WAR ON RAGWORT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 279, 20 July 1932, Page 6

WAR ON RAGWORT

FARMER'S SODIUM CHLORATE AND LIME MIXTURE TRIUMPHS. DEFINITE RESULTS ACHIEVED. Although the growth of ragwort is not so serious in the immediate district of Rotorua as in some other parts of New Zealand, it is, nevertheless, bad enough to warrant farmers giving the most earnest attention to its eradication. In thx. Mamaku area, for instance, the pest has obtained a disastous hold and mueh useful land has been more or less ruined. Methods hitherto-adopted for the killing of ragwort have been attended with indiifelent success and have either been too 1 mited in scope or too expensive to permit of general application. Grubbing, spraying, feeding do'wn with sheap, burning, ploughing, all have been triad with indiiferent success. The spraying has, probably, provid the most eifective, but it is slow and tedious and the cartage of water is a factor to be reclconed with. A New Method. There is every reason to hope, however, that with the advent of sodium chlorate a process has been evolved which will offer a very large measure of success. A King Country farmer, Mr. W. E. Cayley-Alexander, has described a method of top-dressing which, he claims, has proved both cheap and effective He says that ex periments have proved that sodium chlorate, mixed with the right proportion of lime, and broadcast over infected paddocks, will wipe out ragwort in a few days and leave' the field.; all the better for the treatmcnt. He says the secret lies in the mixing of the dressing. This is the way it is done: Take lcwt of sodium chlorate and spread it out on a concrete floor to a 'depth of not more than half an inch. On the top of this pour out lcwt of carbonate of lime. Tben mix them thoroughly over and over again, as when mixing sand and cement, but three 01* four times as thoroughly. Then bag up and put on one side. Add More Lime. Now empty the other 18cwt of lime on to the floor in the shape of a cone and then pour on the top the 2ewt of the 50 per cent. mixture and mix up as before, but this will take at least one and a half hours to do properly. Then bag up. It is neady for use, but Mr. Cayley-Alexander says he is under the impression that it may be better if left bagged for a couple of days, in the same way that super and lime, when mixed and allowed to stand for a few days, give better results. . . . Analysis alone could prove if the sodium chlorate combines chemically with the lime. The growth of ragwort on the farm was heavy, so 5cwt of the mixture to the acre was used by broadcast'ng. Within three days every ragwort plant "witherad up, roots and all. Cost Reasonable. Naturally, when it comes to fighting the weed, the farmer must count the cost and in this connection Mr. Cayley-Alexander is in a position to give considerabb encouragement. Taking sodium chorate at £2 6s 8d per cwt. and lime at 15s per ton, this works oijt at about 15s 6d an acre, he says. This may seem dear, but it makes a complete job, and if done in May, or later, further north, treatment will kill the last year's seed now making its appearance as small plants. The saving in labour, extra

acreage obtained, saving in live stock, increased returns, to say nothing of the improvement in the appearance of the paddocks and tln knowledge that ragwort is kilbd for good, renders the treatmcnt a very cheap investment, more particularly so because three days after the mixture has been sown the pasture can be top-dressed with 2?.ewt. of super, which, together with the 5cwt of lime in the so.hum chlorate mixture, will give top' -dressing to the extent of 7 lcwt to the acre, the , lime performing a double duty. Other Blends Fail. Some farmers have tried mixing super with the sodium chlorate They could never hope to be successfrl in that way, because one count. macts the other, nor must the super be sown until the sodium chlorate mixture has killed the ragwort. There is no necessity for using more than a 5 per cent. mixture, as anytliing over that is wasted and adds to the costs. Mr. Cayley-Alexander conclud^s by declaring that there is no question as to the effeetiveness of the treatment, and he advocabs that the Govermrent should take steps to enahle farmers to purchase sodium chlorate m > e cheaply. Dairy companies could > Iso sell it at cost price.