THE FOXGLOVE PEST.

Waipa Post, Volume IV, Issue 168, 3 December 1912, Page 4

THE FOXGLOVE PEST.

ABOUT THE SOUNDS. To show the danger of neglecting foxglove, writes the correspondent of a contemporary, a settler in Maori Bay, in Pelorus Sound, told me that though, after its first seeding, he had never again allowed the foxglove to flower, it took fourteen years before he was rid of the pest. This is surely a lesson to any farmer who does not appreciate the menace of this weed. I was told that a man who was desirous of purchasing a farm in the Sounds, on going over the property with the owner, saw some weeds with which he was not acquainted. On asking what they were, he was told they were “ New Zealand lettuce,” and that lambs were very fond of it. On this recommendation he actually purchased the farm. The “ lettuce ” turned out to be foxglove, and now it is beyond the farmer’s power to cope with it—it is such a prolific seeder. Yneyca Bay is only a small bay, but one of the prettiest in the Sounds. At the head of the bay is Mr Nesbitt’s farm, carrying both sheep and cattle. Mr Nesbitt also is a supplier of cream to the butter factorjq and intends installing a Pelton wheel to operate his machines. Waitata Bay, in Kenepuru Sound, is a bay apart. There is a considerable area of ploughable land in it. One of the oldest settlers in the Sounds, Mr J. D. Henderson, has his home in Waitata Bay. At one time a sawmill was working there. Mrs Henderson, by the way, has been twenty-one years in Waitata Bay, and has never been away. Many of the Sounds farmers make a substantial addition to their incomes by catching fish, principally cod and hapiika, of which there seems to be an unlimited quantity. It all goes to Wellington by steamer. From the price they told me it returns them somebody would appear to be doing well out of the business, The fishermen say they do not get a fair share, and comparing the price they get, and what the customers have to pay in the inland towns of Wellington province, there certainly seems to be a big margin.