 ” — 
1 Jung, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. © 497 
be lost sight of. lt is only at certain brief periods of the year that the sparrows: 
can attack the seed corn in the ground, or the ripe corn on the stalk, whereas: 
the insects and the grubs are with us “all the year round.” Looking at this, 
it would seem that the balance of evidence is in favour of their being more 
benefical than harmful, so that they may very reasonably be left alone, unless 
they increase and multiply to such an extent as to become a positive nuisance. 
This is never likely to happen in our country where there are so many bird’s- 
nesting boys about, and, therefore, I venture to record it as my humble opinion 
that the poor little sparrow may be regarded as rather a friend than a foe. It 
very troublesome, encourage the boys to look after the nests in spring-time 
and. then the sparrows will not increase too freely. 
Allow me briefly to say that it has been indisputably proved that the house 
sparrow (Passer domesticus) is one of the farmer’s best friends. Throughout 
the greater part of the year his food mainly consist of grubs, insects, and seeds 
of noxious weeds, and if he does eat a few grains of corn occasionally, well, he 
deserves it as a reward for the service rendered in clearing the land of harmful 
insects and noxious weeds. 
The hedge sparrow, hedge warbler, shuftle-wing, or dunnock (Accentor 
modularis) does absolutely no harm to farm or garden crops. His food consists 
entirely of insects and their grubs. . 3 
PRESERVE THE SWALLOWS. 
Whew shall we succeed in staying the hand of sportsmen (?) who, to keep their 
hands in for pigeon or quail shooting, practice on the swallows ? 
The Board of Agriculture (England) deprecates the practice, and points 
out the losses resulting to agriculture owing to the decrease of the swallow, 
which is partly attributed to the slaughter of the birds in the South of Europe, 
and partly to the increase of house sparrows which drive the swallows away 
from their nesting places. 
The Board has issued leaflets on the swallow and the spotted fly-catcher, 
deseribing the habits of these birds, and urging their preservation as Triends of 
the farmer and gardener. 
DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS WEEDS. 
Tx the February number of the Journal we drew attention to experiments 
which had been made in England by Dr. W. Somerville with a view to the 
complete extermination of charlock in wheat-fields, all having more or less 
success. 
Tn a German agricultural paper, Dr. Schultz has published the results of 
experiments in the destruction of charlock with a solution of sulphate of iron, 
carried out by him last season, fully confirming the satisfactory conclusions 
derived from similar trials in France first, and later in England. He found that 
wild radish, as well as charlock, in wheat, barley, or oats, was killed or kept 
from developing sced by spraying with this solution, without harming the corn, 
But he recommends a 15 per cent. solution, which is just double the strength 
found most satisfactory by Dr. Somerville in the North of England, That is to 
say, he used 15 lb. of the sulphate with 10 gallons of water, spraying about 
40 gallons over an acre. Other experiments showed that it was not safe to use 
the solution where young clovers were growing with the cereals, and that pulse 
and beet crops were also injured by it. 
One of the Cruciferre—a Brassica or Black Mustard—grows to a large extent 
in the wheatfields on the Downs. Specimens are occasionally sent to the 
Government Botanist, Mr. F. M. Bailey, and some senders ask, “ What shall 
we do to get rid of the pest?” What will kill charlock, Mr. Bailey says, will 
probably kill the wild mustard. We give the remedy. Have we no one among 
our farmers who will take the trouble to make some simple experiments ? 
