170 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1899. 
however, not to trust to buffalo grass, and if he has only got a small patch of 
nut-grass I would strongly urge on him to get every bit of it out, or otherwise 
it will overrun the whole district. 
Mr. P. McLean: If Mr. Denman has only a small patch he will be able to 
kill it by covering it with sheet iron so as to exclude it from airand light. This 
is on the same principle as Mr. Gibson’s molasses. Both are effectual remedies, 
but of course you can only try them on small patches. 
Mr. T. Riper: Ploughing I think willlessen nut-grass to a certain extent, 
but I do not believe the sun will killit. It should be burned. I remember a 
small patch an the South Pine River that has now spread over the whole district, 
and I would advise anyone if he sees a small patch to dig it up and have it put 
in the fire. 
Mr. C. Arrnow (Brisbane): Nut-grass was bad at Nundah 35 years ago, 
and it still exists there to-day. I would warn the gentleman who said that 
he feeds his cows on nut-grass. The grass is all right and you can kill it, but 
the nuts are dangerous. Cows will very often get a nut and it will go clean 
through them. The cow’s manure goes on to the farmer's cultivation, and the 
pest is spread. It takes a good deal of fire to kill the nut, and I doubt whether 
the sunis able to do this. About Nundah, where the land used to be worth 
£100 per acre for pineapple-growing, strenuous efforts have been made by 
farmers to eradicate nut-grass, but generally without avail. The pineapple 
growers do not consider it a very serious detriment to the crop, however, if itis 
kept down, but I do not think they will ever get rid of it. A ploughman in the 
vicinity of nut-grass land should be careful that the plough does not carry the 
nuts about. 
Mr. ©. J. Booxer (Woolooga): I have seen nut-grass eradicated to all 
intents and purposes by farmers fencing off the nut-grass paddock, and putting 
into it a run of pigs. I have looked over a paddock where the pigs have been 
in for a month, and have not seen a green leaf, the field being practically in a 
state of cultivation. The wire-netting fencing was then pulled up, the pigs 
turned off, the plough put through the land, and the next crop was as 
ood as from any portion of the field where there had been no nut-grass. At 
the same time I have seen pigs, with the assistance in their feed of a little milk, 
top off on nut-grass. If a man who has a patch of nut-grass on his land puts 
a piece of wire-netting fencing round it, which is pretty cheap, and encloses 
some pigs, I think he will find the results satisfactory. The pigs for a start 
cultivate the land themselves, and this, too, on heavy black soil. I remember 
seeing this done on a farm, and two years afterwards saw on the same land some 
really good crops. This systemis practised on the northern rivers of New South 
Wales and on some of the rivers of Queensland. 
Mr. H. Carrermunt (Woongarra): In the Woongarra Scrub I have 
known farmers to have a pigsty made that could be shifted to different parts of 
a field, and boys, picking up spare nuts, followed the movable pig-pen, but still 
the nut-grass came up. The same system was tried a second time, but still the 
pest refused to be eradicated. 
Mr. J. Parke (Tinana): There is a large quantity of nut-grass on’ the 
Mary River, and I can quite endorse what Mr. Booker has said. I believe also, 
in addition to the pigs, that some geese would prove useful aids. 
Mr. B. Hicxs (Southport) : I have followed nut-grass down 4 feet, and I 
believe it goes down another 4. It is impcssible to get it out. Perhaps pigs 
may be able to take out all the surface roots. I have seen land covered with 
lantana for 10 years, and when the lantana was removed the land was covered 
with nut-grass. I would suggest to farmers that a good reward be offered for 
the best implement that will work among nut-grass, although there is, of 
course, at present the Planet Junior, but if the various farming associations in 
the colony combined and offered a good reward, we would perhaps be able to 
get a better implement for the purpose. Ploughing the land 5 or 6 times is 
very expensive, and although it is true pigs will eatit, it is only the surface roots. 
Mr. Booxer: The pigs may not eradicate it altogether, but you can still get 
2 good crops after the pigs haye been on the land. 
