WEEDS AND PESTS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 June 1939, Page 8

WEEDS AND PESTS

HOW THEY ARRIVED IN WAIRARAPA

Introduction of the Blackberry

GORSE PLANTS CAREFULLY CULTIVATED

(Specially Written for the “Wairarapa Times-Age” by Charles Bannister.)

The blackberry was first brought to this district by Mr A. McLeod, Sent’., grandfather of Mr D. McLeod, of Mt Bruce. Mr McLeod was gardener at Government House,’ Wellington. When he came to Masterton in the early days amongst his treasures were some blackberry seeds. They must have been of good stock, as they thrived well and still give a good crop of berries. I noticed this year that the large sort is dying out. What a pity, as it takes longer to fill one’s billy. Mr Rossiter took Mr McLeod’s place as gardener at Government House. He acquired land at West Taratahi and he also brought some blackberry plants with him. It was from those plants that the few patches of blackberry on Taratahi West have sprung. Thanks to those two kindly gentlemen the old and young today can enjoy some nice blackberry jelly for breakfast. I have never heard who was the first person to bring gorse to this district, but I think it was a case of honours easy. Four Opaki farmers were concerned. Two, who lived well up the Mt Bruce Road, were putting up their boundary line and thought it would be a good plan to plant it with gorse to make a shelter, from the biting nor’-west winds, so they made up their minds to ride to Carterton after dark and “pinch” some out of a gorse plantation. They did so and got away with their booty. One of them often remarked afterwards: “I wish I had been caught in the act of thieving and put in gaol and the plants confiscated.” My father, another innocent culprit, planted nearly three miles of fenceline on his Opaki farm. No doubt a gorse fence is good shelter for stock when it is kept trimmed, and when it is allowed to spread it is good shelter for rabbits. My father had his hedge trimmed every year when it was in flower. It was one man’s job to look after these fences and if my father saw any plants spreading from the hedge he would ask that man what he was kept for. The late Mr Jacob Matthews had one mile planted up the Opaki Road along a ditch and bank fence. As I was passing one day Mr A. Matthews told me it was a very dry summer following the planting and he had to carry water in a bucket to keep the plants alive. He said: “I wish I had put it on boiling; it would have saved me time and money.”

FOXGLOVES FOR GARDENS. Old timers told me that it was Mrs Hugh Campbell of Mt Bruce, who planted foxgloves in her flower garden (no ddubt they are pretty) never thinking they would spread. The seeds must have got into the Waipoua River as they have spread from Mt Bruce to the Lake. The first tares seen were a patch in Mr W. Bennett’s garden on the bank of the Makakaweka Creak, Upper Plain, not far from the Fernridge School. The creek, when in flood, overflowed its banks. This took the tares down to Akura, which was a cropping ground. These in turn ripened and got mixed with the' wheat and with the screens of the threshers of those days it was impossible to take them out and they were sown again. They also got mixed with the oats and when chaffed the horses distributed them still more. Wheat was tares is not used for flour. It is when reaping that tares are a pest. If the crop is heavy and tangled it bungs up the elevators and makes the driver use words. When six or eight sheaves hang together the stooker has a look at them and tries to pull them apart, which he cannot do. He then makes a round stook which is all right if the weather keeps fine, but if it is wet it will rot. In carting in, the pitcher bundles them up on the cart, the drayman pokes them on to the .stack, and the stacker puts them in the middle. When threshing, the pitchers on the stack throw them on to the platform of the combine, the .bandcutter roars and so does the drum. It is just as well that one cannot hear what the bandcutter says if the belt comes off.

CALIFORNIAN THISTLE. Californian thistle was first seen on Mr H. Bannister’s property, Miki Miki, on a newly grassed fence line between Bannister’s and Matahiwi Station. Noticing a strange plant and not knowing what it was we thought we would let it grow till it flowered to see what it was like. Many times since I wish we had eradicated it We saw the flower but did not do the deed that would have saved us many pricks. It got ripe and the north-west wind scattered the seed over Matahiwi and then over Opaki, making a good job of the sowing. In the mid-eighties the sawmillers of the Forty Mile Bush were getting their chaff from the South Island. They complained to the merchants about it being full of Californian thistle. They all wanted Opaki chaff which was fine and clean. We supplied it and enough Californian thistle seed to sow all of the Forty Mile Bush, also a lot of the King Country. Ragwort is one of the later noxious weeds to appear in this district. I noticed the first patch on the Kiriwhakapapa Road. I saw it when it was a small patch. It was never eradicated and the consequence was that it seeded and spread. Now it has been carried with the prevailing winds until it is close to town. Before I left Upper Plain it was in every paddock. Fat hen came with the Chinese. I don’t mean that the Chinese brought it, but I suppose it was mixed with some of the small seed that they used. It is a pest in a way, interfering with gardening and turnip and rape growing. The seed will last in the ground for years. On Rosswood there was ’a patch which I sowed in rape. The fat hen came away so thickly and tall that we decided to cut it for ensilage. I cut it with a mower before the seed got ripe and made a stack, salting every layer well. We called it pickled poultry. When Mr Chamberlain gave it to the cows in the winter they would not touch it. THE FIRST SPARROWS. Sparrows were first brought to Masterton by Mr A. W. Cave in the middle sixties. He made friends of them at

