In 1931 farmers in New Zealand found that
their trousers began to explode. Some exploded on the washing line, some
in front of the fire and some while they were being worn! Richard Buckley was
lucky because he was not wearing his trousers when they blew up. He
survived the shock of the explosion in front of the fire and managed to throw
them outside where they made a few more loud bangs before going quiet.
The problem was that he like other farmers all over New
Zealand was fighting a weed called wagwort which was growing all over their
cattle pastures and killing their cows when it was eaten with the grass.
Farmer Buckley and all the other farmers had been using sodium chlorate(V) as a
weed killer. It worked well but is a strong oxidising agent and got all
over their clothes. When mixed with organic material it formed an
explosive mixture which is why there was such a problem with cotton trousers.
(Source New Scientists 11/12/04 p48)