TRIAL OF BLIGHT SPECIFIC.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7384, 9 August 1889, Page 3

TRIAL OF BLIGHT SPECIFIC.

TO THE EDITOR 07 THB PRESS. Sir,—The report of the meeting of th% Fruit Growers Association last night, so far as the trial of Redwood's Blight Specific is concerned, I think calls for a few words from mc, which I will be glad if yeu will insert, otherwise an apparent and I am sure unintentional injustice might be done to my principal, Mr Redwood, as it is too early at present to judge of the result. At the trial Mr Jones, the manager ol the Styx Apple Company, drew my attention specially to the fact that the scale upon the trees dressed at ten o'clock in the morning was quite loose in the afternoon, and would) come off with a touch; since then I have had twigs brought to mc by others, who have tried the Specific, showing the same result. Under a glass certainly the eggs appeal perfect, but the parent scale is dead and the eggs cease to be under that tightl? sealed covering that nature had provided for them. Whether the death of th« parent, and consequent exposure of tht eggs, will prove fatal remains to be seen, but, apart from that, allow mc to give yoa an extract from a letter I have to-dai received from Mr Redwood which bears upon the subject. " Should any of the scale miss the dress* ing the eggs from them do little good, there being too much dressing on the tree for the young scale to survive. The dressing remains for months quite strong enough to kill the young insects. I have sprayed my trees only once a year, and they are now quite clear. The trees are looking grand, and there have been a number of persons to look at them foi 1 themselves last month." I much respect Mr Murphy's opinion as a scientific and practical fruit grower, and thoroughly believe with him that no cure has previously been found that will act through the old scale. From a conversation I had with him I saw he was wedded to this idea, and no doubt justified in li by long experience; hence, " all the more glory," I say, " when he is converted," and I am sure he is among the first that will acknowledge the benefit to be derived should tbe eradication of scale during winter be found possible. To meet his views I have left a supply of Redwood's specific at the Styx, and the result of the further experiment will be published in due time. A considerable number of private trials by winter dressing were made last year in various parts of New Zealand, and all have proved effectual, and I now ask that opinions on the efficacy of the blight specific be reserved till the fruit Beason.Yours, &c M_oti__.nd Gard'nbr, Agent for Charles Redwood.