PLANT DISEASES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22004, 10 January 1935, Page 5

PLANT DISEASES

SCIENTISTS' DISCOVERIES

RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA

ASSISTING THE PRODUCER

[from our own* correspondent] SYDNEY, Dec. 28 Quietly and unostentatiously in city laboratories and on yeountry farms, scientists in "Wales are valuably assisting the cause of helping primary producers to make profits. They belong to the biological branch of the Department of -Agriculture. It is generally recognised that plant diseases may cause serious reduction in the yield and quality of crops. Whenever the margin of profit is slight, it is all the more essential that economic measures should be adopted to prevent losses that otherwise are incurred. Members of the plant pathological section of the branch have been strenuously occupied in diagnostic work and in providing information for farmers, fruitgrowers and others interested in crop production, and also have continued their investigation of specific plant disease problems. During the year just closing, the biological branch recorded 37 new plant diseases in New South Wales. The most serious of these in the opinion of Dr. It. J. Noble, chief of the branch, is a bacterial disease known as tomato canker, which has caused serious trouble to tgmato growers. This is in addition to leaf mould, which appeared for the first time in 1933, and resulted m considerable damage to tomatoes, particularly those grown under glasshouse conditions.

The relatively large importations of vegetable seed from overseas countries have gradually resulted in the establishment of many new diseases in Australia, and Dr. Noble considers that a satisfactory solution of this problem may be expected only when Australian requirements are met by local production.

EARLY WHEAT CROP

EFFECT OF DRY WEATHER

The hot. dry weather which has been experienced in Canterbury this summer will, it is anticipated, have the effect of ripening the wheat crop earlier than usual, and threshing on the lighter lands will be undertaken shortly. According to private advice received in Auckland extremely hot north-west winds have been blowing this week and are likely to pinch, but not ruin, the crop, which is now ready for ripening. North Canterbury will probably suffer less than the southern portion, vjhere the crop is not so far advanced. 4

JAPANESE SHIPPING CO.

INCREASE IN PROFITS

A dividend at the rate of 3 per cent per annum has been declared by Nipjion Yusen Kaisha, the Japanese Mail Steamship Company, Limited, for the half-year ended September 30. A similar dividend for the half-year ended March 31 was the first paid for four years. The net profit for the period was 3,090,000 yen (about £309,000 at par), against 797,000 yen (£79,700) for the corresponding period last year. At the annual meeting in Tokio the president, Mr. K. Kagami, stated that the increased profits were due to the continued low exchange and more freight and passenger earnings.