THE INSPECTORS AT WORK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1109, 24 April 1911, Page 8

THE INSPECTORS AT WORK.

ON THE POTATO GRUB. . ; . "There are still a few sound lines of potatoes .coming along from the-south," flaid.ii Wellington produco merchant to a Dominion representative on Saturday, "but the greater' majority, are more or less, affected by. the grub, and we, have M do a lot ot sorting under the' supervision of a Government inspector, who thkes .good caro that grub-atfected potatoes ate not sold. See that heap of sacks there," said he (pointing to what appeared, to be a,pile of .new sacks), "they . all have to be burned in the destructor." Why? , ; - "Because of the grub. It does not attack the potatoes in the- ground, but the fly deposits its eggs on. the potatoes after they have been hoed up audj on developing, the grub at'once enters into the potato, burrows its' way in, leaving n trail of rot and after a certain time, Teaches the air again, and proceeds, to look for a comfortable place in which to pass into the next stage of its exist-ence-the chrysalis stage. ■It finds this in the sacking—look, here they. are \" With that, he picked out a number of tiny, dull, red cocoons about an eighth of an inch long, quite firmly embedded in the sacking which required a deal ot picking out even with the point of a penknife. They remain in that stage'for a' couple of months or so, and then appear as the fly. " ■ . . Referring to the unusual activity of the grub m dry seasons, he said: "I can only conceive that the potato is not the natural food of the fly, but, owing to its food being dried .up, the fly deposits its eggs on the potatoes. The grub has been at the potatoes the whole of the season, but it has been getting steadily worso since the New Year, and now we have to pick over the potatoes (from affected districts) under tho eye' of. the. Government inspector, and the socks they come in havo to bo burned."