DESTRUCTION OF RAGWORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20563, 14 May 1930, Page 14

DESTRUCTION OF RAGWORT.

USE OF SODIUM CHLORATE.

MINISTER ESTIMATES COST

[riY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Tuesday.

According to a statement made to-day by the Minister of Agriculture, the lfon. G. W. Forbes, considerable interest has been aroused as the result of the publication by the Department of Agriculture of its important discovery that spraying with a solution of sodium chlorate is an eltective and cheap method of destroying ragwort.

"I. am receiving numerous inquiries as to cost, and as to where the material can-be procured," said the Minister, "and it is therefore necessary for me to supplement the report with some further information. I have, been making inquiries regarding the probable cost of sodium chlorate in the Dominion, and am now in receipt of a cablegram from tho High Commissioner, staling that the f.o.b. cost of sodium chlorate from British ports is about £22 a ton.

"At this figure the material should be sold in New Zealand at a price within the reach of most of our settlers, as one pound will be sufficient for from four to eight gallons of spray, according to the height of the ragwort plants. "The spraying method, so far as tho material is concerned, can be looked upon as a very cheap one. On moderately infested land it should cost only a few pence per acre, but where (he ragwort is thick it may run up to 5s or more. "Some time ago, when 1 realised that sodium chlorate was likely to prove an effective means of control, I placed an order for five tons of the material, and this will arrive in New Zealand in a few weeks' time. The proposal is to use it for demonstration purposes in all ragwort infested districts, so as to showfarmers how and in what strengths the material should lie used.

" The experimental work of tho past season has clearly shown that the most effective time to control ragwort by Sodium chlorate is in the spring months, and tho demonstration trials that are in contemplation will be started in the North Island early in August."