BLACKBERRY CHECKED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 282, 28 November 1929, Page 11

BLACKBERRY CHECKED.

INSECT LIKE A LADYBIRD. GOOD NEWS FOR FARMERS. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) THAMES, this day. For some time past observers have noticed that where blackberry vines were growing in small clumps they were not spreading as quickly as they have done in former years. This prompted a farmer interested in the pest to take closer notice, and the result of his observations is encouraging.

He found that blackberry is being attacked very vigorously by an insect which is doing a great amount of damage.

In investigations made on farms on both sides of the Coromandel Range, the farmer found that insect attacks were causing the plants to die. The older leaves were riddled through with holes, and the young shoots were withered and dead. The insect is similar to a ladybird, but black in colour. It infested the plants, and when leaves were turned over colonies of insects were eating vigorously at old leaves and also the stems of the plants, especially where there were isolated clumps of blackberries. No eggs were found.

It Is not Icnown how the insect came, but it will be a boon to farmers if it continues its labours. So far it has not been seen on any other plants. It has been noticed since 1927 that the blackberries that used to riot over thousands of acres have received a check.