Nursery, 2nd December, 1856. 
NATIVE PLANTS, AND TIIE PASTORAL, 
A OR If ’t T LT IT I ’ A L, AND HORTICULTURAL 
RESOURCES OF AUSTRALIA. 
No II— Bv T. W. Shepherd. 
Witem last I had the honor of addressing you, I endea¬ 
voured, by way of introducing my subject, to lay before 
you tny ideas regarding the natural features ot the 
greater part of New Holland, the reasons for its present 
unproductiveness, and tha probability there exists, by 
using proper means, of rendering it fruitful. It is my 
intention, on tho present occasion, to dwell a little fur¬ 
ther upon the results to bo hoped for (should you so far 
indulge as to permit), before entering upon detail. 
In the funner paper, I stated that it was by no means 
unusual to find a country watered by rivers whose esti¬ 
mated grazing capabilities was at the rate of 100 acres 
of land for each ox; and that probably nineteen- 
twentieths of Central Australia was unfit for any 
n ose, owing to the absence of water. For the sake 
owing how vast the capabilities of Australia for 
grazing purposes might become, if our experiments 
should prove successful, we will enter into a few calcu¬ 
lations. Let us suppose that the one-twentieth or 
watered part of the country before mentioned is, under 
present circumstances, capable of supporting 10,000,01)0 
of sheep, which is, perhaps, about the truth, that tho 
grasses and herbs introduced to these pastures have 
enabled them to carry 20 sheep where they would for¬ 
merly only carry one, this gives, 200,000,000; but 
then we have the nineteen-twentieths of tho whole space 
to supply with water, which being accomplished we 
should have accommodation for nineteen times that 
quantity, or 3, $30,000,000 sheep altogether* an infini¬ 
tely greater number than the whole world contains at 
the' present time. But to put this vastness of possibi¬ 
lity in a still more striking light, we will now proceed 
to consider the money value per annum of the wool 
which these millions of sheep would he capable of pro¬ 
ducing. The average quantity of wool produced I will 
take at two pounds per head, and it trill be admitted by 
every person acquainted with Australian sheep keep¬ 
ing (it cannot bo called sheep farming, as at present 
conducted) that this estimate is a very moderate one, 
and one shilling and sixpence per pound as the average 
price of the fleece. I Veil, then, 10,000.000 fleeces, at 
3s. each, gives us the present capabilities, £1,500,000 
annual value; and 3,800,000,000 fleeces, the produce of 
the pastures as improved by the procured water and 
added vegetation, at the same value of 3s. each, gives 
£ 570 , 000,000 sterling annual value,—an income suffi¬ 
cient in less than two years to liquidate the fabulous 
amount of the national’debt of the British empire, un¬ 
less present and coming circumstances vastly increase 
that enormnns debt, which there is indeed too much 
reason to fear will be the case when the troubled state 
of affairs existing in Europe is considered. I am quite 
aware that some people will consider these calcula¬ 
tions as visionary, and they would be justified if I cal¬ 
culated upon such results as likely to be brought about 
in our time, or in the time of our vi children’s grand¬ 
children ” Perhaps, indeed, they may never be fully 
accomplished; but there surely can be nothing so very 
wonderful in rendering five acres of fertile soil capable 
of furnishing enough food for the support of a single 
bullock, or its equivalent; or nothing particularly ex¬ 
traordinary in procuring water for a flock of sheep, 
where it can he procured, in abundance by digging a 
few yards below the surface of the feeding-ground. I 
am also cognisant of the fact that, to some extent, 
Brigalow, Mailer, and other scrubs are met with in 
Central Australia, and that the presence of these ren¬ 
ders the laud covered by them unfit for any grazing 
purpose whatever, unless at such an outlay as would 
preclude all hone of a profitable return. But without 
attempting to show to wliat extent the scrubs cover the 
country,.—for no data whatever can be found by which 
we might arrive at any thing like a reasonable estimate, 
—I may be allowed to state, as my own opinion, de- 
