THISTLES AS FODDER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1097, 8 April 1911, Page 8

THISTLES AS FODDER.

AX INTERESTING - NOTE. ■ Tho following note on the possibilities of the'wing thistle as a fodder-, plant is'.-supplied by-'the Director of Fields . and Experimental • Earms "The true ' winged ' thistlo is plentiful throughout New Zealand, but is usually confined'..to-waste.places and grazingarcas, and is not troubjesome on cultivated lands! •In portions-of the depleted areas in Central Otago and the Mackenzie country it constitutes a considerable ' arid valuable food for stock, especially sheep,, when no other vegetation is, available; and it undoubtedly has a high value under such conditions. . Its cultivation as a fodderplant could, not bo advocated except on such country, and even there it would be; displacing plants of much greater nutritive value which could otherwise occupy the same ground. It' must bo remembered that it lasts for only a portion of the year. The winged thistle'must .not bo corifiised with the.'star thistle or the yellow star thistlo,' both of'which are absolutely useless, the former being especially undesirable, as it is armed with long, stiff, sharp spines, which' inflict nasty festering wounds. In tho South Island, however, tho name star thistlo is almost, universally applied to the true winged thistle."