THE CALIFORNIA THISTLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2083, 25 January 1894, Page 8

THE CALIFORNIA THISTLE.

The Clntha Leader says :— " Out of 22 applications for the bonus of £250 .voted by Parliament to anyone bringing forward the best and most effective method for the eradication of the Calif ornian thistle, only- 10 signified their intention of submitting to the test, and qf the latter number, only one put in an appearance on the day appointed by the Agricultural department — viz., Wednesday'last. This oae was Mr J. F. Campbell, of Owaka. The piece of land operated upon was a patch of between one and two acres of exceedingly thick, strong thistles on the Island, and each competitor was to have been allowed one-eighth of an acre to test the qualities of his eradicator, Mr Campbell's method is simply raw sulphur — sulpur quarried from the. mine, melted, and then crushed. This he sows broadcast on the'surface, and the first damp causes it to dissolve and percolate into the ground, resulting in certain death to all plant and grub life. Mr Campbell assures us that his method is a complete means of entirely eradicating the thistle — root and branch. He bought a quantity of sulphur from the old powder mill at Owaka, and ho actually threw a lot of it into the creek before the idea struck him to try a little of it on a patch of Californian thistles, which he did, and quite a number of settlers at Owaka can testify to the completeness of the eradication of the thistle, every root and branch. The work on Wednesday was superintended by Mr T. M'Donald, who made the necessary local arrangements on behalf of the department, and he, together with Mr Dallas and Mr John Findlay, superintend and report on the effectiveness or otherwise of the cure. There is no danger to stock being allowed to graze amongst the thistles treated with sulphur, only that in the course of a short time every vestige of feed will be killed, and the earth will appear quite black. It may be ploughed over and resown with grass in a few weeks' time, but in order to allow the sulphur to do the deadly work in every root, it is best to leave the land alone till the following spring. The Government propose to test the experiment of Wednesday nine or twelve months hence. Mr Campbell assures us that land can be cleared of Californian thistles, and everything else for tho time being, at a cost of 15s an acre — 3cwt of sulphur at 5s a cwt. This should, however, be greatly reduced were the supply of sulphur obtained from White Island, on the coast, which is full of it, instead of from Europe. At present this class of sulphur cannot be got in the colony, except at some of the powder mills. We sincerely hope Mr Campbell's method will prove as successful in the present test as it appears to have done at Owaka, and if so, no one will grudge him the bonus of £250."