THE FARM.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 358, 19 March 1903, Page 5

THE FARM.

NOXIOUS WEED EXTEB- «; ; MINATOR. Much; interest, says the" Free Press," has lately been aroused in loci farming circles by an invention patented by Mr John Findlay, tTrydale, Kakapuaba. It is a n ixture intended to destroy noxious weeds, more particularly the dreaded Canadian thistle (cnieus aryenis). .... }; . .. A representative of the "Free Press" pud a visit to Mr Findlay's place, and there saw numerous patches of the thistles which had b»eh sprayed with th" mixture three weeks ago, and afp now lying bFghted and withered, to all appearances dead. The mixture is practically instantaneous in action, Mr Findlay affirms, the thistles being found in the present state the mornafter application.^ ' A & spade was brought to requisition and several of the root- dug up, and for a length of frqm 10 to 12 inches the°e were also found to be dead. Canadians have immense multiple roots, in wet soil being sometimes found at a depth of 6ft;. but it is considered that if the plants can be blighted for two successive seasons to the extent observed, the thistjgs will rootjmd branch Mr Finlav's method of application has been to ride round his paddocks on horseback, and whenever he saw a patch of the thistles to spray it from a small force-pump —a light and e»sy manner ff coping with this formidable enemy of the Hgrieulturist. The inventor has for over- two -years experimenting in an endeavour to find an effective eradicntive that could be produced so cheaply as to place it within the reach of all, and his present discovery, he claims, fulfils these conditions. The Department of Agricul- - has become interested in the matter, and it is on the crds that the inventor may receive an offer from the Government for his patent rights failing that, a company will probably be formed to place the exterminator on the market.

More exhaustive.;«,•> will shortly be made witb. t ; he mixture, which has latterly by Mr Findlay in a greatly diluted state, one, gallon of chemicals to>«6o of water; -and'the result will be fraught with intereslrto the whole colony. Should the eradicative prove as effective with other weeds as it has with the thistles on the inventors place—and it is apparently fatal to all vegetation—it will be the most effective possible ally of the Noxious Weeds Act, 1900.