1 Joy, 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 135 
advertise Johnston grass as a splendid drought-resisting fodder ought to be 
prosecuted for false pretences. It will not grow in dry weather unless you 
cultivate it, but after having once cultivated it you cannot get rid of it. I 
consider it worse than nutgrass. 
Mr. A. Morrar (Radford): There is no subject that I have listened to, 
and none that interests me and the farming community of Queensland more 
than this subject which has been dealt with by Mr. Coulson. We cannot ever 
expect to establish the dairying industry upon a firm basis unless we can 
provide for our stock for four months of the year. The difficulties appear to 
be as though they could not be overcome. It is not only sorghum, but all 
other fodders that we may use are liable to have a similar effect to one referred 
to by the writer of the paper. There is the same trouble with lucerne. I had 
a fine calf the other day that died through eating a green pumpkin. It is the 
same with barley. If you have a flush growth of barley you can hoven your 
cattle in that way. I lost a valuable bull over baricy last year. ‘his providing 
of winter feed is a most difficult matter, and a harder one to solve has not come 
under my notice. I have started dairying lately, and it is this trouble more 
than any other that keeps me awake at night. 
Mr. J. W. Let (Zillmere) : I have grown sorghum for many years, and I 
think the great mistake is made in using sorghum at the wrong period of its 
owth. I have read of many instances of cows being killed, but in every one 
it appears that the cows got on to the sorghum in the young stages of its 
owth. I never feed my cattle on sorghum until I see the bud out on the top, 
and I have never had the slightest difficulty with any of my cattle when I fed 
them on sorghum, or imphee, or millet. Im the days of the old East Moreton 
Farmers’ Association this question came up even then, and I remember a 
selector at Mount Cotton who had four cows killed from this cause. The cattle, 
in his instance, had been turned in on to young sorghum before it had arrived at 
its proper stage of maturity. I believe when that stage takes place the 
poisonous effect has gone out of the plant. It is the same with corn. My 
cattle will not eat corn until it comes somewhere near its head, when there 
seems to be a thorough change in the nature of the cereal. 
Mr. W. Dracon (Allora): I have used sorghum fora great many years, 
and have never had a cow or ealf blown or poisoned. I have used it at all 
stages except, of course, at the 6-inch stage. I like it to be at least about 
2 feet high. I remember we had a 4-acre paddock from which it would not 
pay us to cut and cart the sorghum. We therefore turned the stock intoit. It 
was about 1 foot high, and we let them eat it down. No injurious effects 
arose. As far as I can understand, the trouble seems to arise from hoven. 
Vorcrs: No. 
Mr. Deacon: We have much the same trouble with lucerne. 
Mr. Coutson: A different thing altogether. 
Mr. Deacon: Lucerne ferments, and barley will do the same. I have 
known cows turned into barley when it was about 8 inches high. If I have any 
cows coming out of young barley, and there is a chance of their being blown, 
T send them into the stockyard and see that they get no water. Itis a strange 
thing, but it cows have had a lot of green stuff they run for water. I 
think it is the water that causes the trouble, and I never let them have any 
on these occasions. A fortnight ago a number of my cows got on to some 
green stuff, and, as I was away at the time, they afterwards managed to get 
some water. Asa result there was one calf that could scarcely stand. Of 
course we simply stuck it at once, and it soon got allright. You can generally 
save them by sticking. 
; Mr. J. E. Dean (Maryborough): I may say that I have fed sorghum in 
all its stages to cattle, and have never had any trouble with it. I have never 
fed it to them whole, however, but have always put it through the chaffcutter. 
One of my neighbours took some sorghum when it was about 18 inches high, 
and fed it to two cows. In about an hour one was dead. I fed some sorghum 
