THE PRICKLY PEAR. 
The Prickly Pear. 
Enemy Pests to be Tried. 
By E. N. ROBINSON. 
People in the southern portions of Australia are inclined to treat 
with contempt and incredulity the oft-told story of the onward march 
of the prickly pear. Conversely, in Queensland and the north-western 
areas of New South Wales pastoralists and farmers have ceased to 
complain about the exactions levied by this, the most ruthless and re- 
morseless of all monopolists. They have become used to its depreda- 
tions, and they regard its continued encroachment upon occupied land 
as inevitable and unavoidable. Many pastoralists have already been 
driven off their holdings. Many others resignedly forecast the day 
when they will be compelled to evacuate. 
The question whether the prickly pear shall remain in undisputed 
possession of huge areas of country, and shall be allowed to swallow up 
others, is however one of national and not individual concern. The 
matter is one which Australia must decide. he pest long ceased to 
be a local affair, nor can one State claim it as its own particular 
problem. Huge sums have been spent by Queensland Governments 
in their attempts to eradicate or check the spread of the plant, and 
tempting monetary rewards have been offered to private persons as 
an inducement to employ their knowledge in preparing a means of 
coping with the evil. The annual answer of the prickly pear to all the 
thought and labour expended upon its suppression during the last twenty 
years is a move forward into hitherto clean country, and a strengthening 
of its defences in newly-occupied areas. 
The seriousness of the position to the Commonwealth is shown by 
the following figures. Three years ago the area infested was estimated 
by the Lands Departments of Queensland and New South Whales as 
22,208,000 acres. Of this area Queensland supplied 20,000,000 acres 
and New South Wales the remainder. The most disquieting feature, 
however, is the rapid extension of the pest. It has been estimated that 
its annual rate of increase is 1,000,000 acres. The Commonwealth 
cannot fence off over 20,000,000 acres of land, much of it good grazing 
land, and some of it arable land, and be content to “cut the loss.” 
New boundaries would constantly be required to be erected—north, 
south, east, and west. The prickly pear might now claim to be Aus- 
tralia’s principal primary product. It covers a greater area of country 
than the combined areas of all our cultivated crops, and would envelop, 
with plenty to spare, the whole of Tasmania. 
One of the first problems which the Institute took into consideration 
was an investigation of the prickly pear. The means of eradication 
which naturally suggested themselves were :— 
(a) Destruction by mechanical means; 
(b) Destruction by chemical means; 
(c) Destruction by utilization; and 
(d) Destruction by natural enemies. 
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