INSECT PESTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 159, 7 July 1899, Page 3

INSECT PESTS.

The most prominent as well as the most important question at the present moment among orchardlsts and vinegrowers Is— How are we to fight the insects that are yearly obtaining a firmer foothold in our orchards, and steadily extending the area of their depredations?

Only a few years ago says an American journal the fruit of this State1 was noted for its freedom from the ravages of insects; to-day wormy apples and unsound fruit are the rule. It is no good trying to shut our eyes to t he fact. Scale bug, codlin moth, woolly aphis, phylloxera, fly and bore are already only too familiar acquaintances of our fruitgrowers, and are the leading topic of discussion throughout the State. The remedies so far suggested hare been for the most part external applications, such as spraying and washing with alkaline and antiseptic solutions, and while these methods when carefully and systematlcally applied are undoubtedly beneficial, yet it is a temporary alleviation ratheh than a permanent relief that they afford, and the question arises whether a more radical method of considering the subject would not lead to more efficient means of treatment. May not something be learned from tracing the analogy between vegetable and animal life? Are they not both governed to a great extent by the same natural laws, and may not the fruitgrower apply to his own case the principles more familiar and more readily observed In animal life with regard to the cause and effect of parasitic insects? Every one who has had any experience at all in the rearIng and handling of domestic animals knows that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred insufficient nutrition is the primary cause of disease; lice, mange, ticks, scab and maggots are the invariable ac companlments of half-starved stock, and unless the requisite vitality is restored by judicious and abundant feeding It is vain to resort to external remedies to counteract the evil; and is it not reasonable to suppose that the same principles govern life in the vegetable kingdom? Trees, like animals, must be fed, and although It is true that much of their food Is supplied in a gaseous form by the atmosphere, and the natural moisture continues to fender available those elements of the soil necessary to sustain plant life, yet It Is unreasonable to suppose that these alone will prove sufficient to counteract the continuous drain of a bearing orchard or vineyard.

When once this fact Is more fully recognised, and the original fertility of the soil Is maintained by a plentiful and systematic use of suitable fertilisers, when every particle of manure made on the farm Is carefully husbanded, and where this is Insufficient Is augmented by the addition of bone dust, carbonate and phosphate of lime or other .commercial fertilisers, whose use in the older States and in foreign countries where farming is conducted on the most scientific principles is no longer regarded as an experiment but as an absolute necessity—then we shall hear much less complaint of Insect pests, and the vitality of our trees being restored they will be enabled to withstand the attacks of these parasitic insects, and we shall realise crops more abundant In quantity and superior in quality; in short, we mast go to the root of the matter, and remembering that sound fruit and prolific crops can only be expected from vigorous trees, see to It that those constituents of the soil upon which vegetable life depends for its support are restored as required, and the conditions most favourable to a Vigorous growth are constantly maintained. ;... .

"In the whole annals of.economic entomology," says Professor Coqulllett, "ex-

tending over a series of more than a hundred years, uot a single Instance has been recorded where a species of insect has been completely exterminated. It is true that a few species of our larger birds and mammals have been completely annihilated from off the face of the earth, but to suppose that such a thing could be done, even on a smaller scale, with a species so small as the cottony cushion scale, which in its earlier stages is smaller than the head of an ordinary piu, is simply preposterous. Of course, this pest could easily have been exterminated in Los Angeles county had the proper steps bevm taken when It was first imported into the county, about eight years ago; but, to do so at this late day, after It has had more thnu a dozen years in which to multiply and spread itself, is quite out of the question. This fact, however, should not prevent the carrying on of a persistent and euergetie warfare upon this pest. No orchardist would think of abandoning his orchard simply because the weeds will persist in springing up again, no matter how thoroughly he may have eradicated them ouly a few weeks previous; and he well knows that the more frequeutly and thoroughly such an operation is performed the less chance the weeds will have of multiplying themselves. So, too, in dealing with the cottony cushion scale, and other insect pests, it will be found necessary to eradicate them whenever and wherever they make their appearance in destructive numbers."—American Press.