CALIFORNIAN THISTLE CONTROL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10132, 5 December 1910, Page 7

CALIFORNIAN THISTLE CONTROL.

The Fields Supervisor, Canterbury District, in his annual report, has the following reference to the measures being taken for the eradication of the Californian thistle:— Fairly good work has been done in keeping the Californian thistle in check. In some instances farmers left the cutting too late, thinking . that one cutting would be sufficient, but the last (1909-10) being a favourable season, the growth was strong. The farmer who believes that by cutting off the heads of the thistles lie is keeping them from spreading is storing up trouble for another day; for the loss of the soed-head no moro keeps the Californian thistle from flourishing than a pinch of salt upon its tail prevents a rabbft from moving away. It is very surprising how little some farmers will do to try and cope with this trouble on their properties, many,thinking that as long as they keop within the letter of the law they have done enough, little thinking that tlio nuisance is getting a greater hold in the land every year. On the other hand there are a good many farmers who are trying every moans in their power to cope with the nuisance, and many are proving very successful. One instance I may mention whore good work has been "most successful—that is, on a farm belonging to Mrs Wilson, at Dromore. The thistles have been growing on this farm for the last fifteen years, and • different means have I been tried to eradicate them, | but they were only kept in check until about three years ago, when Mrs Wilson's manager took up the idea of cultivation—or, at least, to keep the plants cut down below the ground, so as. not to let them breathe. To accomplish this, the ground where the thistles were growing was ploughed and" rolled, and every week throughout the growing season—that is, from early in November to the end of April—a grubber with lft-broad shears fitted to the tines so that they overlap, and are set about Sin underground, is worked on the patch. This mode has proved most successful, as I was shown places that had been treated in this way three and two years ago, and were now in grass, and not a sign of a thistle could be seen, although I was informed that the thistles were bad when the work was first started on them. I saw sixteen different patchos that were being treated this season, and only on one patch were seen two small plants' showing through the ground, and from appearance this patch had been missed for some time. The land is light, , and suitable for such work, but there is no doubt this treatment has been most successful.