THE CALIFORNIAN THISTLE,

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1769, 17 February 1888, Page 3

THE CALIFORNIAN THISTLE,

Mr Murphy, the Secretary of tbe Canterbury A. and P. Association who has just returned from a visit to the .Australasian colonies, haa given the following information with r^pect to ihe Cal fornian thistle U. the *' Lytteiton Tim**" : — u ln -Ta» mania tbe thistle has become »uch a pest that tbey have appointed aa inspector to de*l with it, and paßsed a » pedal Act to deal w»th those upon whose land it can He d>a covered. The ioepector is Mr T«bart, brother of Mr Tabatt, of Cbrif" church It was io the north tbat the seriousness of the thistle plague was me at apparent There there is a fertile farming district where hundreds of emal' farmers make an easy living by growing potatoes and wheat alternately. They bay« been dung it for these five and twenty years, without exhausting the soil, finding a market m Sydney. Thny are very happy, having Do large private indebt. d coB and do difficulty m living But they ar* beginnme to feel the pe»t, and there was © very ; reason to suppose that it was lurge'y bn the increase, une leas : d farm of 20 » agree I liVcpected bad been abandoned by tpe leßßte altogether, 'iba own«r was about to try fallowing Altogether, m the north the inspector estimates that 20CO acres of l>r:d were rendered totally worthless on account of the tbietle You may judge for youreelf whit his opinion of tbe matter is— 'if it co«'8 the i v ew Zealand Government £100,000 to get rid of it from the colony, it will be mon»y well spent,' " That is what be satd to . me. • "NeftrHobart tbey are terribly strict about it: The (Jovernment have began to handle tbe matter wi'h vigor. They know that if one m<w allows the pent to get headway, he Will oauao f destraotton, fttyronnft him. So 4 tbo"ofd Acj; on the lab^eot has been made more stringent. ThW inspentof' was cramped m his action before, l^ow he o*n report to ihe police and get a faraier heavily fined, not only for having the pl»nt on his U»>d at all, bat even fo^'hayjog seed m any' bay 01 f€f»w' that he knowingly c^ers for sale, piaoie to the new Apt renders him liable on ppnyio>ion, for this i f^»i cc, to a penalty not exceeding £2Ej <md not lee« than £2 " ?♦ But they can be eot rid of Hy indqstry and perseverance. J cume aoroßs one m*n »fco had qiesred his farm of them with a boe, by peniiteotly rootiqg them oat. Hie never allowed them to seed. Another m»n bad •noceede<i by first fallowing ani tben »coffl ng ouoe a week f«r two fe-w The people over there are beglnnioif to reoognisa th*t tbe pt-st oai be got rid of, and their principle i« t^tat those wh ' wili not get rjd t'f it muct be ma c ti d>i ■<>. "Of o>aris, I «tig ured wboat w«»'e land*, railway Hnet, and raaorvox. Tha< - - \t «9tt*ia\y a d gju! jr 8u« 'he £ «">. or w lOKVtjr n fS'spouHiai*', qqu civ «he «i dowa oontinuilly, »nd oev^r allow theua totesd. Tkey oiaak not wait for tbea to »ppear tbora tbe ground,"