GORSE—AND ITS ERADICATION.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17938, 5 December 1923, Page 11

GORSE—AND ITS ERADICATION.

A PRESSING PROBLEM. On© of the-most persistent, troublesome, and costly of noxious weeds is gorse; for it seeks a mastery over tlie> farmer, the grazier, the local body, and even the Government. Does not the eradication of gorse on the riverbeds and in public reserves defy the> energy and the wisdom of all the powers? To fiie it is to increase it, and a proverb has 'been evolved that "to grub out one plant is to cultivate the soil for ten others." On arable lands where grass grows profusely, it may be kept in check, but on poorer grass'growing lands such as those that are of a clayey formation , or on hill slopes, when once it has got a hold, its eradication seems almost impossible. When, nearly fifty years ago, Mr Hyan, well-known to early settlers in Oxford, supplemented his income by propagating gorse plants from seed, and selling the young plants in hundreds and thousands to the surrounding settlers, there was little idea that the plant, then 60 worthy would come to be such an ineradicable pest. One iact then unobserved. was the expulsive force of the seed pod, wfrtch will propel a seed live yards —added to this distribution is that of being carried 'by sheep. An animal may take but a few seeds in its fleece, but - if one seed 'is drp j>ped, half a mile up the hill, it grows, andbecomes a -centre of expansion and nuisance.

Throughout New Zealand there are vast areas of land becoming useless on account of this plant. It was stated at the last annual meeting of the N.Z. Council of Agriculture that in certain districts of the North Island,' there was hill country, which if, clean would fee worth £3O an acre for grazing, but on account of the spread of gorse was becoming useless. The destructive character, and spreading influence of the plant can be seen on the Oxford hills, and even farmers in the worked out bush lands find the "perpetual call of the gorse" an almost -overwhelming tax on their energies and their property. Any means, therefore, that can be suggested or. promoted to diminish the evil should be welcomed.

Mr Ben' Sharplin, of Oxford, thinks lie has found a remedy. He declares that its ajplicaton absolutely destroys the plant without interfering with the grasi or clover that may be in its vicinity. It is a spray that effectually smothers the .plant, and from trials he has made, he affirms it will "do the trick."

In order to arouse some public interest in the matter, he gave a demonstration before the members of the Council. His purpose was to demonstrate that it effectively destroyed the plant. Several gorse bushes in tiie fence between the motor paddock of Mr Geo. Meyer, and the right-of-way to the back of the Co-op. buildings were selected for treatment. They were sprayed and passers-by will be able to see the effect of the treatment. Should the application prove a' "killer." the next step' will be to find out the cost of the treatment per acre, which Mr ShArplin says he will estimate.