WAR ON BLACKBERRY.

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 1, 3 January 1927, Page 3

WAR ON BLACKBERRY.

A NEW ZEALAND PEST HELPING DOMINION PRODUCTION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) ' '• LONDON, 16th November. Sir James Parr is serving, on three committeesin '■-"connection-with tile Imperial Conference, namely, those classified respectively as Economic, Film, and Scientific Research. .-' .',"-.,'.' At yesterday's session, of. the Scientific Research Committee, Sir. James, as" ■ -representing" the Dominion, mentioned as an instance of what'-could---be done by the Mother Country: to hblp:production in the Dominions,:the. deels'ion of the Empire Marketing: Board "to assist Aew Ze.aland to investigate I, i&£ control and eradication of noxious weeds, Tho Empire Marketing Bbafd;^the-> High Commissioner said, had offered^ grant of £2000 a year for .five .'years;for an •inquiry ■'-into the blackberry,-:ramong a number of noxious •■w^eds^in rgeneial,-; subject to : the condition; that -the New:. Zealand Government would "find. £.1006 annually, a like amount to-be contributed, also by the Cawthron-Institute.'' Dr. : • R. J. Tillyaid, F.R.S.> was- to -"conduct the investigations on'"linosJtbTbe approved ,by. the- -New Zealand: Research CouncU. It was a most happy, arrange- ■ ment,-added the High Commissioner,who believed that the-noxious, weeds which now covered thousands:6f acres of the. best land : in New,Zealana] would, under adequate entomqiogieairrapplica-V. '' tion, be" suppressed. : •■-'•'. ; ,".""■," „ " , The. Research Committeev of-the Im- ; perial; Conference is.,making:.CTa ivery ■ strong point in!regard to tlie..establish- , ment of 'research stationV.thr.oughout . the. Empire, moro particuiarly,.'in the . sub-tropical ..regions'-': where ttere are many pests to'be'overcome,-. ■:" •'.:'. . Most of the papers to-day refer to the board's offer, and comment:— •. , The blackberry, so .friendly" at home, • changes'its nature for £he:w6rse when i. it; emigrates. Instead: of^coiifihing it-' l self to the hedgerows it'ma^cKeß like' ■ an invading army across cquntry. On [ the west coast of the South" Island „ they say there is "onlyVoneiblackberry, . bush, and it's 200 miles long," and a :. speaker in: the -New:' Zealand ■ Parlia- ' . ment declared! that-he;knew of country, towns where blackberries -were growing practically in,the main streets. -During , the.'last few: years ihe- blackberry has ■'■ encroached on nearly 100,000 acres of: ■ valuable dairying land, and '-thousands 1 of pounds have been spent on. vain-ef-i forts to defeat it: Now 1-the"; Empire : Marketing Board, ..the_ u New Zealand - Government, and the Cawthron; Insti- , tute at Nelson have decided-to wage j. a systematic campaign-against the pest. . ; The""storm troops: are. to bo insects, i who will eat up. tha blackberry. ■ New . Zealand is singularly poor in its insect - 3 life, so the blackberry, introduced only about sixty years ago—a single, plant is believed to be tho -ancestor of the pre- • sent multitude—has escaped this, important class of r its natural, enemies. 1 Many insects in Europe and America 7 will feed hungrily on it, but before r they can be.admitted into New Zealand 1 they . must pass through a kind . of entomological Ellis Island.. The . i blackberry belongs, to a- large family, B including the apple,'the.peaiy^the plum, q and the rose. An insect, therefore, that, f. Uke t s blackberry" is .assumed to be guilty j of a taste for apples and roses'until it i has proved its.: ■innocence.;.."Otherwise ._ it mightdp as much harm' as good. Any s insect applj'ing for admission to New:' c Zealand has to; pass-most exacting.tests;" j to show that it feeds only on the blackr berry. . All insect recruits for the New c Zealand blackberry front must be inIj. spected. by an officer of the Departl ment of Agriculture,;who.examines tho 1 cages and,sees that no insect can escape B bh"th"e , jdurhe'yr.- in, writing of every species-lias'to' be supplied'to^the Government. The exhaustive system of inquisition and quarantine will, it is believed, ensure that no . insect turns traitor when loosed in New ,' Zealand, and devours apples or roses in--5 steacl of blackberries. ;': . ■•' j The Empire Marketing Board has also ' offered £,2000 annually.,for two years , for research ini;o the mineral contents ' of pastures in New" Zealand. - ,' ; 85, Fleet street. ' "';* "^