Destruction Dates
The date approaches when the work is best done. The only really effective time for either cutting or bruising bracken is during the period of early growth when the roots are feeding the plant and not yet receiving food in return. The judgement applies also to nettles ; and these, too, can be scotched if not killed by the Holt Bracken Breaker. By the agency of one boy and a horse some six acres of rough ground may be traversed in a day, and much more if a tractor is used for the wider type of bar. One would like to see experiments tried on Skokholm Island where research work (in weed- killing as well as in bird migration) has been forward. The destruction of bracken there would restore husbandry to the island both of directly encouraging grass and reducing the immense numbers of rabbits that breed safely in its cover.
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