CROP DISEASES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1189, 26 July 1911, Page 10

CROP DISEASES.

CHAIK OV AGKICULTURE AJJVUUATED. KEW ZEALAND LAGGING BEHIND.' The necessity for scientific investigation of root ami iudcter diseases, aiul thorough research m imel out tneir causes ami cure, was remarked upon by Air. J. U. Wilson, president ol clie jncw Zealand i'arniwa' Union, ddring tns course oi his presidential address ufc tiie opening of the Union Conference yesterday. "We have no resjarch station proper in Now Zealand," said Mr. Wilson, "and," lie added, "it was doubtful if, with constant changes of policy and the cold and hot his of expenditure and economy to which the J louse was subject, and the want of continuity of policy, tlio Government was the proper authority to control sucii work. .Heading the 'Journal of Agricultural Science' made one long tor sucli work as was being conducted at Cambridge University in research and education, or at Kotiiamstcd in investigation and experiment, and regret that they have not bees yet able to indue , the powers that bo to inauguiate a Chair of Agriculture in New Zealand. Still, much could be done by way of .viinple experiment. If we could not get breed-; completely immune to these posts wo could at any rate find out which were the most resistant, find the treatment bwicjicial to the growth of the plant, by experiments in different parts of the Dominion. In Scotland such experiments were successfully carried out by" the farmers under the direction of the Highland Agricultural Society.

Resistant Stock. "Ue m iNcw Zealand had found an apple wliicn resisted me woolly upnis, ami >■ uy snouid ivu not uud a turnip ivnicii wouui resist ltie iaiacK oi i.iu caijoajje aphis- it was a yiaii'.on oi liivcsrignrion. Again, we knew that certain uppics were more bubj'.'cc to lungoiil atUiuivs than 'others. CuuiU we not uy practical trials find oia ii turnip whicn Mould resist atlacKs:-, A linn at Home ulrauly claimed that they had a turnip which resisted the 'ringer and toe , dii-ease. Why, then, jhould we nut find ouo which would rebist tile plioiua blight:- .

"If ii tuw acres, say oven leu, in various parts of A civ Zealand wore devoted, to growing every known kind of tiirnii>, and tiiesc- - were allowed tu grow under ordinary funning condition?, close ob-orv-aiit'j could be made by ex peris as to the variety which under each climatic condition showed greatest vigour and resistance to any of the posts. .If the season were a bad one and the diseases prevalent, farmers could then note niiy particular plant in a variety which ira.s the niiwt resistant of its breed; this plant could be transplanted and seed from it again grown to determine whether it retained its resistant finalities, and they might alter repeated failures .secure a resistant variety. Jiy the survival of tho fittest they should have sained much knowledge at a comparative small expense. This was the process which was going on at Svnluf in Sweden, ill the great seed-growing station there, wtih such success.

Co-operative Experiments. ."lie was firmly convinced that cooperative experiments such as these would Ix 3 much more productive of good than an experimental farm. A great deal on the same lines could bo done in the school grounds, and pcihaps i\ schoolboy might hit upon ii plant which would make his name as famous us that of the discoverer of the best of all apples—Cox's Orange Pippin. "There was also," continued Mr. Wilson, "tlio grass grub, which had caused such havoc in somis parts of the Dominion this year. Here, however, the farmer could not himself do much, except to carry out what suggestions might lie innde to we if we could cope with it." They v.-ere ail hoping, ho was sure, that we should have had ore this a Chair of Agriculture, and negotiations were going on about the. University giving a degree, but this seemed to b;j in abeyance, at present. All the. other colonies had now a Chair /if Agriculture, but .New Zealand logged 1 Aind."-