SCIENCE v. WASTE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 104, 27 January 1931, Page 2

SCIENCE v. WASTE

Saving Many Millions BATTLES WITH WEEDS Research Council’s Work The Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research cost the community £108,531 last year. In the same period the council, with the co-oper-ation of State departments, the universities, and other bodies, discovered methods by .which the community can save—and in some cases is saving—millions of pounds p year. Work on bitter pip in apples has poiiited the way to a saving to orchardists of £lOO,OOO a year; the discovery of a simple preventive of water blister of pineapples will prevent a loss’of £12,000 a year; the discovery has been made of an effective vaccine against black disease of sheep, which causes an annual loss in New South Wales alone of £1,000,000; the council has assisted in the work, on the cohtrol of liver fluke, which formerly caused losses of more than £1,000,000 a .year. The result of the investigation of bunchy top, which threatened to obliterate the Queensland banana industry, has been the re-establishment of hundreds of abandoned plantations. The success of the attack on prickly pear by the cactoblastis cactor.um is well known. . ' ■ A species of insect (chrysomela) hag been introduced from Europe which is expected to destroy’St. John’s wort, which covers 400,000 acres of arable land in Victoria and New South Wales, and is spreading alarmingly. These are some of the successes that are described in t|ie annual report of the council, which ha* just been issued. Exhaustive Tests. Destructive insects are not introduced until the most exhaustive tests have been made to ascertain beyond all doubt that the insects will not feed on any plants of economic, value. The Bisects must be acclimatised, bred free from hypeGparasites, and distributed. Supplies of an insect which preys upon ragwort, a weed that covers many thousands of acres in the southern States, are being bred and will soon be ready - for distribution. “Other ihsects,” states the report, “have been found to be effective against Bathurst and Noogoora burr, which already covers thousands of acres in Queensland, and is spreading at an alarming rate.”

In a review of the campaign against prickly pear it is announced that more than 2,000,000,000 eggs of the cactoblastis have been distributed, all of which were obtained from a single consignment of 2750 eggs imported from the Argentine in 1925. c

Patient work is being done at the council’s research station at Merbein, in the irrigated area. An attempt is being made to discover exactly how the'-“salting” of irrigated blocks is brought about. “Salting” has already ruined many blocks in the irrigation settlements. The advice given by the station to growers js being adopted more and more widely, and the council claims that the average yield of the vines in the Mildura valley has been doubled since the station began its work. The adoption of the recommendations of the station about irrigation periodicity and methods has resulted in a saving, in the Alildura and Redcliffs districts alone, of £9OOO a year. Yet the year’s expenditure on the research stations at Merbein and Griffith (New South Wales) amounted to only £7311. Outstanding Success. The discovery of an effective vaccine against black disease in sheep is described as “the outstanding achievement of the council's division of animal health.” The expenditure on the investigation is set down at £2048; it is est'ima’ted that the disease causes a loss of £1,000,000. a year in New South Wales, and corresponding losses in Victoria and Tasmania. Last year 25,000 sheep iu Victoria and 7000 in Tasmania were treated with the vaccine prepared, after long experiment, by Dr. A. W. Turner, at the veterinary school of the University of Melbourne. It is considered that the vaccine constitutes “an adequate safeguard” against the losses caused by the disease. Dr. Turner received his doctorate of veterinary science for a thesis describing the experiments which culminated in the successful tests of the vaccine, and some other earlier work.

Vigorous efforts are being made by research officers to devise means of combating the buffalo-fly pest, which threatens to spread through the cattle and dairying districts of Queensland and northern New South Wales, and cause losses -which have been estimated a-t £1,500,000 a year. Toward the end of last year Dr. I. M. Mackerras travelled extensively in Northern Australia and the East Judies preparing a research plan, the object of p’hieh is to discover why the fly is not a pest in Java, although it is present there. Much woVk has been done., and it is announced that Professor E. Handschin. of the University of Basle (Switzerland), will undertake work on the buffalo-fly problem for two years in Java. To Assist Sheep. Valuable progress has been made in investigation of the blowfly pest in sheep, and of codlin moth, although spectacular results have not been obtained. Similar progress has been made in research into the biology of the termite (white ant) and in timber preservation. Because the flying fox has begun to present a serious problem to fruitgrowers in Queensland and New South Wales, the council has decided to undertake a thorough -inquiry into the life-history and habits of the animal. Poisoning and shooting have failed to control the flying fox, and, last year, Mr. F. N. Ratcliffe was appointed to devote two years to a systematic study of the animal. It has been ascertained that the skins have no commercial value.

"The recently-formed division of forest products,” states the report, “is now concentrating on the development of more efficient methods of seasoning Australian timbers to enable them to compete more effectively with foreign material. Th? division has also begun a programme of timber preservation experiments aimed nt, reducing Australia’s annual bill for timber replacements, the cost of-whielr iu Government structures and railway sleepers alone amounts to more than £1,000,000 a year. The division initially directed its main efforts to a campaign of education in certain timber-using industries. It was realised that flic application of existing knowledge would lie of greater and more immediate benefit to the industries than the results of researches initiated by 'the division. The results of the educational campaign have been most satisfactory and many timber organisations and ' firms have expressed their high appreciation of the valuable practical assistance thus rendered. As an example, one timber-miller has reported an increase of 25 per cent, in his yield of merchantable timber since the adoption of advice given to him by the division about kiln-seasoning methods. The expenditure on the entire forest produets division of the council was £8240 in lhe year under review, and I lie expenditure on research in wood-seasoning was £1200.”