the Upper Hutt when waggoning. They used to hop about the stables while he was feeding his horses. They reminded him of his home in England, so he decided to give some a free ride to Masterton. Knowing where there was a nest, he procured a small box and when the young ones were old enough he brought them here. He told his pet stable cat not to touch them. He fed and looked after them till they could fly well, then let them loose. They multiplied very fast. In a few years they became a pest to the small farmers, who had only a few acres of crop. The sparrows took two tolls, one when the seed was sown, as then there were no drills. If it was land that had been cropped the year before there would be no harrowage to cover the grain and the sparrows would get half of it. The second toll was taken when the grain was getting ripe, when they would get the other half. They would invite their children and grandchildren and all the rest of the tribe to help to kill the caterpillars and Hessian fly and then they would stay on to help with the harvest. The farmer did not mind the sparrow killing the other pests but he did not think it right that it should take wheat in payment. But when discs and drills came sparrows went short of dry feed in the winter. Some people say sparrows eat five grubs to one grain of wheat. I don’t know. (I never took the trouble to investigate. But one thing I do know, we feed about 20 mixed birds every morning at our place, and they did not touch a single strawberry or tomato this year. One day I was talking to a Maori about pests. He said it was all right to bring the rabbits, trout and deer because the Maori could get plenty of kai, but what did they bring the sorrel, docks and thistle for. What good are they? he asked.

LIBERATION OF RABBITS. Rabbits were introduced by Mr Charles Rooking Carter, after whom Carterton was named, as he was one of the selectors of Wairarapa’s townships. He also liberated pheasants and deer. As the climate was warm and the dry plains were covered with manuka and other shelter rabbits increased rapidly. If a person killed one it was an unforgivable crime. In a few years they were in hundreds. The Waingawa River stayed their progress for a time till one very dry summer they crossed in dozens. One evening we saw one go under our cowshed, which was located at the back of the Cosy Theatre site. Mr Mutrie, who lived out at Manaia, South Road, told us that there were a good many out that way. So two of my brothers and I set off for a rabbit hunt. We got as far as Mr Donald’s gate with our dogs. We had two, a Scotch terrier and our brother Henry’s sheep dog, which we had sneaked away. The dogs chased a rabbit which went into its burrow in an old gravel pit. With a sharp stick and a large stone we started to dig it out. But Mr Donald appeared on the scene and wanted to know what we were doing on his property. When we told him that we were trying to dig out a rabbit, he ordered us off his property and told us to leave his rabbits alone. We went on as far as the Waingawa river-bed, where we managed to catch one on the other side of the river. With this we returned home as proud as three kings. All Masterton boys kept tame rabbits till they got too common. In the soft ground of the Akura Plains they lived in great warrens. If a person dug one out till he came to the main one he would find thirty or more full, grown rabbits. Their breeding haunts are generally a long way from their abode, often half a mile. Opaki Plain was simply crowded with them. Many a time in the 70’s two of us (we always hunted in pairs) killed 150 a day with a rabbit pack of twenty dogs of all colours and breeds. We found the collie the most sensible dog, with a great big retriever for a carrier, the bigger the better, as he would boss the whole pack. We used to take a horse and trap to bring’ the rabbits home for our pigs. We just cut them in halves, with an axe on a chopping block and threw them to the pigs. ENEMIES OF RABBITS. Ferrets, weasels and stoats were imported to destroy the rabbits. They preferred poultry and native birds, which were easier to get than rabbits. According to my way of thinking and from my observations it was cats that cleared the country of rabbits. A Wellington contingent brought up an epidemic of flu or distemper and soon there was not a healthy cat in the district. What with coughing, sneezing and dying cats, Masterton was not a nice place to live in for a while. Up at Akura the cats lived in the same warrens as the rabbits, which contracted the disease. It wiped them out by the millions. For three years there was not a sign of a rabbit anywhere. It must have been the disease that did it, because they disappeared off rough country where they had never been hunted or poisoned. Rabbit boards might do well to get a bottle of those microbes.