INGLEWOOD NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIV, Issue 52, 17 February 1902, Page 2

INGLEWOOD NEWS.

(FitOM OUS OWN CORRESPOHDEUt). I Ikglewood, or, speaking more strictly, i the farmtrs living around IngUwoed! tow»»h'p, are just at pr«s«nt suffering badly from nervous prostration, saased ' by the rapid spread of a weed calledj | ragwort. How it came her#, who' brought it, how can it bn stopp'd from' spreadiag, etc., is the one topic of cob- I | varsatiea among the farming cem-' | munity. It first made its appearance j I here some seven or eight y»ars ago on' a farm owned by Mr Franklyn, on the Junction-road. At first he thought it oame in some grass-seed he brought | from New; Plymouth, but latterly he is of the opinion that it c*me with some oats imported from Canterbury, Be that as it may, and worse luck it throve, and the question is will it conquer all efforts to eradicate it ? For the first two or three years it was left to grow at its own sweet will, and iu that time it had overran nearly half the tarns. From than up to the present time Vlr Franklyn has had more than he could do to keep it in check, and it has spread not only over all his farm, but over miles of country in the vicinity. That ragwort is a very dangerous weed is acknowledged, bat there are still farmers here who seem to lake a delight in letting it grow, to the anxiety and annoyance of their neighbour*, more paiticularly amongst leaseholders, who den't feel the same interest ia keeping it down as those who have a freehold farm at stike. ' Some very drastio measures will have to be taken before very long to stop the spreading of this we«d, or else it will get so strong a hold in this district that all the inspectors and Acts of Parliament won't be ab!e to cope with it.