CANADIAN THISTLE. PEST.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1390, 16 March 1912, Page 6

CANADIAN THISTLE. PEST.

■_» GETTING BEYOND CONTROL. Despite all tlio efforts Hint have been made to extirpate tlio Canadian thistle it continues to flourish and spread in some parts of tlio Dominion. Tlio Hon. T. Mackenzie (Minister for ARi'icnlhirc) remarked to a reporter yesterday, that, in some districts, tlio thistle had .gono fur beyond any hope of control. Ho hoped, ho added, to go into tlio whole matter at an early date with a view tn relaxing tlio provision of the Noxious Weeds Act us far as sorao areas in which the Canadian thistle had obtained a particularly strong hold wore- concerned. This does not mean that tlio areas concerned are to be given over indefinitely to the ravages of a vegetable- pest. Mr. M'lvenaie thinks- that eventually tlio thistle, will no longer be nblo to draw sustenance from the soil. It will then sicken eft" and givo place to other plant life. The thistle, he remarked, is like a ringworm which spreads out from a centre. The central parts gradually weaken and then tlio end of the wood is in sight. The only useful quality attaching to tho Canadian thistle is that it can bo. converted into very Bond ensilage for fodder purposes. About 18 months ago, Mr. Mackenzie, having heard (lint farmers in the Middlcinnrch district wore turning the thistle to useful purpose in this way, appointed Mr. Dibble (late imuuigcr of the Ruakura State farm) to instruct the farmers of tho Clulha district in tlio process. In this way some profit is 'being derived from what would otherwise bo an unmitigated pest.