I WRITE to express my concern about the frightening increase of ragwort growing in the area. I know that my concerns are shared with many of my horse-owning friends as we frequently discuss this problem when out riding.

Over the last three to four years this poisonous plant has found its way just about everywhere. It is even now quite prolific on Dartmoor and there isn't a bridleway or lane that isn't peppered with it. It is rife in forestry areas, roadside hedges and verges.

I, like most concerned horse owners, (and indeed farmers with cattle) pull or dig and burn all the ragwort I find in and around my land, but one only has to look around to see millions of seed-heads waiting to be blown onto such pasture for reinfestation the following year.

It is becoming increasingly worrying that some of this weed will find its way into hay, as no matter how vigilant and careful a farmer may be when harvesting hay (and straw), by reason of the fact that this weed is now so common, it will be virtually impossible to avoid all of it. I have seen an animal die from ragwort poisoning and I hope never to witness this again.

As a child, some 50 years ago, I spent days with my father and neighbouring farmers, pulling or digging ragwort, placing it in bags and taking it home to a bonfire site and burning it.

Fifty years ago, it was an offence to allow it to grow anyway and it was rewarding as the years passed to see that those efforts paid off and ragwort was then virtually extinct.

Even the hedges and verges abutting the public highways were kept clear of this weed by the then 'old fashioned' road lengthmen who were employed by local councils. The workmen were worth their weight in gold as no litter or other hazards were left lying in the roads or hedges.

Is it too much to ask that the local authorities do something, and

quickly, about this problem? I would have thought that with modern weedkillers and equipment (none of which were available 50 years ago) that instead of taking years to eradicate this dreadful weed, a concerted effort throughout the length and breadth of the country would have it back under control within a season.

We are constantly reminded, particularly in this area, about how the foot and mouth epidemic devastated agriculture but, ironically, sheep and cattle, given time, do recover from foot and mouth disease — there is, however, no recovery from ragwort poisoning.

I feel it is time to call for action at government level to deal with this increasing problem as very soon not only will our forests and moorland etc be affected but all of our prime agricultural land will lie under a yellow carpet of this weed.

Avril Leonard

Menfreya

Thorndon Cross