THISTLES! THISTLES!

Daily Southern Cross, 7 November 1868, Page 7

THISTLES ! THISTLES !

prove interesting to mnpy of your country readers. I believe there are seal' rs'in New Ze.l >nd who can testify tbat farms in Tnran il i anil *-ls where Lave ' ten completely overrun with thill*, aid in a f • w years have been perfectly c'ear of <he n, without the expense of labour to bring about the r»*8«lt. The subject is particularly interesting ti> üb, especiilly at this season, when thistles are miming into bloom. — YourßJ &c, J. BOBTT.

TO THE EDITOE OF THE "AUSTRALASIAN." . Sir, — Enclosed I send you the report of the Thistle Inspector f>r the Bel'ast Shire Council, which, if it be not tr« spassiog tao largely on your valuable space, L shall feel obliged by your publishing. It is not. merely for the petty purpose of proving that my views on this subject are correct that I make this request. It is a public question of no small importance. Large sums are auuually expended by shire councils in (professedly) ca-rying out the provisions of the Thistle Act. Prhate individuals are fined, and put to much trouble and expenvp, for not cutting their thistles, a thing that is not r. quired by the Act, which demands extirpation — an end never effected by cutting. On lands where thistles aro so thinly scattered that it is | ossible to cut them by manual labour, stock are thus debarred from the opportunity of learning to eat them, and the laud is deprived of the chance of becoming thistle-sick, which it will be unquestionably do if they are not interfered with, even if stock do not eat them. It will be at once objected that if laud will not any 1 >nger grow thistles jt will grow nothing else. The experience of now nearly twenty years in, Victoria proves that the very reverae of this is true. Thi-t!es improve all land. And to anyone who Btudies the point, with » very small degree of scientific knowledge, the reason is plain. The root of the thistle penetrates deep into the ground. It dies and rots ; then the air obtains access to a stratum, from which before it was excluded, and produces, all those beneficial phenomena which are familiarly known as rotting the ground. Anyone who ha? tried, the experiment of sowing rye-!grasB and clover on an old thistle-bed will bear me out in the assertion that there these plants flourish more luxuriantly than auy where in the earae neighbourhood, In a patent fact that the working of the Act has not exterminated the thistle. It has' now been in operation for many years, and I have no hesitation in saying that had they been left to the operation of natural causes there would have now been fewer thistles in the colony. 1$ has abstracted large Bums of money from the funds' both of shire councils and private persons, which could not have been more uselessly employed, and might have been productive of much good if applied to other purposes. It is made an engine of oppression and jobbery in some shires, whilst in others it js a dead-letter. Therefore, the Act is not merely useless, it is a great deal worse than useless. The testimony on the subject borne by the inspector of the Belfast Shire Council is deserving of every consideration. As may be inferred from the document itself, the writer is a man of no ordinary intelligence. Ab is well known in the district, no man was more incredulous as to the destruction of the thistle beds by stock than he was before entering on his duties. More particularly did he express his opinion that this summer — during the whole of which there has been the most abundant and luxuriant : green herbage in the district — stock would not effectually prevent the plant from seeding. The results of hio close observation arerecorded in his report. And tha f i they are thoroughly conscientious may be inferred from the fact that be recommends the discontinuance of that very office of which he himself ia now drawing the emolumeut. Stronger evidence could scarcely be imagined. As yet it seems to be in vain to urge on the people of Victoria the adoption of rational principles of legislation and political economy. But the day may yet arrive when the inexorable logic of facts will convince even this uoprecedentedly irrational democracy that over-legislation is a curse, and that all restrictive policy should be abandoned— whether as regards trade, land, or the products of land — of which thistles — absurd as many will no doubt deem the assertion —are assuredly not the least valuable.— Yours, &c», Charles H. Macknight. Dunmore, May 4, 1868.

To the Editor of the Weekly News. Sir,— Without offering aDy opinion upon the above subject, I enclose a letter aud report from the AustraUuim of the 16th May, 1868, which will doubtless