NOTES BY THE WAY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7392, 19 February 1902, Page 2

NOTES BY THE WAY.

By Ramblbr. A visit to the Inglewood district will convince anyone of the curse of ragwort and blackberry, if allowed to go without check ; and it is rather amusing, in view of the fact that the Taranaki County Council have approved of the Noxious Weeds Act, that the Council is as great a transgressor in permitting these two pests to run wild on their property, and yet asks the settlers in the county to keep them in cheek. That farms are being fought shy of on account of these weeds is only too apparent, and in conversation with a farmer at Inglewood, and with another near New Plymouth, I got conclusive evidence that this curse is going io cause serious complications for those who neglect the eradication of ragwort and blackberry especially. They tell me that cattle will, unless compelled by shortness of fe9d, absolutely refuse to pasture where ragwort is growing. This, in face of the rating on unimproved values, will seriously affect the country. As to remedies, it is found that there are two ways of dealing with the weed. One is to allow the weed almost to ripen, when the fibres of the root become very tough, then to pull it up, and the whole root will come up, when care must be taken to burn the weed. The other method is, and it is stated a more sure way of eradication, to crush the crown of the plant with the heel of your foot, and put coarse salt on it. The sap absorbs the salt and will kill the plant. Constant care and attention, however must be given to it. Re blackberry, I saw many of the settlers going round with a small reap hook, and wherever they saw a blackberry they cut it below the lowest leaf. In view of the agitation that is now existing re these pests, I thought it a favorable opDortunity of putting the remedies before the public. Mr W. Linn, of Mangatoki, I hear, has sold out to Mr Coad, of New Plymouth, and has, in turn, bought out Mr Knight, of Mangatoki. A Kaponga tradesman, I hear, was fortunate enough to dream that Battleaxe would win the Taranaki Cup, and of course backed his dream. Who would not believe in dreams after this ? There must be something in it after all, as a Stratford resident tells me that on Christmas night he dreamt that No. 7 would be the lucky number on the first day's racing, and sure enough it proved to be, as one number seven paid JG26 odd, the biggest dividend paid at the meeting, and the dreamer was in it. Mr R. Dingle, I am informed, has disposed of 100 acres of his farm to Mr H. S. Wilkie, of Rowan.