St. John’s 
Wort. 
Viticultural 
Investigation. 
Prickly Pear. 
Cotton 
Growing. 
Papua. 
Phosphatic 
Rocks. 
Laboratories. 
Cattle Tick - 
in Western 
Australia. 
Ferro Alloys. 
Bendigo 
Gold-fields. 
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
The Imperial Bureau of Entomology, London, is 
carrying out preliminary investigations for the Insti- 
tute on the subject of insects which feed on and destroy 
St. John’s wort. 
In collaboration with authorities at Mildura and 
Merbein (Victoria) and Curlwaa (New South Wales). 
the Institute has initiated systematic experimental 
work into pathological and entomological problems, 
and into various physical and chemical questions relat- 
ing to cultivation under irrigation. 
A complete scheme for investigating the question of 
the destruction of prickly pear by insect enemies has 
been formulated and approved by the Commonwealth 
and Queensland Governments. It is hoped that the 
New South Wales Government will come in at an early 
date. 
Parcels of seed of the most suitable varieties of 
cotton for cultivation in Australia are being obtained 
for experimental purposes from the United States of 
America Bureau of Plant and Industry, Washington. 
Steps are being taken for the formation of a Papuan 
Development Committee as a branch of the Institute, 
with a view to the development of that territory’s 
resources. 
A Special Committee has been appointed to investi- 
gate the local phosphatie rocks of Australia, panticu- 
larly with a view to the discovery of means for 
increasing their “ availability,” as well as to determine 
their actual value as fertilizers in an untreated condi- 
tion. 
‘A large amount of attention and time has been 
devoted to the consideration, in a preliminary way, of 
the laboratories to be established when the bill for the 
permanent Institute is passed. 
A. Committee in Western Australia, representing the 
Commonwealth and State Governments, as well as 
pastoral interests, is completing the formulation of a 
eae for the eradication of the cattle tick in that 
tate. 
Experimental work is being carried out at Melbourne 
in regard to the methods of manufacture of the most 
important ferro alloys, especially those used in the 
manufacture of high-speed tool steel. 
Investigations are being carried out to determine the 
principles which have caused the erratic localization 
of the gold shoots in the quartz reefs, and thus, among 
other things, to cheapen the cost of deep prospecting. 
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