GOATSRUE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2063, 4 December 1919, Page 1

GOATSRUE.

For some time past the question of the spread of goatsrue has been agitating the minds of farmers and landholders along the lower reaches of the Manawatu River, and hundreds of acres are being devastated annually by this curse. In the rich lands of the Moutoa swamp, for instance, this weed has grown to such an extent that it is impossible for a human being to gel many yards into the swamp, the growth of goatsrue being so dense that not even cattle can get through it. Some of the county councils have declared it a noxious weed, while others have declined to do so, urging that it was undesirable to put the Act into force in the lower regions while no steps were taken to deal with the pest at its source. A Dominion representative, who paid a visit to what might bo termed the breeding, if not the distributing ground of the goatsrue, was astonished to tind that just where the Manawatu River enters the gorge on the eastern side there arc rich alluvial Hats on which nothing is growing but that weed. He was informed that in years long' gone these Hats were productive of very rich grass and rout crops, but that is now a thing of the past. Home one introduced goatsrue as a sheep teed. At present the question of its introduction does not materially matter, the main point being what is the best thing to do to eradicate it at its source and prevent the curse spreading. To the Jay mind it would appear that if the wood growing on these flats above (lie gorge were kept constantly cut and not allowed to seed the .main source of supply would be cut off, and this would assist in slopping the spreading. It is obvious that it is no use tackling the matter from the other end, while the breeding ground is left untouched. It may not be generally known that goatsrue has a very lough pod, something the shape of the lupin, in which the seeds are enclosed, and these float down the river with every ' fresh during the season, and as 1 lie water recedes (lie pods are left in the silt on the adjoining lands as the river goes down, and the vegetation in the silt forms the finest propagating material that could be got. I ndcr the circumstances there can lie ho wonder that the pest is making its appearance at all the low-lying spots along (he river, and unless steps are taken to cheek it at the source the loss to land owners must lie considerable. The matter i< one of so much importance that the question of dealing with it above the Gorge should be gone into at once, not only by the local bodies interested, but by the Agricultural Department,