THE CALIFORNIAN THISTLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2543, 2 July 1909, Page 7

THE CALIFORNIAN THISTLE.

[To Thf, Editor.] Sir, —There is a matter of some importance to farmers which 1 think requires to he ventilated and discussed 'before the spring, ,and if you will grant me- .space in your columns, I wish to ,f draw attention to it, in the hopo of ,||f£... provoking discussion. I refer to the I Californian thistle. Are we going to ’ eradicate it in Poverty Bay, or are wo going to nllow it to take (possession, as it has done in Hawke’s Bay? -The question will not admit of delay. At present I think it could bo successfully dealt with. The delay of a season would probably mean doubling the cost, or, possibly, making it impossible to \ epps with it. Mere compliance with the Noxious Weeds Act is no use at all, and is simply postponing the day when it will be beyond our power to get rid of it. Californian thistle can be killed with arsenic, iplus perseverance, or with salt, jnliifs.perseverance. I have heard it can be killed with Mr. Long’s preparation without the other ingredient, but this I cannot assert from my own experience, as I have not yet tried the preparation. Both salt and arsenic I have used with success, but it is, of .course, quite use.es.v for some of us to spend money in killing the pest, when others are allowing it to take possession. The question as to whether the thistle is a curse or not •on hilly country is, I believe, open to doubt, but there can bo no two opinions upon its effect in agricultural land. It is an unmitigated nuisance.-—I am, , ctc C. WILLIAMS.