1 Ava., 1898. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 119 
among them, would do its work rapidly. With regard to the sucking moths, 
he adyised those present who were troubled with this pest to get the April 
number of the Queensland Agricultural Journal, and there see the article 
on the subject by Mr. H. Tryon. No doubt a few of these moths 
could be caught with traps, but probably far better results would 
take place if the food plants on which the larva lived were destroyed. 
As to the fruit fly, the best way to deal with it was by combined action to 
destroy all infested fruit. Such procedure would, at least, keep the pest in 
check. With regard to the fruit fly attacking native fruits in scrubs, it had 
been proved by actual experiments that at least 70 per cent. of the larva was 
parasitised, and never came to anything; also, that flies born in scrub fruits 
stuck to scrub fruits. If, therefore, by destroying the infested fruit in their 
own orchards, and by removing all old and useless trees which were producing 
worthless fruit, the main sources of infection were kept in check, he thought 
the fruit-fly could be at least kept within reasonable bounds. It was one of 
those pests, however, which behoved every man to keep his orchard clean, as 
it was no use one man doing so and others not. Mr. Hudson had mentioned 
to him that gas lime placed under the trees would destroy a number of the 
larva that were underneath the ground, and, no doubt, such remedies would 
destroy a certain percentage; but, as said before, probably the best and most 
satisfactory remedy was to gather and destroy all rotten fruit. Never 
allow the fly to come out of the fruit, and at the same time destroy any trees 
which are not bearing fruit of commercial value. As for the mice plagues 
mentioned by Mr. Lamb, he did not think they would be so difficult to deal 
wlth. Some years ago certain parts of Europe were devastated with such 
plagues of rats and mice, and very good results were got by inoculation. They 
were inoculated with a kind of mouse cholera, and he (Mr. Benson) had 
suggested to Mr. Pound that he obtain some of these microbes for Queens- 
land. However, there was another way of dealing with the pest, and people 
who were not afraid to use poison were advised to place poisoned baits around 
their stacks. This, of course, was dangerous to poultry, &c., for if poultry ate 
poisoned inice they themselves were poisoned. It might be mentioned, 
however, that poultry could eat mice killed through inoculation without any 
consequences resulting therefrom. 
Mr. T. A. Linpemawn (Bundaberg) said the fact remained that flying-foxes 
could travel long distances ; and while their natural foods lasted, orchards were 
not troubled by them. As soon as the natural supplies fell short, however, 
they became pests to fruitgrowers. As for dealing with them, it should be 
first remembered that flying-foxes were clumsy and had no steering gear to 
speak of. They got off a tree very heavily, and their flight was not specially 
rapid. He had often seen them bump up against an ordinary plain wire, and 
he was satisfied that if a few barbed wires were stretched high up round an 
orchard flying-foxes after coming in contact with them a couple of times would 
soon leave the orchard alone. At any rate, it would be a temporary expedient. 
Coots were certainly very destructive. He had seen them about canefields, and 
they would eat anything and everything. In New Zealand, he believed, they 
not only went into the fields, but they followed the carts and would rip open 
bags in them to get what they wanted. In canefields they attacked the 
bottom of the cane, down would tumble the stick, and whole acres would be 
thus destroyed. A remedy that had been tried was the laying of corn saturated 
with a preparation of strychnine. That the birds did pick up a lot of this corn 
was evidenced by the number of dead ones that were found lying about, but in 
any event the coots left the plantation, seeming to know that something was 
wrong. Such pests were very serious, and, as they seemed to be increasing, the 
spread of them should be checked as far as possible. As for the wallabies 
about Bundaberg, landholders had had to use wire-netting, as there was no 
other way of keeping them out, except perhaps with pine battens. As a matter 
of fact, he was not quite sure whether such battens were not the cheapest and 
best way of keeping out the wallabies. If these battens were placed all round 
