OX-EYE DAISY.
TO THK EDITOR. Sir, —I notice that a correspondent in your issue if the 14th inst. calls attention to the spread of tho daisy pest. A recent visit to the Waikato, during which I travelled all round the district, had neariy all the pleasure which I should otherwise have experienced taken out of it by the sight of this innoccntlooking but pestilential weed. Your correspondent's comparison of it with the Canadian thistle is a just one lam sure that settlers aud local authorities cannot realise the aggressiveness of this weed, or they would at once, and while it is possible for tin m to act effectively, meet it as they would an invading host. I noticed some acres of Kihikihi land which I cannot but helieve have been as entirely alienated from the mm who thinks he is the owntr us if they had been taken possession of by Kingite Maoris. Indeed, the result is far worse, as the alienation by th : s weed is going on night and day, and will spread from these centres until, failing stringent measures bting taken, Kihikihi will soon bectme a sea of daisies. Of course other places are open to the same spreading mischief. Healthy roots of ox-eye arc to be found on many of the main roads, and in patches in paddocks and reserves. Once let them get into laud, and seod for awhile, and then, if it is da : sy against fanner, the farmer may reckon upon coming off second best as long as he owns the farm. Nothing but the horror which I feel at what I have some reason to t-el'eve is the destiny of this weed if neglected, would cause me to take up the unusual position of giving farmers gratuitous advipe upon their own Bpecial work. I recommend that you give this matter your daily advocacy until the evil is attacked. It will pay your beautiful and fertile district to give up its entire revenue for a twelvemonth, private incomes included, to fight this aggression rather than to give it another year or two start in its struggle to posBCBS the land.- -I am, etc., Wesley Si'rtAaa,
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Bibliographic details
Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 223, 16 December 1897, Page 3
Word Count
362OX-EYE DAISY. Waikato Argus, Volume III, Issue 223, 16 December 1897, Page 3
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