THISTLES AND BLIGHT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 872, 19 July 1910, Page 8

THISTLES AND BLIGHT.

SUSIE TJP-COUNTKT OBSERVATIONS. Our travelling correspondent writes:— ."Several times 'during the hist'few weeks statements have been made about the Californian thistle, mid the various methods which have been suggested or adopted to cope "with (his truly dreadful menace. I often wonder how many iieufio who write- and talk about- this <pest have really seen it in such quantities as are to be seen in some of the districts adjacent to ihe Main Trunk line. 1 ieel sure- if they could see, as I have, the' immense solid patches of thistle with which some farms are infested, and the absolute impossibility of applying the means for its eradication which they suggest as filling the bill, these gentlemen'would undoubtedly> cry as' the unfortunates are doing, 'Useless, utterly useless.' It is therefore all the more an urgent need that farmers should learn to be' more alert, and cultivate the faculty of using their eyes more than in tho past. :"Thos9 of us who lire sufficiently advanced in years, may, recall in their boyhood's days li little book titled 'Eyes and No.Eyes.' It was the story of two school lads who used to take walks in the country, accompanied by their tutor. When they got home they had to write an essay on what they had seen during the' ramble. It pointed out what a wonderful field of observation lies at the feet ofeveryone. who has eyes to see,. and that where one of those lads saw nothing of which he could make any record, the other could hardly find sufficient space in which to, relate all he saw. And this brings me to the valuable work dono by Mr. Venables, .of Utiku. He evidently had his eyes open to note something on bis thistles. not normal, causing him tu investigate more closely, with the result thai ho got -in touch with, the Agricultural Department. Now it is tilings uf this nature from which great benefits often spring. It is quito possible that when the researches made by the Department are completed some step forward towards coping with the post will have been made. "In this connection a similar occurrence took place when I was in Fitzherbert a short time ago. Messrs. Whitmore Bros, told me they had small patches of thistle like most other farmers, but said that they had noticed something this last season which they hoped would turn out to be of value. They had cut the plants for _ the first time. They soon grew up again, but before they got to any length some blight- apparently attacked them, and they .shrivelled and went black, to all seeming being dead. The thistles were covered with myriads of small bronze flies, but whether tho blight was the result of the visitation of the flies they were unable to say. But they are -looking forward to the spring to see whether in these blighted patches any difference may be noticed."