THE THISTLE.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume III, Issue 1, 12 February 1863, Page 6

THE THISTLE.

We beg to bring before our native friends a matter of special importance to them as tillers of the soil. We refer to that baneful weed the thistle, which is rapidly spreading itself in various localities, and " which, unless promptly checked, Will be one of the most serious drawbacks to the cultivation " of land. It is self-evident that every country should not only grow sufficient produce for its own consumption but that it should create an export, if itbe the intention of its inhabitants to advance in prosperity. As grain producers the Maori have felt their labours increased and their energies retarded by the luxuriant growth of the dock and sorrel in their fields: but if they feef so much inconvenience from the above nained weeds bow much more labor, time, and money Will have to be expended on the thistle if the Natives are not at once prepared, in' conjunction with the settlers, to annihilate it. The Maori think very little of Time, as they are often lounging about their settlements arid other places: now the eradication of the thistle, as soon as it makes its appearance on their lands, would b© a healthful employment for them, and it would be conferring a great boon upon the whole population of the country. The Maori should riot treat this matter as a question of utu, they should have more enlarged views, putting their shoulder to the wheel for the good of all. We hope that there will be no procrastination on the part of the Natives relative to this task, but that they will immediately go to work, spade in hand, ere the thistle has time to flower, for it is a well known fact, that it is most prolific in seed, and that it is borne upon the wind, depositing itself ten and twenty miles distant from the locality in which die parent plant grows. An official communication, bearing date 27th January. 1868, calls particular attention to this subject, and it is hoped, that the native people generally, will cordially co-operate with t>be settlers m endeavouring to destroy a plant

so detrimental to the inteieste of- the' farmer, jpod which has- already overrun large;tracts of country. The following paragraph is from the document in questiou : " It is impossible for the Government now to keep down this very noxious weed,, unless aided by the settlers themselves; it would therefore be glad to see a united effort made by both races throughout the Province, to eradicate a weed, which otherwise* will become ruinous to the interests of the inhabitants generally—>native as well as European."