WHITE BUTTERFLY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 204, 29 August 1935, Page 9

WHITE BUTTERFLY.

CANTERBURY APPEARANCE. EFFECT ON RAPE CROPS. CHRISTCHURCH, Saturday. Apprehension as to the damage likely to be caused by white butterflies in Canterbury gardens this season was supported by the appearance of one of these pests in a St Martins garden yesterday. The owner of the garden, who has already had unfortunate experiences with white butterflies, said this was unusually early in the season for them to appear. They did not usually arrive in Christchurch until October. The early appearance of the pest suggested that this season it would be more numerous than ever before in the South Island. It was a decided menace to growers of tomatoes, turnip and rape, cabbages and cauliflowers. The gardener complained that there was too much laxity on the part of the Department of Agriculture which, had it acted in time, could have solved the problem. Even now, it was not too late for the department to do something. ,Mr L. Morrison, entomologist, Canterbury College, suggested the recent mild weather as a probable cause for the butterflies' early appearance. He agreed that it attacked cabbages and cauliflowers, but said that its habits were not sufficiently known for one to say that it attacked rape and turnips as well. He was convinced that the damage caused to rape and turnip crops in the North Island last season was due to the diamond-backed moth. "In spite of the introduction of two parasites, it is almost impossible to wipe out the butterflies altogether, and I have no doubt that they will be a serious pest in market and domestic gardens," he said. " But I do not think that the farmers need have any great 1 fears for their rape and turnip croos." ,