FARMERS IN CONFERENCE

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 367, 7 June 1911, Page 2

FARMERS IN CONFERENCE

It is surprising to note says the New Zealand Times that, at the Woodville conference, the remit dealing with the stray dog and sheepworrying nuisance was rejected without any serious consideration. Sheep farmers, espepially those in the vicinity of the centres of population, have no worse enemy than the worthless curs that make nocturnal visits to their flocks at all times of the year. In every town and village the streets are swarming with canines of all breeds and descriptions, many of which do not serve any useful purpose. They are kept as pets about the household, and are usually allowed to provide their own recreation by roaming the streets by day and touring the country by night. In either case they are a nuisance. If fanciers feel that they must have these animals as pets, there should be some compulsion to make them reserve the

luxury for themselves alone; other people may not be so fond of dogs as they are. If a more strict system of registration were put into practice, and owners were compelled to keep their dogs in custody day and night the lives of many valuable sheep would be saved. Shepherds would be relieved of a lot of anxiety and would be saved considerable expense which they now incur warning the owners of stray dogs that their properties are not hunting grounds. There must have been a small percentage of sheep farmers at the conference.

The question of eradicating Californian thistle is an evergreen subject for discussion among farmers, and the resolution carried at the conference urging the Department of Agriculture to endeavour to have practical experiments made to try and find out the best way to deal with the weed is a good one. Experience has taught that the most effective way to deal with Californian thistle is to pull the plants out as soon as they make their appearance. Where the plants have got a good hold and have spread over a large area this i 3 a difficult and expensive operationi. For years experiments have been made with various dressings, but so far none have proved permanently effective. From time to time Government has offered substantial bonuses for a successful eradicator, but so far not one has succeeded. Still there are many landowners who do not treat this serious question with any degree of alarm. They may perhaps make a perfunctory attempt to comply with the Noxious Weeds Act to a small extent so as to enable them to evade the vigilance of the inspector, but nothing more. Others again do not interfere with the plants at all. During last summer the writer saw a fairly large paddock that was in rape which was fairly smothered with thistles, and on inquiring of the owner whether he knew of their existence before ploughing he was told that they had been there for years.