NOXIOUS WEEDS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22337, 26 February 1938, Page 9

NOXIOUS WEEDS

BLACKBERRY AND

RAGWORT

SOUTHLAND AND WAIKATO

Apropos of the comment on this page the other day on the spread of noxious weeds in Canterbury, and the apparent lack of any policy to enforce their destruction, a Waikato farmer has been giving his opinions about the spread of ragwort in Southland. He recently Visited the southern province and expressed his surprise that the weed should be allowed to spread as it has done. His opinions are useful, as the Waikato and Southland are the homes vf the pest. This visitor said that in the Waikato farmers had been fighting the pest for years, and quite a number had gone- down in the struggle. In the North Island, he stated, all Government Departments, Massey College, the Cawthron Institute, and County Councils have entered the lists. The County Council gives a rebate on weed-killing material purchased, and employs several men in clearing ragwort from Crown and Native lands. The council Also employs an inspector to see that the work is carried out, and that officer has power to proceed against owners who fail to carry out orders. Value of Sheep The Waikato farmer said that Southland apparently had an advantage oyer the Waikato in the matter of stocking with sheep to keep ragwort in check. Most of the dairy farms in the Waikato were small, and the land highlypriced, and farmers could therefore not afford to run sheep on those properties. Fears that ragwort seed among Southland ryegrass and chaff might become spread over the Dominion was voiced by this informant, who said that there was no guarantee that the small ragwort seeds would be entirely eliminated from ryegrass by the dressing machines. If Southland wanted to make its ryegrass famous, it would have to ensure its cleanliness from ragwort seed. . _ r The methods adopted in the North Island of dealing with the weed were described by the visitor, and they should be of general interest. Farmers mixed from 81b to 101 b of sodium chlorate with a 44-gallon drum of water and sprayed the plants, which quickly died. In such cases where water was not handy, such as near the hilltops, the plants were dusted with a dry mixture of about 71b of sodium chlorate to each sack of lime. Destroying Blackberry In regard to a charge made by a Southlander that blackberry was prevalent in the North Island, the Waikato man said that the farmers were steadily getting blackberry and Californian thistle under control. He mIstanced one farm, in which the black-

berry had such a hold that the farmer could carry only eight cows on 60 acres. He mowed the growth with a powerful mower, raked up the blackberry, and burned it, and then topdressed with 3cwt of super to the acre. Cattle were put on the land, and mowing and top-dressing was kept up. until now that farmer is carrying 45 cows on the 60 acres. Canterbury Conditions Just what it cost to redeem this 60 acres is not stated, but it must have been considerable, and, in any case, the land was apparently worth it. In many parts of Canterbury, farmers are confronted with the problem that in- i fested lands would not meet the cost of clearing from its subsequent productivity, but it is apparent that the practice of top-dressing would go a long way in this direction, even if not to the same extent as the dairying land in the north. The illustration shows what can be done, and what could be done here with properly organised effort, such as is operating in the North Island. The other pest mentioned by the visitor—Californian thistle—has appeared in some Canterbury wheat fields to such an extent as practically to obscure the wheat. This is probably due to the fact that these fields when in pasture were only grazed and never mown for hay. Cpntinual mowing of pasture for hay or to keep it short effects a process of "bleeding" the thistle, and eventually killing it. The difference in pasture handling methods in the dairying districts of the north, and the sheepgrazing and chopping districts of the south probably explains the success attending its destruction in the Waikato.

As indicated by the Waikato man, the indifferent* to ragwort in Southland is due to the easy control by sheep grazing and to the weed flourishing for the most part on lands that can be easily controlled. In much of the dairying country of the NSrth IS' land, ragwort flourishes on the slopes, where the use of implements is out of the question. The position, however as this observer quotes it, should encourage some interest in Canterbury in this serious question of weed control. The Government is spending a matter of £70,000 this year on weed eradication work, mostly on ragwort in the North Island, and with a proper lead some financial help should be available for this province.

ENGLISH LEICESTERS FOR HAWKE'S BAY

Further evidence of the popularity of English Leicesters in the Hawke's Bay district, is shown by a recent shipment of 50 shearling English Leicester rams bred by Mr F. D. L. Young, of Brookfields, Winchester, last week by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, Ltd., to a Hastings client. The company also shipped earlier in the month a number of rams and stud ewes from the flock of Mr Jas. Reid, Darfield, to the Wairarapa.