DEADLY TO WEEDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 24, 29 September 1913, Page 4

DEADLY TO WEEDS.

Some years ago an idea in weed destruction occurred to the manager of a South Gippsland butter factory At the ordinary testing of the suppliers milk samples by the Babcock method a quantity of sulphuric acid is employed. When the tests are completed a quantity of partially exhausted sulphuric acid is left in the flasks, and the usual practice is to throw it away. The practical mind of the manager' in question suggested the utilisation of the waste product in the direction of killing briars, blackberries, and suchlike. The factory . paddock of four I acres was wholly occupied by this growth. He experimented on it by throwing half a pint of the waste sulphuric acid so as to flow down the centre stem of the plant to the main root., In the course of a few dayr. each bush withered, became dry, and formed- a mass readily destroyed by. fire. In six months the paddock wa<cleared, and the manager enjoyed the privilege of grazing a horse in a paddock formerly taken up hy this useles.-. scrub. In the aggregate hundreds of gallons of sulphuric acid are allowed to go to waste yearly at butter fac tories.