COUNTRY LIFE
An Illegal Weed.
On several occasions on this page allusions have been made to the spread of ragwort over English and, for that matter, Scots farms. Last week a glorious photograph was given in The Times of a field—in Worcestershire,- of all counties— solid with ragwort in blossom. Now this plant, which is cousin to that commonest of garden weeds the groundsel, is one of the only three species set down in the Noxious Weeds Act. It is specifically against the law to allow free play to this weed. You may grow nettles to your heart's desire, but you may not grow ragwort. Its light, well feathered and multi- tudinous seed may infect farms miles away. The plant has no virtues (except as a dye for wool) and many serious vices. Its prevalence means that the Act, which is a good one, is a dead letter. That picture in The Times should bring a blush to the face of half the agricultural inspectors in Britain. The Act h not only 'allowed to be a mockery, but its neglect is publicly' blazoned. I have watched this weed in my own district 'spread itself by a succession of conquests. High hedges, a road and a wood were no effective barrier. A later corre- spondent gives as explanation for the prevalence of the weed the disappearance of the cinnabar moth, whose caterpillar is a great destroyer of ragwort. The theory is plausible, and the moth is 'now rare in the east of England ; but it remains that bad farming is the chief cause.
Previous page
