520 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Junn, 1898. 
General Notes. 
HOW TO CURE SHEEPSKINS. 
Carrets and.soft rugs are not a usual part of the generally uncomfortable 
furnishings of a house or hut in the Far West. At most the bare boards or 
ant-hill floors are adorned with a shrivelled calfskin driedinthe sun. But with 
a little trouble sheepskins can be so manipulated as to form excellent warm 
rugs especially useful during the cold winter weather. Work tells how the 
skins may be cured in the following manner :—If dry, soak them in water till 
quite soft. Scrape off any fat which may be present. Now well wash them in 
warm soap and water; wring out, but do not rinse. Then leave them for about 
two days in the following mixture: To 5 gallons of soft water add 3% lb. of 
common salt, and stir well to dissolve. Then add 141b. of commercial sulphuric 
acid, and stir again. It should now taste keen like vinegar, but should not 
burn the tongue. his mixture may cause the hands to smart a little, but will 
do no harm. ‘Then rinse in cold water, and wring out as dry as possible. Hang 
in the shade to dry. During the drying the skin should be rubbed between 
the knuckles as when washing clothes, pulled, stretched in every way, and 
scraped. Any hard parts may be reduced with pumice-stone, though scraping 
with a knife is quicker. As a finish, dust a little whitening over the skin, and 
rub this all over with pumice-stone. During the scraping and stretching the 
wool should be combed out, and not left till the skin has dried. Wallaby and 
other skins may be treated in the same way. 
DESTROYING DODDER IN LUCERNE. 
Mr. Amos Ravcrirre, one of the most successful pioneer farmers of the early 
sixties at Oxley Creek, reminds us of a recipe which we published twenty-five 
years ago in the Queenslander for the destruction of dodder. The remedy was 
sulphate of iron in solution applied with a watering can. Mr. Radcliffe, whose 
lucerne fields we remember to have seen infested with dodder, applied the 
remedy with great success, and, as he says, it completely destroyed the dodder. 
The bare patches resulting from the application were soon filled up again’ with 
lucerne. 
In connection with noxious weeds he mentions nutgrass, and suggests that, 
as so many amateur remedies have failed to destroy it, a reward might be 
offered for a certain effective remedy. He believes that this course on the 
part of the Agricultural Department would be productive of good results. 
But we would point out that, if anyone had discovered asure cure for the pest, 
no Government reward would be needed, because most men who have discovered 
or who have thought they have discovered a panacea for vegetable or animal pests 
have not been chary of bringing their remedy into notice either through the 
journals or through the agricultural societies. ‘The man who can destroy nut- 
grass utterly, and who withholds that knowledge of his from his fellow farmers 
until areward is offered, is no true patriot. Most farmers we are acquainted 
with are only too glad to impart any valuable information they may have gained 
either from their own experiments or from those of others, without expectation 
of reward beyond what is theirs from a sense of having conferred a benefit 
upon the agricultural community. 
AN INGENIOUS GATE LOOP. 
Wao has not felt a desire to punish in some effective manner the man who, on 
entering a field or yard, leaves the gate open behind them. Such a visitor is 
often the cause of annoyance, trouble, and expense to the farmer or gardener. 
