Weeds

Southland Times, Issue 11439, 25 April 1890, Page 4

Weeds

+ (N.Z. Country Journal.) Twitch. Triticum Bepenß (English Couch), Poa !Pratensis, and Agrostis Vulgaris (Colonial * Twitck). Tbe above grasses, all British, kave earn«d for, themselves a bad record in New Zealand. . The first named is the one best known to 'British farmers. It ie a troublesome pest in tbe better classes of lands, bnt it is found in " all H.bnt the very poorest soils. That; it is spreading in New Zealand is proved by tbe fact tkat we kave. of late, frequently reCeived specimens of it, asking what it is, and ita value as a jtastnre grass :— Although Btock will eat it readily enough, it should not be'ltaconraged, for the reason tkat it is totally unsuited to rotation farming. Its creeping root— every bit of which will grow -^cannot be*got rid of without much trouble and expense, and it becomes in consequence, a troublesome weed in tke corn and succeeding root crept. Farmers will do Well to look to tbis weed and to prevent it from invading tkeir farms. POA Pkatemsis— (Meadow Grass). Before'dilating on the bad repute into which this grass has fallen in New Zealand it is Interesting to note tbat in America, Poa pratensis, or Jane grass, Kentucky Blue grass as it is called, ia highly esteemed in that country as B pasture grass. One farmer writes of it — *It makes tke best of hay. I have used it for hay for twenty years. It she uid be cut just as the seeds begin to ripeu. When prop»rly cuiei stock seem great iy to prefer it to aul Other hay. I would not, however, reCommend it for meadow, because the yield is not equal to timothy and clover, and because it is more difficult to cut and cure.' Another cattle breeder, speaking of the grass, sayß, 'Whoever has limestone land has bine grass ; whoever has blue grass haa the basis of all agricultural prosperity; and that man — if he have not the finest horses, cattle, and sheep — has no one to blame bnt himself.' Here we have conflicting evidence, both as to the worthlessneis on the one hand, and as to its value on the other. In New Zealand, the man whose farm abounds in Poa pratensis is looked upon as having the basis of agricultural ruin, while the exact reverse is said to be the esse in Kentucky. There ia one thing certain, and that is, that our ■Mil have to be occasionally broken up. Poa pratensis is a troublesome weed, and that in pastures it is proved to supplant other and better grasses, altbough it is by no means an inferior grass— one of the best proofs of this is, tkat it is generally found to be cropped close to the ground, This farm pest can be effectually eradicated by summer fallowing and constant stirring during dry hot weather. Wbere abundant it should be gathered into heaps and burnt. Agboptis Vulgabis, Brown Bent or Twitch (Bed Top of America). — This grass is unfavourably known in Nsw Zealand as Twitch. It is of little agricultural value, although by no me ns worthless, much depending upon soil and situation. Fallowing is the only remedy. It is more easily killed by exposure than cither of the above grasses ; like them it is perennial in its habits. Sheep and stock will consume it readily. Cabduus Abvbnsis. (So called Oalifornian Thistle, the Corn Thistle of Britain). Wehave so frequently referred to this noxious weed that it seems almost superfluous to refer to it again, but till we succeed in thoroughly aronsiDg farmers to the true character of the plant we must continue to keep it before their notice. Being perennial in its character, it is more difficult to deal with than annual or biennial weeds. We find from enquiries that this noxious thistle has established itself in patches varying from a few square yards to several acres throng hou t the Sonth Island; and its presence is reported in the North Island bb well. Many farmers have taken the matter in hand, and will doubtless succeed io eradicating the pest from their own lands, but there are many others who have not yet realised the necessity for draatic measures, and if they do anything at all they rest content with cutting the plant down and not permitting it to flower. So far so good! this will prevent its spread by seed, but it will never be eradicated by such means. Inf ent ed spots, if not too large, should be covered over with rubbish of any kind five or six feet deep ; it is a gcod plan to build tke straw stacks on top of it ; where convenient, a heavy dose of sait might be applied with advantage before cutting and covering np. Where it abounds in larger quantities the only sure means of getting rid of it is by fallowing, not allowing a single leaf even to appear above ground. Two years of such treatment if thoroughly carried out misht suffice ; or the infested lands might be kept under root crops in drills for two or three years, taking care not to allow a thistle to appear, half measures are worse thau useless only tending to increase the trouble.; we refer tojtbe ordinary methods of fallowing sucb as occasional plougbines and harrowiDgf. This weed makes but little headway in pasture Unde, it will, however, remain there, till broken up for chopping. We know of a. town section in Chrisichurcb, which bas been in grass for a* least twenty yesrs till last year, it was then broken up and planted with potatoes. Tb*re is now growing in this selfsame land a large patch of the thistle, having completely smothered the crop of potatoes ; the only explanation is that the plant was there all those year?, but had open kept down with tbe grass which has always been heavily stocked, OXBYB Daisy (Chrysanthemum Leuoanthemum.) This is a worthies?, ncxioun weed, witbout one single good quality to commend it, excepting, perbapt, the beauty of its flowerp, or some latent medicinal quality; which are not likfily to count for much in the farmer's •estimation. It is a perennial weed, and may be described sb a pasture weed frequenting -•/grsßS lands. A very few years a^o, thia weed yWBS- almost unknown in New Zealand. It established itself in our pasture ylatids, and is spreading very fast. We fcave noticed many paddecks so full of it that little fite had jooj» to grew 5 fiom iti habits ol

