804 _ QUEENSLAND AUHICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Szpr., 1899. 
Mr. Meaden records that he put manure upon his land, in a well rotten 
condition to the depth of eight inches, and that he grew guinea-grass at the 
rate of 118 tons to the acre harvested at one cutting, and in the dry season. 
This would be accounted for by the fact that during the dry season the grass is 
actually heavier, owing to the larger quantity of woody fibre, the removal of 
which would probably give a loss of some 60 or 70 per cent., instead of the 
average I have taken, of some 33 per cent., especially when a “depth of eight 
inches” of well rotted manure has been applied to the surface. This, coupled 
with a due proportion of loss for air drying, would considerably reduce the 
value of Mr. Meaden’s crop, but it would probably still leave guinea-grass of the 
highest value among our local fodders. 
Guinea-grass, and, in fact, all grasses when cut at the proper time, 7e., 
when the flower spikes are fully formed, contain much more nutriment than 
when cut young, and seeing the large percentage of water in guinea-grass when 
freshly cut, it is no wonder that in Trinidad we hear the statements that it 
renders animals liable to colic, diarrhea, &c., &c. 
If the grass is left to become too “ bony,” there is again great waste, for it 
has been seen what a very large percentage of it in this condition is unfit for 
animal consumption. Cut at the right period it makes first-class hay ; but in 
the climate of Trinidad it is a very difficult matter to secure weather suitable 
for the operation, as when the grass is plentiful, there is little fine weather, and 
when the weather is suitable, there is little ‘grass. Guinea-grass, however, is, all 
things considered, the most economic of all the grasses for feeding purposes for 
both horses and cattle. Iam fully aware that there is considerable prejudice 
against its use for milking cattle, as it is asserted that it causes cows to “ go 
Probably this idea would proye on examination to be merely insular 
prejudice, but personally I cannot either affirm or deny the proposition. I 
know, however, that in Jamaica, cows are fed upon guinea-grass. 
THE DIVINING ROD. 
A CORRESPONDENT, writing to the Australian Pastoralists’ Review, says :— 
As I am a firm believer in the efficacy of the divining rod, your article on 
it in the Review of the 15th instant attracted my attention, as it should that 
of all who have to do with sinking for water in dry country. Sceptics may 
scoff, and unbelievers laugh as they like, but I assert there is a virtue in the 
divining rod; that it will indicate where underground streams are flowing, and 
that with certainty and accuracy when used by a person in whose system there 
is more than the average amount of electricity. The person holding the rod is, 
as it were, the battery, and, by holding the rod (I use a copper wire bent ina 
semicircle) at arm’s length with one end of the rod towards him, will continue 
to attract it until he passes over something possessing a greater power of 
attraction than his body. If you hold the rod so tightly in your hand that it 
cannot twist round, it will rise up fully 45 per cent. if the subtle power arising 
from the earth be fairly strong. 
Upon one occasion, when experimenting with the rod in the south-west of 
South Australia, it rose to perpendicular, and then dipped slightly from me. 
When you have passed beyond the greater attraction than is possessed by the 
“ diviner,” the point of the rod will turn towards the holder. 
I haye found the rod work better in summer than winter—sultry weather 
for choice. 
What the subtle and hidden influence is which causes the rod to work in 
some men’s hands, and not in others, will surely be discovered by someone, 
when it will be found it is, perhaps, the simplest ‘ists possible. 
I do not wade into science, and rarely “theorise,” but my idea is that gases 
are generated by the water passing through chemical and mineral substances 
and escaping to the surface. 
