Noxious Plants.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 201, 28 December 1893, Page 2

Noxious Plants.

The Department of Agriculture have issued two . more leaflets to farmers. One is with regard to a noxious plant known as tbe " Threecornered jack," or ,; Cats'-headsV The plant was introduced to New Zealand in ballast from Australia, where it is. commonly kuown as three-cornered jack, on account of the three stout spines at the angles of the fruit. Mr F. Turner, the Botanist to the Department of Agriculture, New South Wales, has lately adopted the name of cats-head, Mr R. Scobie, M.P., having suggested it in consequence of the supposed resemblance wbich the fruit bears to the face of a cat.* ltis spreading in Australia, and in some parts has overrun paddocks to such I an extent as to render them practicI ally useless for grazing purposes. Its introduction tp New Zealand is much to be deplored. The Department urges landowners to take prompt I measures to eradicate a most dangeri ous plant. The second leaflet issued this week by the Department of Agncnlture deals with the burr clover which is now spreading throughout the colonies. The plant is found in most parts of tlie colony, especially on light soils. It grows early, and produces a quantity of good feed, for which horses and sheep show a great partiality, but it dies back on tbe approach of dry weather. A second crop is frequently produced after late summer rains. It is a very free seeder— a fact sometimes taken advantage of by mice, they being exceedingly fond of the seed, probably on account of the oil it contains. Small heaps of burra may frequently be found, an examination of which wUI show that the pods have been dexterously opened and the con- - tents extracted. The burr clover is an annual, and the Department recommends farmers to stock heavily during the flowering season, or where the plants are not numerous to mow them down before seeding.