MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 32

MY COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

By

MURIHIKU.

(Specially Written for the Witness.) I suppose the best definition of a weed is “a plant growing where it is not wanted.” Poppies growing in a wheatfield and oats growing in a rose bed would be considered weeds—on the one hand by a farmer, on the other hand by a gardener. * * « We have a good deal to thank the Old Country for. Our fathers and mothers, “the English speech and the English singing,” a great literature, noble traditions, and our horses, sheep, and cows all came from the Old Land, as did our present strain of grass seeds, turnips, potatoes, and cereals. But we have to take the good with the bad. And with the valuable seeds and plants we got from Home we inadvertently—• almost inevitably—were presented with every European weed that had pestered our. forefathers in England, Scotland, and Ireland. * * * There are few native plants which are regarded as weeds. In the North Island particularly hard fern, bracken, and manuka are certainly our most annoying hill country. In the South bracken and manuka are certainly our most annoying natives. But to the wool-grower that little pest “the biddy” is perhaps the most expensive. This “bid-a-bid,” as we call it, is known as “hutiwai” in the North Island, and because it is a plant which lowers the value of a wool clip it ’’s classed as a weed. But the little trailing plants, especially the ones with the bright red seed heads, makes a striking sight on the rock garden, and in Barr’s herbaceous plant catalogue, published in England, our despised “biddy” is quoted at 1/6 a plant.

In our cultivated lands, in Otago perhaps the two worst weeds are yar and Californian thistle. These thistles are bad enough, and, by the way, they come from neither Canada nor California, but from Northern Europe. But Californian thistles are very difficult to deal with in cereal crops, and nowadays little is done even to stop the flowering plants from seeding and the seed from blowing all over the countryside. In grass land the Californian weakens and almost diet out, and, particularly where 'top-dressing has strengthened desirable grasses and cloveijs. the thistle becomes almost imperceptible. But the plough-in however, and the breaking-up revitalises every surviving fragment, and a fresh crop of rejuvenated thistles matures to annoy the stooker, the stacker, ■ and the feeder of the chaff-cutting outfit. * * * To everybody who has been hoeing turnips lately, yar will have appeared to be one of the very worst weeds. And, by the way it chokes and weakens cereal crops—especially oats—and considering the smothering effect it has —> seedling turnips, perhaps yar is the most expensive weed in the cultivated lands of Otago. The little seed is oily and most persistent in the ground. How long a yar seed can lie without rotting. I know not —even in the old grass paddocks, if on e looks closely, small yar plants may be noticed; but paddocks that have been down in grass for twentv years will show almost a persistent sheet of yar over every acre. * * * Ragwort is another well-known Old Country weed, where it is kept in check by pulling. Here our magnificent' and very weedy, large acreages—and dearer labour—make it practically prohibitive to thoroughly clear farms of many weeds. * * * Most county councils have removed ragwort and Californian thistle from the schedule. So the stock inspectors have only rabbits, gorse, and broom to fall back on. Recently in and around Lawrence and Waitahun'a farmers have been charged with failing to clear gorse. Anyone who knows the district realises that the pest has got out of hand completely. Every farmer tries, for his own sake, to keep his place clear. But where it is so thick along the roadlines and on poor steep ridges and steeper gullies it is an economic impossibility to clear it. To grub it costs more in time and labour than the land is really worth. What then is the farmer to do if the Stock Depart-

ment keeps on prosecuting and the magistrate keeps on fining? The farmer is procured from the Harz Mountains and trates’ fine and the cost of labour, compared with the value of the land.. * * * Where energetic measures should be taken is on those lands where these weeds are spreading. That is where the vigilance is needed—where the plants are few and fairly easily grubbed. If they are taken in hand in time good work may be done. In two years’ time it may be top late. * * * Last year we cut out some bluegums at the side of an old orchard. There were always some few plants of foxglove about in the shade of the trees. But this year, in the sunlight of that hill side, there is the greatest profusion of fox gloves that I have ever seen. Up the Central line they are thick enough in the gullies, but this crop of ours beats anything. Seven, eight, and nine feet high, white, spotted, lavender, red, and purple. They make a noble picture, but they are very undesirable weeds. From now on perhaps they will not be so. bad, but they will need watching.

When I was in England in 1916, the war with Germany had stopped the supplies of dried foxglove leaves generally procured from the Harz Mountains, and from Thuringia on the Continent. At that time dried wild leaves collected in England were bringing as high as 70/- per hundredweight. Some farmers were cultivating the plant. About 21b of the very fine seed was sown ner acre, sand being mixed with the seed so that it would be more evenly distributed. The leaves were to be handpicked in the second vear from the flowering plants—it is a biennial—and it was anticipated that anything from one ton to two tons of fresh leaves would be produced per acre. Great care had to be taken in ■ collecting and drying quickly, as it was understood that regular lines of the drug could only be procured from uniformly preserved plants. Whether the grower ever made “tucker” on the job I never heard. But if green foxglove leaves are worth anything at all in New Zealand there must be a few tons going to waste on the plants growing wild this year in many parts of Otago.