A BAD WEED.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12881, 1 May 1913, Page 6

A BAD WEED.

IMPORTANT TO FARMERS

■ From Our Travelling; Reporter.) MARTON, April 30. A farmer on the.Rangitikei. reading in an American paper of a plant known as the "Wonderberry," a production of Bur bank, tho famous botanist, and tho value of the fruit o£ such a plant for making jams, sauces, pies, etc., decided to import some seed. The result of the importation is now apparent. The plant is an improved type of "black potato"' or "Solanium nigrum," belonging to the deadly nightshade family of plants. " The birds set to work on the fruit, the result being the wholesale spread of the plant, until now it has taken complete control of a number of paddocks that are in cultivation. How long it will toko to eradicate the pest is a master of conjecture. Fortunately it is only an annual, but seedlings will be sure to make their appearance from time to time. At the present time the fruit is vipe. and myriads of birds are feeding upon it. At the same time, they are mostly on freshly ploughed land, so those uaddocks are almost sure to show the plant next spring. The black potato is reported noinonous to stock. It seems as if there irs not enough supervision in. the matter of the importation of these "million maker^. r> The Loganberry, nn improved fruit of the blackberi\v, is another plant that soon becomes a pest if not soon checked.