The Codlin Moth, the Californian Thistle.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 314, 28 February 1888, Page 3

The Codlin Moth, the Californian Thistle.

(From Lyttelton Times.) Mr M. Murphy, the urbane energetic secretary of the Canterbury Agricultural and Fa.-toral Association, has just been on a trip to Tasmania. Hearing that he had returned very sunburnt, and full of ideus, the editor naturally caught at the chance of his being able to impart something of inteaest to the general public. Drawing forth a huge note book full of sketches, notes, plans, and scattered memoranda, Mr Murphy, immediately our greetings were over, became most conversational. MOTH AND THISTLE AT HOME.

! “I have seen the Codlin moth and tho 1 Californian thistle in their homes, in Tasmania,” said Mr Murphy. “ One of the objects of my visit was to learn about the treatment of the pests, and I think I can give you something that will enable our pejple to copo witli them. My mind is more than ever impressed with tho danger of letting either of them get ahead of us. In Tasmania the thistlo has become such a pest that they have appointed an inspector to deal with it, and passed a special Act to deal with those upon whose land it can be discovered. The inspector is Mr l abart, brother of Mr Taburt of Christchurch. Ho gave me much information on the subject, and Mr Back, our ex railway manager, smoothed the way for mi over all the linee. Nothing could have exceeded the courtesy of all tho officials, not only in Tasmania, but likewise in "Victoria and New South Wales. But this by the way. “ It was iu the north that tho seriousness of the thistle plague wna most apparent. There is a fertile farming district whero hundreds of small farmers make an easy living by growing potatoes and wheat alternately. They have been doing it for these fine and twenty years without exhausting the soil, finding a market in Sydney. They are very happy, having no large private indebtedness and no difficulty iu living. But they aro beginning to feel tho pest, and there was every reason to suppose that it was largely on tho increase. One leased farm of 200 acres I inspected had been abandoned by the leasee altogether. The owner was about to try fallowing. Altogether in the north the inspector estimates that 2000 aeies of land were rendered totally worth It;.'a on account of the thistle. You may judgo for yourselves what his opinion ©f the matter is ‘if it cost the Now Zealand Government £IOO,OOO to get rid of it from the Colony, it will be money well spent.’ That is what he said to me.

I U 1 Near Hobart they are terribly strict about it. The Government have begun to handle tho matter with vigor. They know that if one man allows the pest to get headway, he will cause destruction all routid liiin. So tho old Aot on the subject has been made more stringent. The inspector was cramped in his action before. Now he can report to the polco and get a farmer heavily fined, not only for having the plant on his land at all, but even for having seed in any hay or straw that he knowingly offers for sale. Clause 3 in the new Act renders him liable on conviction, for this offence, to a penalty not exceeding £25 and not less than £2. DEALING WITH THISTLES. “But they can be got rid of by industry and perseverance. I came across one man who had cleared bis farm with a hoc, by persistently rooting thorn out. He never allowed them to seed. Another man had succeeded by first following and then scuffling once a wock for two years. The people over there aro beginning to lecignise that the pest can be got rid of, and there principle is that those who will not get rid of it must be made to do so. “ Of course, I enquired about waste lands, railway lines and reserves. That is certainly a difficulty. But the Board, or whoever is responsible, must cut them down continually, and never allow them to seed, they must not wait for them to appear above ground.” ADDLES AND THE MOTH.

“ The Ccdliri moth is much worse than tho thistle. I must tell you that the growing of apples and pears has almost been abandoned in North Tasmania on account of tho Codlin moth. One man whose orchard I visited who used to get 2000 bushels every year only gets 200 now. But the moth can be dealt with too, and, like the thistle, perseverance and energy will get rid of it. But the effort must bo general. Everybody must make it. A man I know, by acute observation of tho ‘habits of tho beast,’ manages to deal with it. He carefully scrapes his apple treo smooth with a littie triangular scraper, such as they use for cleaning the bottoms of ships or boats, and fastens a band of linen and rags in the first fork. Tho grub, deprived of its natural cover in the roughness of the bark, shelters under these. The rags aro simply taken off once a fortnight and destroyed. A little piece of board laid on tho ground at the foot of the tree will effect the same end, and then full of vinegar and sugar hung about tho orchard will attract tho moths as well. In short, if others do as you do, you need not fear tho moth. And the Government are taking extreme measures : to assure that everyone docs act. TIIE MOTII IN NEW ZEALAND.

“ On my way home, at a place 30 miles north of Auckland, I visited an orchard whoso owner had just discovered that it was infected with tho Codlin moth. Ho wa3 in great trouble, as his living de- , pended oq his apples. And what I told him of the ravages tho moth had mado in Tasmania only frightened him still more.

“But I am beginning to gather an impression that probably it may prove a serious trouble to us hero in Canterbury. In North Tasmania it is inactive except on sultry evenings. Cold and heavy wind destroy it in large numbers. But of ceurse, in the North Island it will find a particularly genial home. CANNED I’RUIT. “ Wo are losing a big market for canned ftuit. On tho steamer there were beautiful canned pears, apricots, prunes, etc. Naturally, I took these to bo New Zealand produce. ‘ What a fine trado we are doing hero,’ I said to mylclf But they wore Amorican. With all our ease growing fruit we don’t supply oven tho steamers plying round our coasts. But they arc preparing to cut into the trade in Now South Wales. A Mr Lamb, at Rooty Hill, not far from Sydney, is starting a factory that will turn out 300 tins a day. lie has got over an American who understands the business, find grows large quantities of fruit of all kinds himself, and purchases it from gardens close at hand. It is a fine enterprise.” NEW ZEALAND BUTTER. “ Another subject on whicli I made ci\-. quiry was New Zealand butter, It has gained a fearfully bad reputation in Australia, I went to a big store in Melbourne, and tho owner told mo it was becoming completely unsalealL- home came over good, he said, but the greater part was very bad. In proof of this lie opened one tin as a samnle. there is no need to say from what- town it came, but I was forced to confess that it was only nt for cart grease. We aro } losing the trade, and it is own fault.