he prickly pear was introduced into Australia seems to be a matter
of uncertainty. But it is there and it is spreading rapidly. Each plant
produces scores of pears and each pear contains not far from one hundred
seeds. When the fruit ripens the seeds are quickly sent broadcast.
Perhaps the wind is the chief agent in scattering them, but wild birds,
especially the emeu and the turkey, are a good second. Queenslanders
fear that this pernicious plant will spread not only over the great
interior desert sections, but to the valuable land elsewhere, since it
is tenacious of life and thrives on arid land amidst a burning heat
where other plants wither up and perish.

In clearing the land of the cactus three methods are utilized, viz.,
burning, pitting, and poisoning. Where wood is near at hand, the first
method is the preferable one. A platform is made by rolling logs
together, and after the plants have been uprooted and hacked to pieces
they are hauled in drays to the platforms. There they are stacked up
high, sometimes a hundred tons being piled on a single platform, and the
platforms are set afire. Pitting is done by digging large, deep pits,
filling them full of the chopped plants, and covering them with dirt.
Destruction by poisoning is accomplished by inoculating the thick leaves
with arsenic or bluestone, which is sprayed upon them after the plants
have been hacked so that the poison may be absorbed by the sap, which
distributes the deadly substance.

Years ago some of the colonists thought that it would be desirable to
have English rabbits in Australia and sent to England for a few pairs.
When the rabbits arrived a great feast was held, and amidst speeches and
mutual congratulations the timid creatures were let loose. In a short
time rabbits seemed quite plentiful and the hunters had rare sport; but
ere long the animals began to eat up the vegetables in the gardens.

Now, rabbits are very prolific, and within a very few years they had
spread so extensively that the sheepmen began to complain of their
serious inroads on herbage and grass where the sheep fed. At this stage
of affairs legislation was invoked in behalf of the suffering farmers.
Laws were passed and means taken to reduce the number of rabbits.
Poisoned grain and other food was used, but still the rabbits greatly
increased. The dingo was tamed and used for hunting them, and then the
mongoose was imported from India to kill them off.

But the rabbits seeme