"THE WONDERBERRY."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1739, 2 May 1913, Page 8

"THE WONDERBERRY."

ONLY A COMMON WEED. "Tho farmers of the country aro apparently always oil tiio look out for something new, and aro frequently intluenced by American newspaper. impressions, wi'K-..s a special correspondent. One farmer in : the Kangitikei, lio says, is no exception 'to tho rule, and he read in an. .American paper of a plant known as the "wonderbcrry," a production of jßurbank, the! famous botanist, the description carrying; with it tho value of the fruit of such a plant ior making jams, sauce?, pies, etc. , The description appealed to him, and ho decided to import some seed. Tho result of thjj importation is now apparent. Tho planiris an improved type ot "black potato,";.o'r'""solanum nigrum," belonging to tho dtMlJy nightshade family of plants'. ■The. birds "soon set to work on the fruit, tho' result being tho wholesalo spread of tho plant, until now it has taken practically complete control of a number of paddocks that aro under cultivation. How long it will take to eradicate tho pest is ;i mutter of conjecture, fortunately, it is only an annual, but seedlings will bo sure to make their appearanco from time to time. At tho present time the fruit is ripe, and myriads of. birds are feeding -upon them. At the samo time •they are resting on freshly-ploughed land, so those paddocks are almost'suro to show the plant nest spring. The black potato is. reputed poisonous to stock, and the circumstances seem to .indicate that there, is not enough supervision in the matter of tho importation of these '.-"million makers." The Loganberry; an improved fruit of the black- : berry, is another plant that soon becomes I a pest if not soon checked. Further inquiry mado locally as to tho "wondorberry'v 'elicited' the information that tliis is not tho first time a New Zealand farmer has been troubled with it. The berry in question, which was much boomed iu America some years ago, is simply black nightshade, a common weed that naSj been in New Zealand for years. Some years ago, in fact, as for back as October,- 1899, it was tho subject of a leaflet by Air. T. W. Kirk, of the Department of Agriculture. The samjile boomed in America was simply an improved form of the New Zealand berry.