CLEARING OF RAGWORT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17952, 2 December 1932, Page 10

CLEARING OF RAGWORT

PROGRESS AT MATAWAI GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE There is little doubt that the Government’s offer of free labor for the destruction of ragwort will be availed of by those farmers in the back country of the Gisborne district who have been troubled with it. Last season, Matawai farmers attacked the weed with sodium chlorate with satisfactory results. The shortage of supplies this year may help to retard activities for the time being, but other remedies are available. These were explained by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. C. E. Macmillan, in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. “Complaints have been received,” he said, “that the material is being sold at anything up to 8d per lb. This may be so on small lots sold in country stores. It can, however, be bought at a much cheaper rate. If those requiring the material will only place their orders as early as possible, so that merchants can estimate with reasonable accuracy the quantities required, they should be able to obtain supplies at reasonable rates. For instance, districts could club together and buy in quantity and provide pro rata. If bought in this manner, reasonable prices should be assured. “There can be no question as to the efficacy of sodium chlorate in completely killing ragwort plants, to which it is applied either by the spraying method, or in dry form mixed with lime or some other suitable material, sand or pumice, for instance. Cases can be instanced where dairying properties have been entirely cleared of ragwort plants, leaving the occupants with only the annual necessity for observing the appearance of new plants resulting from the propagation of windborne seed and destroying them. “The estimate of annual cost involved in such eases shows that whereas the first year’s treatment of badly infested land may cost 6s an acre, t'he second year’s work costs only 2s and the third year’s work only 2d if the work is done thoroughly. “It is unfortunate that at the moment supplies of sodium chlorate, owing to the demand there has been for it this year, have run short, but further large supplies are on order and the earlier they arrivo the better. “In the absence meanwhile of adequate supplies, the extensive cutting of plants to prevent seeding is being advocated, but this is only a palliative of a very temporary value. The complete killing of plants is what is needed, and if sodium chlorate is unobtainable, the (best available substitutes, in the form of a mixture of sulphate of ammonia and sand or a mixture of calcium chlorate and sodium chlorate, which I understand is obtainable in Australia, will have to be utilised temporarily, ’ even although they may prove in practice to be not quite'so completely effective. ‘"ln regard to Crown and unindividualised native-lands, where weeds ou these arc found to be a menace to the surrounding fanning district, the department will do all that it can towards dealing with the pest.”