growth its radical leaves spreading over the ground it smothers the finer grasses, No kind of stock will touch it at' any stage of its growth, If prevalent in hay it reduces its value, imparts an acrid taste to it, particularly obnoxious to stock. It will therefore be seen how profitleta a weed it is, snd yet farmers are quietly permitting it to take possession of theif pasture lands, If attended to at first, it is easily eradicated, for it usually makes ita appearance in solitary plants, which are conspicuous for their large, handsome, daisylike flowers. In this stage it could be stubbed out; when, however, ft 'has' been allowed to spread, there is only one remedy and tbat is ploughing up and fallowing, or growing fallow crops for a couple or three seasons. In this esse, as in all others of a like nature, prevention is the proper course. The rapid increase of weeds throughout the colony is largely attributable to the use of carelessly cleaned seeds, snd farmers have themselves to blame for not exercising more care in the selection of their seeds, which ehou'd always be examined before sowing. A small handful of seed thrown over a sheet of paper and examined carefully, will in s : rough way give a pretty good idea of its' purity or otherwise. A small pocket microscope is of great assistance ih examining samples. We once saw a three bushel bag full of all kinds of seeds of weeds taken out of a threshing machine, before it commenced work on a clean faim. Doddjeb— Cuscnta Trifolii (A British Weed') This ia a parasitical, leafless plant, with pale yellow, thread-like stems. The seeds vegetate in the soil, and send up thread-like stems, whicb attach themselves to the stems of the clover and other plants ; as soon as they find their support, they cease to derive nourishment from the soil, and for the rest of their existence they live upon the sap of the nurse plant, growing and spreading so rapidly as to form deme tangle." masses, ultimately strangling the clover or other plants to wbich they attach themselves. This farm pest is to be found in many parts of the.colony, especially in clover fields, and now that the saving of clover seeds has become an additional source of income to our farmers, it will be well to prevent the spread of this weed. It makes its appearance in patches which soon extend to several yards in, area. There are two modes of dealing with it, one is ; to mow and to remove the infeited patches as soon as they are observed, if allowed to remain till the flowers and seeds have matured, the best method is to take a few bundles of straw or gorse and burn the patch out. The advantage of this plan is that the seeds which may have fallen upon' the ground are destroyed 'as well. ' The seeds of dodder are much smaller than red clover oorr r cow grass seeds, and are easily removed by being Bitted on a small mesh riddle. If this precantion were taken before sowing, a precaution entailing the lots of very little time, much after trouble would be avoided.