SEAWEED AS A BLIGHT PREVENTIVE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 195, 17 August 1912, Page 3

SEAWEED AS A BLIGHT PREVENTIVE.

TO' THE EDITOK,

Sir, —Ten years ago I planted r32 fruit'trees Here—plums (3 varieties), apricots, pears, apples (3 varieties), nectarines,! arid peaches (2 varieties); and an old native, since dead, advised me to lay seaweed—"rimu," as he called it—round the stams to prevent blight. This was''done, and has been repeated yearly ever since, with satisfactory results. The little orchard has been, inspected Repeatedly, by Mr Courtier, the Government pomologist. and others; but ho trace of blight of any kind has been found. As a test, a wild apple was planted which had aphis blight in every branch; scions of three (diseased) varieties- were grafted on this, and the kelp applied. All tho grafts succeeded; the blight gradually disappeared, and last year a fine crop of each variety was produced. s I cannot tell whether it is the saline or iodine properties in the seaweed that is responsible for the immunity from disease; but that it is a preventive anyone is at perfect liberty, when down this way, to see for himself. Some assert that the close proximity to the sea is the chief reason; but other orchards the same distance (about 5 chains) from the beach suffer, while the trees here escape. A noticeable feature in fruit; trees freely and continuously sprayed is that the fruit loses its flavor. It becomes insipid and tasteless, or, as the Scotch express it, "warsh" ; while the seaweed has quite the opposite ! effect; it adds to the lusciousness of i every variety. The theory advanced by the native was that, the germs of all orchard pests originate and rise upwards from the ground; that the seaweed kills the germs, - and hence the freedom from their ravages. Bo this as it may, the fact remains that while trees a few chains away are liable to be ruined by blights of more than one kind, those here, though never sprayed since the day the trees were planted, have had no vestige of disease of any kind on them. It will do no harm, to try the experiment, and great good, will follow if it is successful. FRANCIS AUCHINLECK. "Wairere," via Cheviot.