CALIFORNIAN THISTLES.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 90, 31 May 1912, Page 6

CALIFORNIAN THISTLES.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l read iu your paper recently that the Balclutha Brancli of l l 'armors' Union has been actively engaged in trying to get thistles leit out ot the compulsory schedule of the Weeds Act, and the discussion indulged over the subject, i agree witn those who declare that one cutting annually is inadequate to restrict the pest, and to continue this is futile. Personally 1 have proved (,in nuiuerousr small patches) thai repeated cutiings near tiie surface will destroy the thistle. Encouraged by this 1 have been cutting my large patches three -times u year for the past two years, and the plants are now so small and weakly thai I am sure of success. These patches spread rapidly when 1 only cut them once a year, as is the usual custom. Other larmera here have made headway against the weed, and the district recognises the value of repeated cutting to cheek the spread. Some time ago a farmer near Balclutha, [Mr !Mosley, 1 believe, told us in the pap- ! ers how he found the growing oi root 'crops with. constant hoeing, weeding, etc., entailed therein, to bo ell'cctive in dealing with the thistle. Other farmers have from time to time been quoted in print as having made successful battle with ihe weed. A large landowner in Oamaru district has combated the nuisance with agricultural salt, while recently the Minister of Agriculture told the public that on a certain farm the rigorous grubbing and cutting of thistles with horse implements had secured victory. If these 'farmers from various parts of Otago j could apply themselves successfully to | the problem why not others V A ! more persistent and enlightened method is needed than the half hearted one now adopted. The ery for the cessation of cutting is a mistaken one, and' will only add to the present mischief. If the thistle infested area of !N.Z. was measured it would be found to bo yet only a small part of N.Z., but if the Government and iarmer.s alike do not act with increasing vigour in the destruction of the pest the whole of our beautiful Islands will be polluted. Any 'Catlins resident who purchases grass seed, grain or chaff in the Balclutha and Dunedin markets has difficulty in getting even good samples free from this Lie heads or seeds, and are these state of things to be delib- ! erately made worse ? The slackness of the Government in not showing a vigorous spirit in the destruction of n&xious weeds on Crown Lands has done much to dishearten many farmers. It was thought that when Th»s. Mackenzie took charge ot the Weeds Department he would promptly introduce reforms, but it seems as if his spiiii of reform is cowed by the repeated cries <jf a few shirkers, and nutters are rapidly drifting to the worse. An item in the papers also mentions that o'ur member has been asked by some Catlins settlers to api peal to the Minister to have the Act not enforced. And the Minister's rej ply is also printed. These few set--1 tiers are well-known, and although j worthy men in many ways, a visit to | their farms would soon convince the I Minister or even the executive of the Clutha Branch of the Farmers' Union that many of these worthy men could be more profitI ably and intelligently employed jat other occupations than farming. i Most of them hold areas quite beyond 1 their abilities or finances to use, thei'e- ! fore it is only partly used and largely | mis-used to their increasing discom- | fort, and the plague and blasphemous i ©ndemnation of their more progressive [ neighbours.—l am, etc., i CLAUDE G. MARTIN. ! Tahakopa, May 27, 1912.