A PLEA FOR THE THISTLE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4344, 18 July 1871, Page 3

A PLEA FOR THE THISTLE.

Mr. Magknigiit, of Victoria, carries his love of the thistle to a 3trange length. He regai ds with pity the farmer who looks upon the thistle as a useless weed. His impression is that the thistle may be cultivated with advantage ; that it is the "pioneer" of good husbandry, and gives his readers words from a letter from Mr. Maokersy, of Wellington, which he trusts will be convincing: — "At first the settlers imagined they would be completely ruined, and they used every means in their power to eradicate them, but without success, and they are now flourishing in all directions, and have proved a blessing instead of a curse. Wherever they take possession of the soil, the fern disappears, and the settlers say, • They throw out a strong tap root, open up and fertilise the soil, and encourage the growth of the grass, and in a few years die out altogether.' Large tracts of waste country have been reclaimed by them years before they otherwise would have beeu,and arenow good pastur 3 for stock. This has nofehappencd in solitary cases only, or under peculiar local circumstances, but is universal in its application, and extends over hundreds of miles of country. On one property I visited, belonging to Mr. Canning, one of the most enterprising and intelligent settlers in the province of Hawke's Bay, I saw the result of a number of very interesting experimenta in grass cultivation. His property consists partly of undulating hills, resembling exactly those about Coleraine, and was covered with, a thick growth of fern. One portion of a hill he ploughed and sowed with mixed grasses' at the rate of two bushels to the acre ; and on the other portion he burnt the ferns, allowed the this ties to take possession of the ground, and when they withered up after the first seeding he sowed the same quantity of grass seed over the withered plants as they stood, and the result which I saw was a better turf of 1 grass than that which had been ploughed. He says the thistle not only opens up and ventilates the soil, and prepares it ior grass seed, but it also protects the young growth from the stock until it has taken firm root in | the soil, in the meanwhile affording the stock abundant food. When the grass is fairly, established, the thistle disappears. I have' ridden over about 600 miles of country, and inspected all the best portions of tliia pro-i vince as well as Hawke's Bay, and every settler I have met with tells the same tale of the beneficial effects of this much-despised plant. They one and all regard it as the ■ grazing pioneer of the country."

I la the kingdom of Wurteraburg seed drills ' ! are used on the large farms. The Department for Agriculture is using its best endeavours to encourage the use of machinery ' amongat the small proprietors. It has opened a permanent exhibition of agricultural implements in the capital, where farmers are able to order them at the cheapest possible rate, ! and where their use 3 and advantages are explained. As the small peasant proprietors liye together in. villages, they are beginning to purchase the simpler sorts of machinery i among them, on what may be called a cooperative system, and machinery is also let out on hire in some of the larger villages. But in most of the districts where the small properties exist, thrashing, fodder-cutting, and drill-machines are the only ones to be found, and those very rarely; even the ploughs are of the most primitive description. On the larger farmß corn 1 is mowed j oa the j gaudier, out with a sickle. ' '