SAWDUST MULCH
Sir, —From Australia comes the good news that fruit growers using sawdust mulch found apples better coloured and healthier trees. “Mulched trees show no ill effects from dry conditions that prevail in summer in the district.” Where hill country suffers erosion, has the mixing of sawdust with scattered grass or seeds or other vegetation been tried in New Zealand? Sawdust holds moisture and provides shelter and nourishment for seedlings, akin’to natural leaf mould. Were all the sawdust still wasted in air pollution in New Zealand compulsorily salvaged for the purpose, perhaps the once delicious flavour and texture of New Zealand table apples might be somewhat restored.—Yours, etc.,
EXPERIMENTATION. October 6, 1955. [An officer of the Horticultural Division of the Department of Agriculture said yesterday that sawdust was used to a limited extent by some fruitgrowers, mainly for suppression of weed growth, but the division had no evidence that its use had any effect on the colour, texture, or flavour of the fruit.]
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Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27795, 21 October 1955, Page 3
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164SAWDUST MULCH Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27795, 21 October 1955, Page 3
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