AGRICULTURAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume IV, Issue 220, 18 April 1872, Page 8

AGRICULTURAL.

SORREL, HOW TO KILL IT.

The following paper on tho above subject was read by Mr. William Reid at the monthly meeting of the Ballarat Farmers' Club, held very recently :—: —

Sorrel is the greatest pest, as a weed, we have to deal with. If my remarks on the subject would only lead our farmers to think and to put their thoughts into practice, I firmly believe that we should not see, as it is now painful to witness, our crops struggling for bare life, and in the end allowing the enemy to float his scarlet banner of victory in every direction. The botanical name of sorrel is rumecc, a name given by the Latins to the root of a thorn. JRumex acetosella is the plant of which I have to speak today. Botanists tell us where it abounds naturally is a certain indica-

tion of a dry, poor, gravelly, irony soil. In my native place no weed was so much detested as the dock (Rumen alpinus), and no other weed had so much care bestowed on its destruction — the roots often taken up to a depth of twelve to twenty inches, and carried off the land to be burnt. I well remember, thirty years ago, before the steam engine was used for threshing, during the winter seasons the barnmen were rewarded with ale for carefully selecting the docks before threshing them, and the farmers were Tery careful about burning them in the proper place. That place, sir, was the oven, as they declared the seed would grow from the ashes. These few remarks bring me to my subject, viz., the way to destroy sorrel. — Ist, it must be burnt; 2nd, burnt in the right place ; 3rd, and burnt well. I consider, as a rule, sorrel cannot be destroyed without making a fallow. Ist. To burn it, I would recommend that apiece of land foul with sorrel should be ploughed ub about six inches deep, directly after harvest, and, after .getting .well, scorched on one Bide, run the heavy harrows a. time or

two over it. This is about all that most of us could do at that time, as our land would have to be prepared for the grain crops. This would bring us to -about the month of June or July, when I would plough as deep as possible. I may here state that I have found the tap roots of sorrel, if ploughed to a depth of seven or eight inches, will not come through to the surface, but die out. 2nd. And being burnt in the right place. By this I mean that all stagnant water must be removed by draining, or your best efforts will be frustrated, as I have by experience found it impossible to kill sorrel where the land is water-logged. Ploughing land in this state is only making mortar to be baked like brass in summer, and until all this stagnant water has been removed, depend upon it, do what you may, you are trying to kill sorrel in the wrong place. It may be asked, Why plough so early if the land is to remain idle a whole year ? I think the term idle is here misapplied, as I have never seen land at rest when it is overrun with all kinds of weeds sending their hungry roots in every direction in search of food, and consequently leaving the land at the end of the year in a weaker state than ever. Another reason for early ploughing for fallow land is that the seeds of all kinds have a chance of germinating, and the greater number will be destroyed before the winter. If we mean our land to rest and recover its fertility, we must, as s*oon as we can get upon it, continually bring the roots of the sorrel to the surface. Never allow it to become red., for if you plough late, and even succeed in killing most of the old plants, you will find to your disgust, when the season is too far advanced, and your next crop perhaps * in, an abundant crop of seedlings for you to battle with for the next three years before

fallow again. This is no theory of mine, as anyone may see by taking a drive through the country, the large number of acres as red as scarlet now being ploughed up, when a portion has seeds already ripe enough to grow, and the old plants will still continue growing and seeding between the furrows until our land, which has been furrowed, so called, has been smothered with seeds for a future crop.

A friend of mine said to me some short time since, when speaking of fallowing, that he would never plough until late in the spring, as, by ploughing early he would lose all his feed. But what I would recommend is to rest the land. Allow nothing to grow upon it, so that it may recover its former strength, and receive from the exhaustless storeroom, the atmosphere, that plant-food she so abundantly pours forth wherever the land is in a fit state to receive it. 3rd. To burn it well, presuming the land has been ploughed early and harrowed. About February we expect some very hot weather, so that your sorrel would have received a violent check. During the winter months the wet portions (if any) of your land should have been drained, so that by about the middle of October you could make an earnest effort at its entire destruction. To accomplish this put on all your strength and plough it up. This being done, three horses would be required to work about 25 acres, and let them (weather permitting) be laid off espe- ! daily for that work ; in four days they would run the scarifier through it; in two days more would harrow it ; then scarify it in a different direction, and so continue, bringing all you possibly can to the surface for the sun to bum it. And if you can get 16 or 18 days in succession of fine hot weather, and your team be kept busily going during that time, I will venture to say your paddock will be pretty free from sorrel. Should .you find some plants still living, there are yet the best three months during the year left to kill them. And where we go in to win, fairly if we can, but under any circumstances to win, we shall yet be able to seize an opportunity to round up our ashes and to give them a final scorching. These are the principles I have laid down for the destruction of sorrel. To learn them and simply stop there, is to fail of the end for which they were designed. We must leave the principles, and go on to attain the great end of entire destruction. It may be asked, Will all thia labour pay? Allow me to answer that by asking another question. Will it pay anyone to have his land overrun with weeds ? how long would he be able to bring forth a clean balance sheet? What is the value of one-fourth of the farm being left unworked for a grass paddock, the roots of sorrel and other weeds giving the land, when the plough is put into it, the appearance of an old door-mat? Tour cattle, as soon as driven by starvation, will begin to eat the sorrel, the result of which will be similar to a person turning n sheep infected with scab among hifj flocks. I find that cattle eating either sorrel or longweed when the seeds arc ripe, will foul the land wherever they are allowed to go. No, sir, if we wish to keep our farms clean, we must look well to the feed our cattle are on, as it is a very easy matter to get weeds into our land, but a difficult task to get them out again. Having given you, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, these few remarks on sorrel and the means for its destruction, I trust we shall use every effort to destroy. this usurper, as I am sure you will agree with me that our interests a.nd his are not identical