464 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Nov, 18995 
and their appearance of vitality for an almost indefinite time. It is conceivable 
that some geologist of the future will be as much puzzled over the tubers of 
nut-grass dug by him from some long-buried stratum, as are those of our day 
over fruits and leaves similarly preserved. 
If the cases of the tubers of this pnt which were found in wells and 
similar places at great depths were carefully investigated on the spot, it is likely 
that it would be found they were carried there by some outside agency. 
After the plant has been cut down for one year whenever the leaves get to 
any height (and this can be easily done by a systematic use of the “ Avery” 
garden plough in gardens, market gardens, and small farms, or by means of & 
horse Planet cultivator on a larger scale), it will be found to come up very 
weakly the following year, and will then be much more easily dealt with. Do 
not give it a chance to renew its youth. Your crop, whatever it is, requires 
cultivating for its own sake, even if there were no nut-grass in the world, and 
it will pay for the labour to do it on this account alone. If you can arrange to 
have a crop which will shade the land just as the nut-grass is coming above 
ground in the spring, it will be a great point in your tactics against it. 
A crop of cowpea is good for the purpose of smothering it, though it must 
_ not by any means be imagined that it is only necessary to smother it for a short 
time. New beds are often opened up on the higher ground here, where a spade: 
or plough has in all probability never been inserted. An immediate and plentiful 
crop of nut-grass is the invariable result, and it always takes a year or two 
before it can be reduced to bounds. To deal with this enemy you must attack 
it with system Happy-go-lucky methods only mean a loss of power and poor 
results, and it must be fought at the right time—z.e., during the summer months, 
and until it begins to die away. Do not trouble about it when it is at rest, but 
have your crop as far advanced as possible, or be ready with your cultivator 
when it wakes up. 
Whether the plant is propagated in your district from the seed or from the 
tubers alone, or from both together (and it is my firm conviction that itis 
propagated in all three ways in different places), you will, by preventing it from 
forming flower-heads, weaken its vegetative powers, destroy its chances of 
' propagation, and so vitiate it that, though it will have to be reckoned with by 
Queensland farmers and gardeners while grass grows, it will be eliminated from 
the somewhat overcrowded list of pests. 
The following extract from an article by the Hon. G. D. Tillman, quoted 
by Mr. L. H. Dewey, of the United States Department of Agriculture, shows: 
that the Queensland farmer is not alone in having to fight this plant :— 
“Ttisa waste of effort to attack ‘coco’ (nut-grass) in winter either by 
digging, or ploughing, or turning hogs on it. The best time for fighting it is 
between midsummer and frost time. Although myriads of the sprigs will show 
themselves abové ground a day or two after the working of the soil, even in the 
spring months, yet no seed stems will show themselves till late in the season,. 
and the secret of success is to cut while in the flowering stage at the latest, and 
the sooner the better. One cause that has enabled ‘coco’ (nut-grass) so long and 
so defiantly to hold its sway in the south is that we have so few crops which are 
hoed or ploughed in the fall of the year.” 
In Queensland, nut-grass is chiefly remarked as a nuisance in the early 
spring, and at that time there is always a great talk of getting rid of it, or 
rather a good deal of grumbling at the apparent impossibility of getting rid of 
it. At this time it forces itself upon attention, because it is a very conspicuous 
object with its fresh green leaves showing everywhere through cultivation 
and injuring young plants which are not yet sufliciently advanced to bid it 
defiance. But later on, when the real time comes for fighting it to advantage, 
it is found that the crop is already so far advanced that its ill effects and 
appearance are not so evident, and so it is let alone for another year, and ins 
the meantime it spreads and waxes strong. 
