THE FRUIT FLY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17157, 28 May 1921, Page 10

THE FRUIT FLY.

• TO jrHB EDITOR OF "iHB PEESB." Sir,—lll your columns of Thursday, May 26th. tne'atteniion of the public is drawit-Kl)" To, the;, protection of 4he by the .fruit,fly regulations, which haa resulted in a valuable consignment of oranges being condemned ia Auckland recently by the officers -of the Agricultural Department; (2) to the hi gh cart and scarcity of citrus fruit to the New Zealand householder. I am in sjTnpatny with tho general public.- in "riot, being. able to procure

their oranges and mandarines as formerly, but from the fruit-growers' point of "view I strongly uphold the action of the Agricultural Department in trying to keep out of the country: such pests as the fruit flies.' Most of the diseases and insect pests have been- imported into New Zealand either in the fruit or on nursery. stock. I give you a. few insects as examples:—Codlin moth, San Jose scale, Mussel scale, gum-tree scale, woolly aphis, etc., and a recent arrival amongst thp diseases is the fire-blight, which haff caused such widespread alarcn to those who are engaged in the fruitgrowing indutry. Regarding your suggestion, that the Government should consult some scientific authority as to whether fruit- flies would adapt themselves to .New' Zealand conditions, no doubt such advice was obtained from the biological staff before the regulations were drawn up, but filing this,'consult Dr. Tillyard; and I feel sure his advice would be to keep them out. Although several species of fruit flies attack fruits and vegetables in Australia and the Islands, one, viz., that known aa the Queensland fruit fly (Tephrites tryoni) is " the most undesirable, owing to its wide distribution, and also, to the large number of fruits it attacks:-' Those fruits,mqst liable to at- f tack are apples, apricot, cherry l , pear, guava; plums, peach, netitarine, mango, loquat, mandarin, orange, pomelo, kumquat, and quince. The life history of the Queensland fruit fly is as follows:—The mature female insect lays her eggs in the ripening fruit, depositing her eggs well into the flesh. Under favourable i.e., the proper degree of ripeness of the fruit, the eggs hatch out quickly, and turn to footless lai*vse.: wMce. at once begin to eat their way to the centre, in the case of stone fruit, or to-tunnel through and through the flesh in the case of pip and other fruits. When thp larva are full grown, they leav<? the fruit and turn to the pupa stage, which is passed in the soil under the tree. The time, required by the fly to complete its metamorphosis is about, three weeks. . Unlike . the cftdlin moth, the fruit fly lays her eggs-well into the fruit, .ranch. cannot lie reached by any. spraying compounds. Hence their control is much more difficult. In conclusion,. I- feel sure that this regulation, though seemingly somewhat hard on the fruit ltjving public, is greatly # to the advantage, of the orehardist.—Yours, etc.)' ' J. F. TAPLEY, Fniitgrower, Governor's Bay. May 26th.