EXIT RAGWORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 238, 8 October 1930, Page 23

EXIT RAGWORT.

SURE SPECIFIC PROCLAIMED.

tests in the waikato

STOCK AND PASTURES I>LMUNE,

The death knell of the ragwort menace seems to havp been sounded. With the declaration by the Department of Agriculture that a §ure specific for stamping out this invader of the farm and incidentally of the farmers' purse, has been found, it now only requires "applicar tion of the mixture known as sodium chlorate to clear the country of this yellow peril.

The 'Department's experiments have extended over a couple of years and the assuranee is given that where the remedy is vised according to the simple directions ragwort will be no more. A special merit which sodium chlorate possesses is that 110 deleterious effect either on pastures or stock. It acts, in fact, as a tonic to stock. *

A demonstration of this weedkilling solution was recently given by Mi*. McPhee, an officer of the- Agricultural Department, at a-farm a-few miles fropi Hamilton, in the presence of a number of farmers. Three weeks before Mr. McPhee had sprayed a thick patch of ragwort on the same farm. The plants," to all appearances, were quite dead when examined three weeks later. Some of the roots were dug up. These mostly seemed blackened and, rotted and where there were still slight signs of life, decomposition had commenced. The process of application Is simple. Sodium chlprate is a white powder, which can be sprinkled lightly on the plants,. merely a pinch to each, or can be mixed with water in the proportion of lib to two gallons, which gives a 5 per" cent'solution. The solution is the more economical method when used through a.hue nozzle spray from a container strapped on the back. The process is sample and effective, and a very large area can be covered in a day by this method. The powder is fair-ly cheap, ranging from 6d to 4d per lb, according to the quantity purchased. It can now be obtained from most farmers' supply stores. It is estimated that an acre can be sprayed at a cost of from; 15/ to £1. Further demonstrations will be carried out "V any districts which express a desire for them, as the Department is anxious not only that the specific should become widely known, but universally $pp!ie4.