CATERPILLAR PLAGUE
VISITATION IN THE NORTH CROPS AND GRASSES DEVOURED [FROSt OVR OWN CORRESPONDENT] KAITAIA, Monday One of the worst plagues of caterpillars tho Mangamuka Valley, near Rawene, has ever known is at present being experienced in that area. The pe.st, of which there appears to be several varieties, both black and green, is at present confined to the flats. A crop oi oats of _about six acres, belonging to Mr. M. *J. Crallan, was practically destroyed in two days, and then the pests niQved on to a corn crop, stripping the leaves and leaving just the bare stalks. Once started in a. paddock the caterpillars attack first tlje finer grasses and clovers, and when these have been chewed out they attack the paspalum. Numbers of hay paddocks have been rendered practically All that is left for hay is just the seed stalk, minus the seed heads. The position as far as the dairv farmers in the Valley are concerned is rather serious, and butter-fat production has dropped very considerably during the past week or two
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22026, 5 February 1935, Page 12
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176CATERPILLAR PLAGUE New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22026, 5 February 1935, Page 12
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