FARM CHAT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1628, 3 May 1919, Page 2

FARM CHAT.

THE CANADIAN THISTLE.

LAND AND LABOUR ITEMS. With the passing of harvest, and with potato-digging fairly well advanced, the farm labour demand is mainly for ploughmen. So far, the available supply has been largely equal to requirements, despite the season's proof that the acute shortage of men is past. Wages again form a bono of contention, but the men will have surely to recognise this year that, so far as agriculture goes, war prices are fast disappearing, so that wages certainly cannot further increase, as they seem sometimes to expect. At present a number of the men are asking £2 10/- and found as a minimum, but many employers arc not disposed to go beyond £2 5/-. Eradicating Canadian Thistle.

"As a single colony of plants may serve as a source of information for a considerable area of the surrounding territory, the eradication of the Canada thistle is as much a problem for the community as for the individual farmer, and should be handled accordingly." That quotation is from a recent bulletin of the United States Department of Agriculture; but, as the thistle-mentioned is our " Calif ornian " or "Canadian" friend in New Zealand, consideration of the American publication may prove worth while. A good deal of Canadian thistle seed has moved around Canterbury during this last season. In the first place, the weed is a native of neither Canada nor California. It came originally from Europe, where it was recognisod as a noxious plant over 400 years ago. The characteristics of the thistle, and especially the terror •of its root development, are sufficiently 'well known without any writing here, so it will be sufficient to get right down .to the departmental suggestions for .eradication. The weather, it is pointed ;but, is a most important factor. The weed is much easier to eradicate during droughts than during wet weather; and the operations of ploughing, harrowing, and cultivating, when directed against the thistle, should never be when the land is wet. Also, the necossity for thoroughness is urged, j since even a few plants' surviving are ■usually sufficient to cause serious reinfestation in a comparatively short time. Complete eradication can be secured only by the death of every underground part; and the most practical method of exterminating these parts is to starve them out by frequently destroying all the top growth of the plants. Since jdants can assimilate food only by the aid of green leaves, the frequent cutting of the tops uses up food stored in the fleshy roots. When only small patches are found on a property, it is a case of the proverbial stitch/in time saving more often than not 90 times nine, and perseverence in chipping a few inches below the surface is usually rewarded. "If the patch- is very, email," writes Albert A. Hansen, the author of the bulletin, "it is sometimes practicable to dig out the plants, roots and all. Smothering is practicable oh limited areas. Cover the infested spots ■with tar, building, or some other kind of heavy paper, which should bo laid with overlapping edges, well weighted down with earth or stones, so that no light can penetrate. At least one entire season will be necessary for success. Covering with coatings of straw, hay, sawdust, and various other things has not proved uniformly successful, because the thistle plants will grow through the covering. Small patches may be eradicated by covering them ,-with at least 18in of manure for a minimum period of a year. A helpful practice is to locate the threshing machine so that the straw pile will cover a patch of Canada thistle, butthis method is successful only when the straw pile is large enough to extend jaom o distance beyond the edgo of the thistle patch.'' The writer's experience of the thistle in its strong, healthy NewZealand growth is that the patch has to lie very, very small before digging out is to be recommended, while, so far as smothering goes, the plant will run along underneath for yards, seeking daylight. Another method practicable on small areas is the use of chemical planl; poisons. The application of crude carbolic acid, hot brine, sulphuric acid, kerosene, or of strong solutions of caustic soda or arsenate of soda to-the newly-cut surfaces has been successful, but the expense is heavy. Arsenate of soda is e. deadly poison, and must, no.t bo used in places to which live stock have access. ... ,

~- Clearing of Larger Areas. A sentence that some New Zealand local bodies might take.to heart is:— "Canadian thistles growing in waste places and along fence rows, railways, and roadways should never be allowed to mature seed and thus act as a' constant, menace to surrounding lands." Passing on to discuss eradication on larger areas, the bulletin names two principal methods of clearing—clean cultivation with' a crop, and summer fallowing, followed by a cultivated crop. The first has the advantage in; that the use of the ground is not lost while the thistles are being exterminated. It is recommended to prepare a good seed bed, and then to plant a cultivated crop. Corn is mentioned, but onions or potatoes could possibly be substituted here, the idea being that the thistles will bo chipped down in the course of that cultivation, which is necessary to the growing crop. Where horse cultivation clears tho ground between tho rows it would be necesary to go through with a hoe and weed out those thistles growing actually on the rows, or so close that they escaped the cultivator. After it becomes impracticable to cultivato longer, dny thistle tops which appear should be cut back with the hoe. Under this method it is claimed that a single season of careful,

painstaking work will frequently serve to exterminate the thistle—less time is really required than is generally believed, provided the work is done thoroughly. Anyway, another cultivated crop next season should ensure the success of the plan. Regarding summer fallowing followed by a cultivated crop, the author advises: —"Just previous to the blossoming of the thistle, which is the stage at which the plant is most easily destroyed, plough shallow. During the remainder of the growing season cultivate with a disc harrow or with 'sweeps,' at intervals often enough to prevent a maximum of three inches of thistle growth at any time. Continue this practice' until autumn. If the thistle roots are sufficiently near the surface, plough deep enough to expose them to the effects of winter frosts. The following spring plant the land to a cultivated crop, such as corn, and give careful cultivation to see that no thistle tops survive. The cultivated crop will enable one to destroy any thistles that may appear. The thistles should be entirely eradicated when the crop is matured.''

Instances are given in which both of these methods have been so remarkably effective that badly-infested fields have been ridded of thistle in a single year, none appearing in the second cultivated crop in the one case, nor after the fallow .in the second. Have Canterbury farmers found the thistle so relatively easy to exterminate? Whether they have or not, if any have views on the subject, or can relate any experiences of their own, "Thistle'' will be glad to hear from.them. The main purpose of this column is in some way to assist, and he will certainly be assisting who passes on any particulars of his fight with the Canadian.thistle pest. General District Notes.

Reports generally indicate that potatoes are lifting well, except that there is rather an unusually large proportion of small tubers. A Christchurch gardener has just dug a few rows which were not planted until the last week in January—their planting was really in the nature of an experiment—and is enthusiastic over the result. As was only to be expected with no more than three months' growth, the percentage of table potatoes was not high, but the balance is reported to be a fine, even line of seed size.

Extraordinary activity continues on the property market, which has been so rushed from both sides during these last few months. A gentleman in the agency business remarked yesterday that the period since the Armistice has seen nearly as much Canterbury property change hands as was sold -during the whole term of the war. So far as area goes, one of the largest sales made recently in Canterbury is that of Mr liainish McLean's Mt. Hutt run, in- the Mackenzie County. There, 3227 acres of freehold and 38,829 acres of leasehold have' been purchased by Mr Richards, jun., of Waiau Downs. A further development in the Mackenzie County is understood to be the proposed subdivision of 80,000 acres of Crown land into four grazing runs, to be thrown open for selection by returned soldiers. There are several other Canterbury settlements wdiich will : be made available for soldiers shortly, notably a block of approximately 800 acres at Orari, the area of the Coldstream Estate which was purchased, and the recently-acquired 200 acres at Fendalton, the last-named of which is' intended for fruit and poultry farms. Single sections in the Homebrook '■' and Leeston sections are to be balloted for in about a month's time. Applications close this month for the Snowdale grazing run leases, too. Without flat wintering country, as it is, ; the Snowdale' proposition is largely a gamble, but the gambling spirit is said to be strong in the soldier, so that there will probably be plenty ready to risk the bad winters with the good. THISTLE.