PLANT RESEARCH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 300, 20 December 1938, Page 13

PLANT RESEARCH.

WORK AT MT. ALBERT. STRANGE EXPERIMENTS. OPERATIONS IN FULL SWING. Plants and trees struggling f or existence against a myriad of pests and diseases are to be seen on the 17J-acro estate of the plant research station at Mount Albert. Although the plantation is only in its infancy, living been started less than two years ago,'a surprisingly varied collection is already well established. Under the genial conditions of early summer the countless • enemies of plant life, winch have- been let loose, appear to be thriving and propagating their kind in a'manner entirely satisfying to tlic scientists on the station staff. *The next few months will be a busy time, and even Christinas cannot be allowed to interrupt the continuity of some of the experiments. Strange are the methods and strange the results of some of the tests carried out. I 1 or instance, it has been found that a tree in the nursery stage can "drink" as much as half a pint of liquid in a day, and a full-grown tree up to ten gallons. Tliat, however, is not a recent discovery, but is only incidental to an experiment to inject a disease-control' solution into small peach trees to arrest the ravages of silver 'leaf. "Silver leaf has played havoc with peach production in the Auckland district," said one of the experts yesterday. He then showed how numerous trees inoculated with the disease had suffered in a few months, and explained that chemical mixture's were being used to determine the most effective means of control. Like the average baby, the trees were found to suck vigorously tubes , that wore affixed to the trunks from inverted bottles tied to the branches. Vigorous "Nazi" Strawberries. More interesting to the ordinary visitor was the strawberry plantation. Here, with .crimson berries waiting to be picked, one could ignore disease in the enjoyment of the fruit, but to the station director, Dr. G. H. Cunningham, and his staff there was something tragic in the heavy toll due to root rot and the yellow leaf virus. Large numbers of plants had succumbed, and scores of others .were so dwarfed and sickly in appearance that they' produced only the tiniest of berries. In contrast, there were vigorous "Nazi" berries from plants obtained from Germany, and ' best of all was a. row. of a Queensland variety netted over to keep the birds away from the -v rich, sweet, deeplvcoloured fruit. ; .

Xext yeartlie whole of; the surviving plants will be-removed to a new position, where, the gronnd is being specially prepared. /If the. station succeeds in developing new varieties for cominercial growing "in Auckland, or in stamping out :the diseases of root and leaf, there should be a brighter future for the' strawberry industry and more berries for Aucklanders.

Most vigorous of all the pliwts at present grown; on the estate is the! hop vine. Twined tightly around supporting strings, some of tlio vines have already reached a, height of over 15ft and carry numerous laterals. Waving in the-,breeze, r they make a,-graceful sight. :• Of two varieties,': male and femqSe, iliey are approaching the flowering stage. - - Cereals' are .represented by' oats, barley arid wheat. Grown to study their resistance to disease, they are of many varieties,; and the smut, rust and other diseases whicli are a' continuous problem for the commercial growei; are much in evidence. .The aim is to obtain a supply' of heavily-infected seed for experiments to test the efßcacy of seed disinfectants." ■' " . " Vegetable Pests. A cabbage - patch,' infected' by the gi-übs of the white butterfly and the diamond back moth, provides an opportunity for testing dusts which are nonpoisonous to human beings but are death to the omnivorous pests. French beans, of the Canadian Wonder variety, reveal 'the prevalence of bacteria wilt in .some strains and its absence in pothers. -As 5 the disease is carried witli the seed, tile trials include the treatment of the seed. On a nearby potato patch half a dozen chemical compounds for the, control of Irish blight are being tested in an effort to discover a substitute for Bordeaux'mixture. ; / Flowers for the front' garden are represented - .by chrysanthemums, delphiniums and roses, which are under test for the control; of; rust and mildew. As one looks around the estate , there is something to appeal to every mind. The young apple orchard coining into production, and within a few years will be supplying a large quantity of fruit to be put in cool ' storage for tests throughout the year. The citrus,' walnut, passion and vineyard areas are responding to favourable conditions, and there is much activity in : the glasshouses. A sideline to glasshouse research, is soil sterilisation, by means of a steam' boiler, which will enable several hundreds of' tons of . soil to be treated annually. Pictures of, the plant research station are on the illustratio" s page.