NOXIOUS WEEDS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4956, 26 March 1926, Page 4

NOXIOUS WEEDS.

HEAVY NATIONAL LOSS.

SERIOUS ATTENTION NEEDED.

The question of the amount of toss caused Annually in New Zealand bj the spread of noxious weeds iis' difficult to answer with any degree of accuracy ; but it is evident that tjhe toss is, serious! enough to warrant serious attention being l paid to the problem of combating the scourge.

Recently an agricultural writer, secretary of a farmers’ union, computed the loss arising from blackberry alone at half a million annually. This is a large reduction from- the, productive power of .the community. Means of reducing or. obviating this loss should be qought ’for diligently.

Then there is the toss arising from other noxious weeds, such as ragwort, Californian thistle, gorse, foxglove, and so on. Probably the combined loss from the'Sle equals that caused by the blackberry. If so we are faced with a total annual loss of a million. This is a serious loss, and one calling urgently for action. In the case of blackberry the Government has offered a reward of £lo',ooo for the in-z vention of some epeeific -for destroying this weed. The conditions o,ie that the remedy must be cheap, that it must not be poisonous, and! that.it. must not destroy the fertility of. the ground. There have been many claimants for the reward, but so far no one has secured it. ,

The question of noxious, weeds is. no laughing matter. In some parts of New Zealand it is for the farmer a ma,tter of life and death. There are, farmers who have been driven off their holdings by noxious weeds. At present- there is a ragwort scare ; but, like most other scares, it i's| belated. The proper' time to be scared was when the first ragwort plant was noticed. But, .as' you never ( feel the shoe till it pinches, so you never notice the weeds .till they are well established; Farmers should not forget that the plough is a great enemy of the weeds.