NOXIOUS WEEDS ON CROWN LANDS

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 489, 23 April 1909, Page 4

NOXIOUS WEEDS ON CROWN LANDS

. The world has always' :fclt much sympathy for that,sower in the parable, who sWed good seed,. and "while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat,' and Went his way." But the New Zealand farmer is in a worse caso than the ancient sower, for his enemy not only sows the tares by day and night, but. punishes him, when the tares appear. The correspondent who complained,.- in our farm column on Wednesday; of the'way in which Californian.thistle is allowed to thrive and blossom along the Government railways, and on waste lands of the Crown, so'that its light seed'is scattered by each breeze over the farmer's soil, exposed a grievance /.of, the most serious

kind. ,', Our correspondent < states that he had two small patches .of- Calif ornian thistles on his sections, which for years he had conscientiously laboured to keep down. Not one of them had ■ ever been allowed to go to seed. •■'•■' But -when he crossed the railway line he found a patch of Californian. thistles within a few feet of the.-rails, wafting their seeds on every puff of wind. "Of what use," he .very aptly asks, "are my little efforts when the Government is sowing the seed broadcast over my land 1" Yet at the same time the farmers receive frequent visits from Government'inspectors who threaten them with serious penalties if they do not keep their land clear of the • pest. 'So difficult is the eradication' of Californian thistle when it has once secured a hold, that rich wheat lands may be rendered practically worthless by its, spread, and it is obvious that poorer lands, and the pastoral areas of which New Zealand so largely consists, can ill afford, the expense of its removal. The pest thrives under cultivation, which kills most other weeds. Those who: have had experience of this thistle say that the only way to eradicate it by cultivation, if it can be. done at all by that means, is to plough the land early in the spring,~and thereafter horsehoe it about once a week throughout the entire spring,, summer, and autumn. The effect of this frequency : of cultivation is that the. young new shoots' that constantly push out from the. roots and attempt to reach the surface are cut off while they are still underground. This process has been likened to .the. act of -pushing a drowning man's head under water every time he, comes to the surface to breathe.' Plants, deprived -.'.of the; opportunity, to breathe (through their leaves) for'a sufficiently long period die. ~ Whether sufficient cultivation to,stifle Californian thistle is profitable must depend on the cost and on the subsequent value of the weed-free land. Estimated even at the low cost of Is. per acre for each hoeing, the cost in nine months, where the weed has secured a stronghold, would be a serious addition to the capital cost of the land, amounting in many cases to over £l per acre. It is thus sufficiently clear .that Californian thistle is a weed to {be shunned.in every; possible: way. The Government provides penalties for allowing noxious weeds to spread on private lands, but it is itself the worst offender. Its, railway reserves,. nearly .3000 miles in length and penetrating every cultivated portion of the Dominion, are .unrivalled agents ' for the spread of noxious weeds, when theso are allowed to thrive and seed along the lines. No private area, however situated, could compete in destructive influence of this kind with a system of distribution,that extends so far and has so many ramifications. If the .surfacemen" : who keep • clear the lines were required to cut down these plants on-their first appearance it would be :a comparatively easy matter ' to prevent their spreading and sceding,.but the surfacemen are usually contented if the rails themselves aro kept clear-of growth. The jifcteatyon of tho noxious woods iaapootorg.

is , appa'reTiti , yr:',;fc6. ; engrossed in fhar'rying'thbjiarmbr/tpjjjlciivo them much .time ;.fbr..dealing;'^'ith.;tho.other Bource of : Inaddit;i6n'to the railway :.r.esor ; .ves,;,-'tne'\largo areas.; of Crown waste in many inthe thistle 'ar/d^o : It is absurd .and'.'useless ■,for:stho,.G6vernment to insist on '■farmers:, keeping ■, noxious vegetation :off;tlieir.lands; .while-it.allows huge areas bf'its.'own.land,.situated in close contact ; witlr fheirv'libldings;: tp territory [iop of the ,Ijes , t^-.v^- a /;:'-V>^.v^'A^.