322 ’ QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Aprrn, 1898. 
General Notes. 
ASPARAGUS. 
Ur toa very late period it was considered that to grow asparagus successfully 
it was necessary to dig a deep pit, and fill it full of manure, sowing the seed on 
the surface. This idea is now completely exploded. 
To grow asparagus no such deep bed is necessary. If the bed is well dug 
or trenched and well manured, this is all that is needed. The seed being sown, 
it takes three years to bring an asparagus bed into full production, but when 
that has been done it will continue to produce abundantly for ten or twelye 
years. If it is‘a good bed, and prices are satisfactory, it will yield as muchas 
£40 per acre annually. Like all other products of the soil, asparagus has its 
enemies, and one of them is a yellow worm which has done some little mischief, 
but there is a new pest in America of a more dangerous kind. Some time ago 
one of the Bay Farm Island growers imported a quantity of seed, and 
Horticultural Commissioner Pryal went over to the island recently to warn the 
people not to plant the seed until after it had been carefully inspected, so that 
the danger of introducing the pest may be prevented. So far, in Queensland, 
no pest has troubled the asparagus beds; but whilst every precaution is being 
taken against the introduction of insects inimical to fruit, it will be well that 
any insect which affects such a valuable vegetable as the asparagus should be 
carefully watched. 
IMPORTING A CODLIN MOTH HATING BIRD. 
From the Pacifie Rural Press we take the following interesting note on “A 
Codlin Moth Eating Bird.’ We have ourselves observed and caught the 
same bird in Switzerland. There is no doubt that it is a bird absolutely 
insestivorous, and its introduction into Australia would, we feel assured, be a 
boon to fruitgrowers, horticulturists, and others. We commend the note on 
this bird to the Acclimatisation Society :— 
Mr. Henry B. Dosch, commissioner of the Oregon Board of Horticulture, 
is hard at work, according to the Oregon Agriculturist, making arrangements 
for the importation of the kohlmeise, the bird which keeps down the codlin 
moth in Germany. He will in a few days have a letter from Germany, 
informing him of the cost of the birds. He will himself undertake the 
collection of money in Portland and elsewhere in his district, and expects that 
each of the other members of the Board of Horticulture will collect funds in 
his district. The birds will be distributed to the several localities in the State 
in proportion to the amount of money contributed towards their purchase. 
What a Bird Authority Says.—My. C. F. Pfluger, a well-known authority 
on birds, says that the kohlmeise is one of the most strictly insectivorous 
birds ever known. It is extremely prolific. There are from two or three 
broods a year, and from ten to twelve birds in a brood. It is not a migratory 
bird, but remains in the same locality winter and summer. ‘The winters in 
Germany are more severe than in Oregon, and there is no reason why it 
should not thrive here. If introduced, it may be expected to multiply even 
more rapidly than the Chinese pheasant. 
The kohlmeise is a bird of about the same size as the chickadee, and is 
extremely active. The head is black, with white cheeks. Breast is yellow, 
with black stripe in front; back, olive-green ; wings, greyish. The Latin 
name of this iyiail is Parus major, 
