FIREBLIGHT APPEARS.
MARLBOROUGH DISCOVERY. CONCERN AMONG ORCHARDISTS. All the vigilance of tho special committee and all the precautions rendered obligatory by Government regulations notwithstanding, fireblight has broken out in Marlborough, says the Blenheim Express. So far as is known at the present time the infection is confined to the one district, and, as far as fruit trees arc concerned, to one orchard, but until a thorough and complete investigation has been , made with tho inspection sharpened by tho knowledge that the enemy is within tho stronghold, it is impossible to- state the exact incidence of the outbreak.
While the visitation by no means strikes the death knell of the orchard industry in Marlborough ifc is no use minimising the fact that unless prompt measures are taken and there is unanimous co-operation on the part of everyone concerned in combating the disease it will deliver a sever© blow at fruitgrowing as a commercial proposition. It is generally agreed —and, indeed, experience in the North Island has gone to provo—that an outbreak of fireblight in New Zealand does not mean the instant obliteration of the orchard attacked. The disease is amenable to treatment which, however, rarely results in a complete cure but rather is calculated to keep it within reasonably safe limits. Unfortunately this treatment entails a great deal of time and labour, arid therein lies the seriousness of an outbreak—the of tho already high cost of production. It is perhaps not surprising to know that tho known outbreak is located in the Rapaura area, for that district is well known for its miles and miles of huge- overgrown hawthorn hedges, and hawthorn is the recognised favourite host of fireblight. However the disease may have been introduced, its seed certainly fell on fertile ground in Rapaura, and its spread will no doubt be rapid unless immediate steps are taken to check it. The sole orchard affected, so far as is known just now, is that of Messrs. Ivory Bros., the biggest commercial orchard in tho district and situated at Upper Rapaura. Tho infection seems to be confined to one part of tho orchard, but quite a number of trees, perhaps a dozen, scattered among quite healthy trees, are touched. So far the producing capacity of tho affected trees has not been reduced, as the blighted parts aro simply small twigs, but in the fortnight that the infection has been under suspicion its area of influence has grown considerably. Further, there is evidence that tho infection is in its second season in the orchard. This is suspected because growth that would not take infection from an outside source has wilted and died, suggesting that the disease has been in the sap of the tree itself before this season. In addition to the case of Messrs. Ivory's orchard a cursory examination lias disclosed fireblight on a huge hawthorn hedge at Rapaura and within a stone's throw of commercial orchards. This, of course, emphasises the serious aspect of the visitation..
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21076, 9 January 1932, Page 10
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495FIREBLIGHT APPEARS. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21076, 9 January 1932, Page 10
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