Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1927. IS LUPIN A NOXIOUS WEED?

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3731, 17 December 1927, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1927. IS LUPIN A NOXIOUS WEED?

AT the request of the Manawafu Rabbit Board, the Manawatu County Council will consider at its next meeting the declaring of lupin a noxious weed. The reasons for such proposal are that lupins provide cover for rabbits and, to a certain extent, cheek the Board’s operations in ridding the district A this pest and, further, 1 that the growth, of this plant is a menace to good land. The lupin plant is probably the oldest fertiliser known to agricutural science. It was used by the Romans centuries ago for fertilising purposes and for its capacity to store nitrogen and nourish dry and sandy areas. We don’t know by whom or when it was introduced into this country, but we do know that its cultivation in sand dune country has been beneficial. lit is true that the seed of the lupin will retain its fertility beneath the surface for years and when the earth is stirred quickly germinates. It is, however, easily eradicated and cannot be classed in the same schedule so far as eradication is concerned with goats rue, gofse, and other noxious growths. It flourishes in sandy waste lands in this district and has prevented sand drifts in these areas, which would have become an even greater menace, but for its growth. One advocate for the extermination of lupin states that marram grass and the planting of trees is preferable to the lupin. The owners of waste ■land however, have done little or nothing to reclaim the land by such means and to many such the lupin lias been a benefactor. A setitler informs us that the lupin is distinctly beneficial to sandy land and easily got rid of. His method is to scatter grass seed in the lupin area and then cut the lupin, the decaying vegetation from which promotes the growth of the grass which latter prevents the germination of the lupin seed. Acres of waste land have been well grassed by this means. In other coastal land in the north the lupin is cultivated for reclamation purposes. These points are worthy of consideration before the Manawatu County Council takes any drastic, steps to declare lupin a noxious growth.