THE GOLDEN BROOM.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 55, 13 November 1924, Page 4

THE GOLDEN BROOM.

SPREAD IN UPPER WAIKATO. Need for Combatting. (Contributed). One of the pleasing features of the Upper Waikato country a dozen years ago from a settlement point of view was the absence of noxious weeds. There was one small plant, however, that we noticed by the roadside. It was a stranger to us, dark green in colour, soft, but wii*\» in stem, with small round leaves. In late October it was covered with golden pea-like blossom. By its appearance when young it would almost be taken for a fodder plant of the alfalfa type. Later, we came to know it as one of the species of the broom family. It was not, however, for some years that we recognised in it a possible menace to the future value of unoccupied country. By this time the one small bush had grown into a group of large ones, 10 to 12 feet high, and occupying a space of ground a dozen yards square. Also many other plants had appeared, and from Putaruru to Taupo in the immediate neighbourhood of the main road broom had become more or less in evidence. In fact, to realise the full danger one has to travel to Taupo itself. There, in the blossoming-sea-son, the road runs for miles between high walls of golden bloom, and as one here and there glimpses the country beyond, through breaks in the wall, he sees large areas being rapidly monopolised by it. As a result of the increase in the spread of broom it was three years ago declared a noxious weed in the Matamata county. As mentioned before, from the appearance of the plant when young, one would never guess that in it was a serious menace to the value of hundreds of thousands of acres of settlement country. It is neither prickly to the touch, like furze or blackberry, or offensive to the smell, like ragwort. One would guess it to be a nitrogen fixing legumenous plant, yet, strange to say, nothing but a hungry and inquisitive rabbit ever eats it. Its danger lies in the enormous production, fertility and durability of the seed and the suitability of our light soils to its growth. Four years ago the present writer cut down his original group of broom bushes and to-day, though the original stumps are rotten, an annual crop of seedlings springs up over an ever-wid-ening area and in never diminishing numbers. The original plant could have been pulled up by hand in passing. The present crop takes half-a-day’s hoeing a year to check it. We have only to compare the insignificant cost of that first early destruction of the plant to the annual tax on the farm after years of neglect to realise how important is the need for combating this now recognised noxious weed.