WEEDS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 35, 9 February 1878, Page 1

W E E D S .

{Canterbury Times.)

Where there are weeds there is seldom profit, aud therefore the prevention and extirpation of weeds should occupy a large share of the farmer's attention. It is impossible that two good crops can grow at once on the same soil. If the land is already occupied by weeds they must be extirpated, or at any rate checked, before any crop of a remunerative nature can be produced. Weeds may be a sign of barrenness or of fertility ; sometimes they show that the land has been overcropped, or on the other hand they may

indicate that it has not been cropped enough, thafc the land has been permitted to 'remain longer in pasture than the nature of the soil renders judicious, or their presence may be due to the extra fertility o f the soil, which affords a congenial resting place to every feathered seed borne thither on the passing breeze, and, again, weeds sometimes make their appearance without any reasonable pretext whatever. It is not surprising that the farmer finds his energies and ingenuity taxed to the utmost to hold his own against such a " various host " of enemies. Scotch thistles, sorrel, and Cape weed are the chief aggressors, but there appears an unpleasant likelihood of the clover dodder being added to the list. A somewhat desponding farmer of our acquaintance was in the habit of remarking that " there is a new blight every month, and a fresh weed every year," and although such a statement of the case savours of exaggeration, it is the experience of every country that farmers' enemies multiply as civilisation extends. Sorrel is the greatest pest in the way of noxious vegetation that our farmers have to contend against. The Scotch thistle is undoubtedly a great nuisance, especially oh rich damp flats and on limestone downs, but it is a nuisance which in time Works its own cure, and is not without its concomitant advantages. When thistles have taken complete possession of a piece of land they begin to crowd themselves out, and as they die down every year the decaying leaves and stalks necessarily add to the organic matter of the soil, and the mass of roots beneath each plant have no small influence in sweetening and pulverising the land. Indeed, some large landholders, with properties too extensive to be brought under immediate cultivation by the plough, look upon a luxuriant crop of thistles as a first-rate preparation for surface-sown grass seed. Nevertheless their room, to use a colloquial phrase, is much preferable to their company, particularly in a wheat field. It is of little use to cut them down, for they are so wide-spread throughout the country, and the infinitude of seeds which they produce are so

capable of being disseminated by tho wind, that to exterminate them by hand would be a more formidable undertaking than the cleansing of the mythical Augean stables. Legislation has been found totally ineffectual in keeping down this pest, for it is manifold folly and injustice to compel freeholders to cut their thistles while there is an unlimited extent of crown lands left as ' seeding grounds. The Cape weed is unfortunately too well kuown to require description. It is said to have come originally from the Cape, and rejoices in the botanical name of cry tosternia caleudiolarium. It was seen in West Australia by Baron Hugo in 1833, and in South Australia, by Dr Mueller in 184/. It has now become pretty general throughout the Australian colonies, and has made itself very much at home among ourselves. It is not very particular as to situation, but appears in greatest force in old pastures, when the grass shows some signs of being run out. The leaves grasp the ground as closely as if they were drawn down by suction, and literally strangle the grasc plants. Whenever this weed makes its appearance the only remedy is the plough. Oue ploughing is soldom sufficient, but if the land is broken up, and sown to turnips in the summer, and cross-ploughed in the autumn, the weed, though not totally eradicated, is materially checked for some years. Cape weed is eaten readily by sheep, but it is considered by some farmers that a lar<*e quantity of it has a bad effect upon the health of the stock. Troubleome, however, as thistles and Cape weed may be, they are of small consequence in comparison with sorrel. This weed simply amounts to a land tax of so vexatious and burdensome a nature that the most ingeniously stupid Government would find it difficult to match. It thrives on land of every description, but is more troublesome in some places than in others. Some land will bear two crops in succession without becoming seriously overrun by sorrell, while in other cases it is almost in complete possession after the first crops. It is never absent except when the land is kept in permanent

pasture, but it may be kept in check by careful training. Gardeners recommend continually grubbing as the best way of getting rid of the weed, but however effectual this plan may be in a garden patch, it cannot be applied on a large scale, for the reason that it must be continued for a lengthened period of time. Many farmers have tried the effect of the grubber and harrows, only to find that they succeeded in distributiug the roots of the plants more equally throughout the field, thus introducing the sorrel in parts which were before free from it. It is now generally recognised that the land can only be freed from the weed by means of laying down to grass and hard feeding. This plan, though for a time effectual, is, unfortunately, a very slow and expensive one, and the necessity of laying down to grass immediately after the second crop is a great hindrance to profitable farming. In numberless cases a green crop after the second crop of corn would be "found more profitable than laying down to grass, but the presence of sorrel in the land renders this course impossible, for the working that the land receives for the green crops encourages the growth of sorrel to such an extent that before another season comes round the land is so foul that the farmer is at a loss what to do with it. But laying down to grass implies a considerable expenditure in grass seed, and when the seed is sown with sorrel very little return can be expected for the first twelve months. For the first season the grass has to struggle for existence with the weed, and by the time that the grass has gained the upper hand, the farmer with a small, or moderate-sized, holding is generally compelled to break up the land again for corn, so that he reaps but very little direct benefit from his pasture. The case would not be so bad if the pest could be done away with once for all, even at a considerable sacrifice ; but the second series of croppiug is generally a repetition of the first, but with still more unsatisfactory results as regards the production of sorrel. Sowing down may be the only remedy, and, if so, cannot it be made to act with greater rapidity ? Are there no means by

which the grass may be enabled to outgrow the sorrel in a shorter space of time than is required under ordinary circumstances ? It is well known to many farmers that a topdressing df stable manure tends to produce this result, but stable dung is among the slowest of manures, and what is wanting is a quick-acting manure that will give the grass a rapid start. Mr Lawes recommends guano, nitrate of soda, or sulphate of ammonia, at the rate of Icwt to l^cwt an acre as a good top dressing. Folding sheep on the worst patches would probably be a cheap and effective method.