ENCOURAGING EXPERIMENTS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 16 December 1924, Page 4

ENCOURAGING EXPERIMENTS

Since writing our article we met this morning one of the best informed and keenest men connected with the dairying ' industry in Taranaki, and we opened up the question of noxious weeds. He said that he had been experimenting for some time past with the use of salt as a weed-killer, and had found that none of the weeds upon which he had used the salt had been able to resist it, not even blackberry. Our informant stated that fine salt was not effective, but the very coarse kind, in appearance like rice, was proving very satisfactory. The application of about a tablespoonful was sufficient. The coarse salt did not disappear with the first shower of rain, but dissolved slowly for about three wekes, during Which time it destroyed the weeds effectively. Ashed how great an area could be treated in a day, our informant said that he thought a man could do about an acre a day, and the cost would net be very heavy. The coarse salt cost, about £3 a ton, and that amount would probably be sufficient

for treating ten acres of weed-infested land. It had to remembered, however, that cattle were very fond of salt, and it. might be necessary to shut them out from an area where weeds were being treated by this method. So satisfactory had our informant found the treatment of weeds with course salt that he intended testing it out as fully as possible. After about five months the grass would grow on a. patch from which the weeds had. been destroyed, and, entering the soil, the salt then acted as a fertiliser. Our informant spoke with such confidence concerning the success of this treatment of noxious weeds that we thought that the information he gave would prove of value to farmers in the district who may be facing the problem with anxiety. If other farmers try the coarse salt (it is the kind of salt used for curing hides) and find it successful, we hope that they will let us know so that the information may be published for the benefit of others.