1 Novy., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. yn 511 
Now what happens when the right person wields the rod is this: On his 
reaching a spot beneath which water is to be found, the rod at once begins to 
turn downwards, and does so with considerable force. On the operator moving 
away from the place, the rod resumes its horizontal position, pointing straight 
ahead of the holder, and it will remain in this position until another hidden 
spring causes it again to deflect towards the ground. Cases have occurred in 
which water has been found by a person holding an iron rod across the palm of 
his hand, and even a pliable stick bent in the form of 2 bow has assisted the 
operator as well as if the rod had been forked. 
WARTS ON THATS. 
Iv is stated that an effective and painless cure for warts on the cows’ teats is 
the application of castor oil. The fingers should be smeared with oil and the 
affected teats rubbed gently every day for a few weeks. ‘Then rub the udder 
with oil so that it runs down along the teats. 
SEED WHEAT. 
A rarMer in South Australia (Millicent) is said to have proved that 96 per 
cent. of hand-cleaned wheat will germinate, whilst only 86 per cent. of grain 
from the steam thresher will grow. 
WEEDS ON GARDEN PATHS. 
To destroy weeds on garden paths make a solution of 1 Jb. arsenic and 2 Ib. 
washing soda in 1 gallon of water. Boil for half-an-hour stirring all the time 
till dissolved. Half a pint of this solution should be mixed with each gallon of 
water and applied by means of a watering-pot. 
THE NURSE ROOT SYSTEM. 
Tur Pacific Rural Press describes as follows the system of propagating trees 
from cuttings with the aid of nurse roots. It is of especial interest in the 
relation it hears to the important discovery claimed by Secretary Lelong, of the 
California State Board of Horticulture, as to propagation by aid of ‘mother 
roots’ :— 
If you take a cutting of almost any kind and make a side cut upwards a 
little above its base, and insert in this cut a piece of the root of the same kind 
of a plant cut with a wedge shape at the top so as to fit closely in the cut in the 
cutting, this root will quickly callus itself to the cutting, send sap into it and 
start its growth. If the cutting were planted without this “starter” root, all 
the moisture might evaporate from its tissues (which is death to a cutting) 
before it can establish roots of its own to supply it sap. Thus this root piece 
becomes a nurse to the cutting until it is able to take its own nourishment, as 
it soon will by means of roots emitted from its own tissue. There is no recent 
discovery about this. Ithas been known for generations and has been employed 
in the propagation of all sorts of plants. It is simply one of the many forms 
of root grafting. If it is desired that the cutting grow upon its own roots 
one, it is taken up at the end of the first season’s growth and the nurse root 
is cleanly cut out and the well-rooted cutting is replanted. If it does not 
matter whether it grows upon its own roots and the enlargement of the nurse 
root (which is generally the case) it is allowed simply to go ahead as it likes. 
All roots on root grafts are nurse roots, more or léss, because in almost uy 
underground grafting you will have roots from the scion unless you take pains 
to replant with the whole of the scion or cutting above ground. ‘This work can 
be done with cuttings of greater or less maturity. If you take last year’s wood 
from a bearing tree you will, of course, get fruit in a year probably. If you 
take a cutting from a tree not yet in bearing you will have to wait longer. The 
speed of fruiting will be conditioned upon the age of the tree, and its habit of 
bearing upon wood of one or two years maturity.—Harm and Home, 
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