STRICKEN ORCHARDS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 17983, 29 January 1924, Page 13

STRICKEN ORCHARDS.

BLIGHTS and pests,

difficulties of growers.

,u bm needs the heart of a lion fruitgrowing for a living an W What with bad weather p ,affucs ' 3nd pests ' he - L with continual battle against ZTr oiidi, and every year the odds 1 heavier." This was the outopinion of an Auckland man, Lriwred last week, who for many pjst has been in close touch with SL'l fruit trade. His rather gloomy 2k (remarks the "Herald") will «biWy be shared by a good many inlanders whose orchards have fallen L io one or other, or all, of the Ll nt tive peats that are working such L among the fruit to-day. faprayw is not carried out in private ora rule, with any degree of ■gwghncM, and as a result moths 2 beetles and bugs hola undisputed undismayed by hard words, cxLhM their ravages day by day. _ 1. is/probable that many more pnhouseholders would spray their ®, BO ro diligently if they knew how Tra about it, or if they could obtain u services of experienced men who Slid Jo it for them. But the average iijj or woman who owns half a dozen mA or nectarine or apple trees knows «rtiully nothing of insect or fungoid ■E. nor of the right treatment for &, So they bewail the shrivelling iU droppiag-off of buds and leaves, lithe sight of a healthy young plum i'settarmc tree stricken overnight A the repulsivo brown-rot drives igi almost to despair, and, in the fcr generation, to solemn reminders tie ancient curse pronounced by the jj»»i*er on the fruits of the earth tothe misdoings of a wayward people. Unceasing War on Pests. Rj position is better, of course, in SKUStrcuil orchards, for these come jpt prominently undef the attention jf to orchard inspectors, and their are to. a better position to follow ist tie prescribed treatment for each fejjf. But there appears to have ycry little systematic inspection ifyritote orchards since the fire-bliglit SsfWvu raised a few years ago, and jjfeatoa residents who at that time tjsSilf destroyed peach and nectarine iss fta trees at the behest of an iiiigttn!, inspector, are now wondering riaiiii tlioy ought to keep the poor f&aina «1 their orchard or make a to lUeep of it and turn the ground ja|ti> pumpkin patch. irilaatino, the commercial orchardists htviiK s hard time of it, and the fsmikbi- iist of pests ugainst which bj.htt to wage war aeems i-oiitmu-to k growing. What with LueSpk, .Imwß-rot, woolly aphis, . pear W#, black-spot, scale, and tho lot of the orchardist a'&Wtljnot an easy one, and it iMply labour and unKUttttinnue that -ho lanages to seesNtetfedg like an adequate return ras ia /njn, trees. Jfiffls o( the most serious blights ?»{©« tfhieh ive now have to tight their appearance only with;Jp bjt tkreti or four years,'' said [ffimoent Henderson fruitgrower, in 'he subject recently. "i*ire- \ u ow of tlie latest and most ■ J tdemies, but the drastic meas<..wen by the Department hav'e uh^V WS T) U! ' it is .being kept ■iirakJ « ha , V6 Wn on| y one Mnl«u.i C of fi '«blight this «&.!!? Henderson and Oratia disthese are' under control. «t*rf tlnfrv a gOO<J movo on Li'w.uj Pertinent to destroy tttaa a » °rchards, for they only b whole district. ASr iS 6 ® 45 *® method of iScned nnrt 7if UttinS OUt . t)l0 thorough disin-

: Scourgo of Brown-Rot. ot ] lel | T€r y serious +l, has dev eloped l «*So-f three seasons only. It ,n AucfclaSp oßßl^ 6 !.^ o S row pP-ar of C uro' fl a 3 P est is the attacked b 6 tr Th °i young miilire- it i • earl 7 stages leavU J^V* 8 eg ® 8 on the W th» Ch curl over y« u ng ehoote, so ?? s ~Ws and ' ¥i° w - Peflr -midge a _ five or iH l«Id, Ln aSOn ' lfc »»ns a i l ®'? SWiora] trpof Mature trees. cuJtK^ ont a PP ear s to &*"- » ttfa^ on , i*° av y !%«DQagi, io -,/ he tree may )» **■«s" a D d hj/ U: ' ; h'laljt.'' fcn3,id a wl° Wn "I ot were the fe *«•« vhich -orTh 6 (continued S*>< and aftfcf ?' as Sik fof maiiv J means to a°°£S yourT^ anae33fot Gr »^. to punches iST® ®° bad that WaiLll oat cotnoM , now dtting Kt ki b aZ' 3 ' 1 Md wm jtimeittci 3 «»teo" a?/ • or , t,TO they t " lgh in P r «o. m?^„ Elflea «^vor c carried out it *, H * ad «son two °f thif ped M ' ou,d liSSyt '-" W P est - A large R^4 sa<i aside ■£*?«*'* *««, A r ? ys ™ed, rfl^Cf 83 to tv. \ the br°«'naw WkAt*' n fl with , Borssj] ?, w w]]y mK" , orc hardVwJ* w ack - s^Wtk a ' , the c °dlin ° f tlie funL^ tter one itt check Pests— l? l - ol > of thT sPfayine. an},?? lnus ma '' fcf&i t^ f « r Uin dfcl 35 Paving *' tesuJ ta werf C t 3 > but in ■ A?-** DOt 7et very position at pres »nil i the J 7 e , doub t that ««» sSj P' um = which S*llf r fpi n or o now a I Way - » J§ **** or so , but .1 , nea «ne could 06-

tain a case of good peaches at the market for two or three shillings!. . \ es, orchardry is not the simple matter it was in years pone bv. One has t:> work not only with hands, hut with one's wits and brain, and in the end some of the bugs and'blights still get the best of us."