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Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30738, 30 April 1965, Page 6

Ambassador Withdrawn.— The United Arab Republic yesterday decided to withdraw its Ambassador in Tunis in view of the “disgraceful attitude of the Tunisian authorities towards the U.A.R. and Palestine issue.”—Cairo, April 28.

Plane Explodes.—An experimental vertical take-off aircraft, the XVSA, exploded in a ball of flame yesterday during a test flight, killing the test pilot. Lou Everett.— Edwards Air Force Base (California), April 28.

If oxalis is prevalent in the garden it cannot be ignored because cultivation will soon ensure that it secures a tenure of the area that even the wiliest of Britain’s most ruthless landlords would find difficult to evict.

There has been considerable research carried out in recent years in an effort to perfect an effective chemical control and there are now a number of suitable proprietary products that can be used with moderate success. Some of these are mentioned below. Paraquat has been recommended but as it is a defoliant it will desiccate the green aerial parts only and regrowth will occur again subsequently. Repeated applications will be necessary, perhaps for several years before control is achieved. Methvl bromide is a soil fumigant that is very lethal and requires great care in its use. It is now sold in canisters with special-release adaptors and used in conjunction with a surface-selling black polythene sheet is sufficient to treat 100 sq. feet in one operation. Again more than one application where infestation is bad, is usually found necessary.

Safer to use are three other materials, namely SMD (Metam) and DMTT (Dazomet) and “Trapex,” the latter requiring an injection gun of some sort to be effec-

tive. Metam is a liquid and should be applied as a spray and Dazomet is a wettable powder that can also be incorporated in the fertiliser dressing. The recommended dosage for both is l-21b per 100 sq. feet. Soil Preparations Initial preparations for satisfactory control wheji using Methyl bromide or any’ of the last three mentioned chemicals is thorough prior cultivation of the infested area first, followed by their application as soon as the oxalis has germinated. The use of the rotary hoe or deep forking is the most suitable way of going about this job. The soil should also be moist at the time of application and Metam and Dazomet can either be watered or cultivated into the soil Although subsequent light watering to keep the soil moist is a reasonably good way of keeping the surface sealed to give complete retention of the gases, a polythene cover, retained for at least a week, is better still. Where the oxalis is well established it will probably be necessary to repeat the procedure once or twice again. As the above substances are soil sterilants they should not be used near any valued subjects and the in structions on the product s container, should be read and followed implicitly.