RAGWORT!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 94, 30 July 1943, Page 5

RAGWORT!

CAN IT BE ERADICATED

CANDID COUNCILLORS

.AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION Members of the Whakatane County Council came out into the open with varied but candid opinions regarding the possibility of destroying ragwort, at their last meeting. Cr McCracken said that in his opinion the present method of attempting control was simply a wasite of money, and he instanced a special experiment which he personally had made on his own property. Other councillors ventured the opinion that unless larger gangs of men were employed! to catch the weed in its early leaf stage it was useless to attempt anything. The subject arose i'rom discussion on a communication from the Department of, Agriculture notifying tliat a grant ol' £2000 had been made for work to be carried out this season. There Avould be an additional sum of £500 for work to be done at Ruatoki. The Assistant County Clerk stated that last year the sunt of £2000 had been received from the Department, which grant had been increased during the your by an additional ,£BSO. Personal Experiment Cr McCracken then gave details of an experiment lie; had conducted, in 1940, he said he had treated a large plant with sodium. It had died down but next spring a single small plant came lip. The following year a strong plant had come up which he had dug out by the roots. This year however it had been replaced by a ring of a dozen new plants each one sprouHng from the severed roots. In his opinion the way the county was tackling it was. going to make an overlasting job of it. Unless more strenuous methods were emjiloycd it would eventually beat them. There was. only one way of killing it thoroughly and that was when it was very young. The county was merely Avasting a lot of money without doing any good at all by employing its present limited sj'stcm and he suggested that they should seek more information on how to deal Avith it, or even institute trials of their own for the benefit of farmers. No More Atlacide The engineer stated -that there were no further supplies of Atlacide forthcoming. It was therefore necessary to merely carry on Avith the cutting. It Avould at least clicdiv the spread even if it failed to achieve eradication. The chairman suggested that the Department, of Agriculture could be written to requesting the latest information on the question. Cr Luxton observed that unless ragwort Avas followed up year by year all treatment remained uneffect.ual. Cr MeGougan: I don't think you can eradicate it! I've been on it for years and ha\e found out that even■ if yoi| dig it out it comes up all around the spot. Choked Itself Out The chairman instanced a case in England in the. Fell country, Avhcre ragwort had become so ungOA-ern-able that it had been left. It had ultimately choked itself out. It might be Avorth while experimenting with an acre patch in NeAV Zealand! Cr CaAvte cited another instance of a Te Puke farmer who alloAved his property to become completely overgrown. There was no ragwort there to-day. Ci; Wardlaw mentioned a case at Waimana, Avhere. the owner had overcome the problem by v stocking sheep. This however had not killed the weed. An Empty Endeavour Cr McCracken said, that it was simply a Avaste of money to proceed as they Avere. Huge gangs of men were needed everywhere at the early leafing stages,, -which Averc limited to a very .short time. If treated later a man with a sharp spade or shovel might check it-. The council decided to Avrite' to i the Department of Agriculture seekj ing the fullest information available on the subject of complete eradication.