The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1892. IMPORTED WEEDS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 2835, 29 November 1892, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1892. IMPORTED WEEDS.

A good deal of stir has been caused in Timaru by the publication by the " Berald " of a list of weeds which are to be found growing in sand which has been brought from Australia as ballast by ships and discharged at Timaru. Among these weeds says our contemporary, is a lowly looking thing, that is spreading in mats over the ground where th© railway men have stacked sleepers in ilie yard. The plant seems to be an insect-catcher, as it is gummy all over. It looks like a weed that can make its way rapidly. "Whether it would he much trouble to get rid of, must be a question of trial. Another new plant resembles a dandelion, with rough leaves, light yellow ray florets and black centre. The seed is long, dark brown, with a circle of hooks on one end, and wholly covered with a cottony fluff, that forms a light bail after the seed hat escaped from the plant. The down is brownish with a tinge of violet. This is stated by an old Australian to be the Bathurst burr, a notorious weed in Australia, where the growing plant smothers the grass as Cape weed does, and the seeds deteriorate the value of the wool clip, from the ease with which they get into the wool and the difficulty of getting them out again. These burr plants ought to be carefully destroyed. A specimen of the burr plant was given to the secretary of the Acclimatisation Society, who showed it to several gentlemen who have been in Australia, and they assured him that it is really the Bathurst or Brisbane burr. , The sand it is growing in came from Rockharapton about two years ago. Information respecting these weed?, with specimens, has been foi warded to the Agricultural Department, and it is to b3 hoped that steps will be taken to destroy the weeds to which attention has been called, and also to prevent the introduction of others. How quickly and widely these pests may be spread may be gathered from the stateiuent that is made, that the sand, being clean an sharp, is being carted all over ithe place to make garden paths. The introduction of noxioiis weeds is only a degree less objectionable than the introduction of cattle disease, and equally stringent regulations should be made against each.