IS IT FIREBLIGHT ?

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 101, 29 April 1921, Page 5

IS IT FIREBLIGHT ?

OFFICIAL PRONOUNCEMENT. I At a recent meeting of the Auckland I A. and P. Association, doubt was ex- | pressed as to whether the disease afTeeting hawthorn hedges and fruit trees in the Auckland Province*, has been correctly diagnosed as fire-blight. An official pronouncement on the subject from the Director-General of the Department of Agriculture (Dr. C. J. Reakes) has been received by the Auck. land Central Firebli?ht committee, which effectively settles this point. In a telegram to the chairman of the committee (Mr. ,T. I'nltridge), Dr. Reakes says: "I am satisfied'that the disease affecting fruit trees and hawthorn hedges, is correctly diagnosed as firelight, and there is no "reason to expect that it will be less destructive here than in America, Hawthorn helps to spread I and cuj-ry over the disease from one' season to another. In these circum-j stances, hawthorn is a most undesirable plant to have in districts containing commercial orchard areas." This pronouncement by the DirectorGeneral should be of preat assistance to | local bodies faced with the problem of , acting under the recent lesislation on the subject, and declaring.-'hawthorn a noxious weed within their boundaries.