ORCHARD PESTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12550, 11 July 1901, Page 7

ORCHARD PESTS.

(By J. MAYO, Palmerston North.) (A paper read at the Horticultural Conference, Dunedin, June 1, 1901.) Are the ; , trees old aud unproductive, scrubby-looking, and out of sorts? Have the trees been chewed up by the cow (animal pest) in trying to make both ends /meet? I don't mean both ends of the cow, nor do I mean both ends, of the tree. I mean both ends of your purse—the income end and the expenditure" end. This .is the proper style of purse for orchardists to have, because, one end has the in-come, and the other end did have the out-go. Very likely you have the great vegetable pest, the largest of all to be found in New Zealand, , named Dactylis ; glomerate. The 'stalks are 3ft to sft high, very like oats, and as stiff as rushes. With the ground the trees are supposed to grow in, as "dry, as tinder," it spread's rapidly, and is very liable to catch fire- in the burning season, -when it is very destructive to houses, farm buildings, etc, etc. Or is it the oftquoted metallic pest your trees are suffering from? " Got no money to do anything with—wish I had" is the common name. This is easily overcome by getting up with the lark in the morning, working well before breakfast, and thus your trees, lengthening your days, and enjoying your sleep at night. (To the young): This is also the best preventative of. baldness. Of lato years a great deal too much fuss has been made about,the friends and the foes of the fruit-grower. Personally I know none of either variety or species, and were I to wait expecting a friend to come along and eat the wale, or kill it by thrusting its ova depositor up to the hilt into the body of the. scale, I should deserve to—well, to suffer loss. Does' the prize rose winner wait for a friend to pick a caterpillar or brush- off green fly from his rose bush? Does the enthusiastic old gentleman " wait till the clouds roll by " when he sees his favourite Tortuosus daffodil bsing nibbled by a■■ slug?..l think not. Pests will not stop sapping and sucking the vitality on which!, they exist until something (else comes and: eats them up. Don't.you.believe it. He who waits for a- friend to come and do this, waits, in vain. Your supposed friend is an "absent-minded beggar," and you have to do it or pay, pay, pay ! Fruit trees, flowers, and vegetables are highlyimproved selected.' varieties; 'brought (to their present unnatural state. by artificial.', means—for instance, seedless fruits, double flowers, fioweriess potatoes, etc., etc. i Their useless parts have been suppressed, their valuable properties enlarged and retained. Consequently they are more tender and more tasty food for their parasites to prey upon. Any of you can prove this <by mixing cauliflower and rape .seer's together'and sowing in a bed. It's a case of the survival of the fittest straight off—i.e., the hardiest: .not the best. In their na- f tural state and native country both the' x plant and the parasite seem to keep an even balance. The caterpillar that attacks the groundsel in the garden is still hard at it; so is the groundsel. The wild sloe and the. crab apple in the English hedge-rows are just as hardy as ever, and'hold their own in spite of all the pests, animal and, fungoid, they are heirs to. You, who are successful cultivators of either'fruits, flowers, or vegetables, know well that you have to be always on the. alert tcrekeck and kill insects' and other pests. He who lies in bed and trusts to Providence to rid his trees or plants of scale or £cab has mistaken his calling. Friends, and even foes, in fruit-growing are a mirage—a delusion. It looks well in print, and sounds fairly well, that is all. Thieves and vagabonds would answer equally as well. Thero are still immense numbers of mice and rats to be destroyed, in spite of all the cats' and dog's claims of- being good mousers and ratters.- Borough and City Councils have had to pay for the capture of bun-' dreds of thousands lately. The cats and dogs wont kill them out. If they did their services would not bo needed any longer. People- find poisoi) or traps the cheapest and b-:st way of ridding them out. The. Great Creator of all things made no mistakes. His great law, one preying upon another, is still in, full force, and when the supply of food is exhausted all must die. Our -fruit,'- flower, and vegetable gardens, to become'.profitable, must ba.ve attention. The pests must- be destroyed as soon as. they appear, by the quickest; and cheapest remedies. ■- Other countries make fruit-growing pay. Some : folks in this country make fruit;growing pay. I knoV'a g°°d few, but not one of them waits for Providence to send along an army of scavengers in the tjhape of 'ladybirds, W other birds, bugs, cr beetles. On the contrary, Providence does send along large armies of pests to clear off the supplies of food already prepared for other uses. Instance caterpillars, locusts, beetles, etc.,. etc. Still, "wonders never, cease." There may be a good time coming when an ideal antidote may bs found which will be a pest-destroying, ■fruit-producing microbe, done up in charges to be fired from a gun at the trees just before lunch-time. Constant attention is the best antidote with which I am acquainted. "Ye do not gather grapes off thorns, nor ; j figs -from thistles," is as true as eyer. Therefore, those who want grapes have to attend to the wants of their vines. Those who don't want work, must want their ( grapes or buy them. !