NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19965, 6 December 1926, Page 8

NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.

D. M’L, Lawrence.—The disease In your Burbank plums is what is known as bladder, pocket, mock, or starved plums. It is reasonably common among the Japanese variety. It is caused by a minute fungus which lives parasitically in the tissues of the young branches. Mr Dallas, orchard Instructor, In the horticultural division of the Department of Agriculture, advises spraying in the autumn with a mixture of 11b of bluestone and five gallons 'of water. That will take off the balance of the leaves, and will also have the effect of destroying the spores of the fungus. In the spring time, when the buds are beginning to swell, the trees should be sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture (81b sulphate of copper, 61b of fresh lime, and 40 gallons of water). Later, when the white bloom is beginning to show, spray with the mixture in the proportions of 61b, 51b, and 50 gallons: when the surplus plums have fallen, with the proportion of 31b, 41b, and 50 gallons; and when the plums have formed, with the proportions of 31b, 51b, and 50 gallons. It is also advisable to keep the tree clear of all decayed wood and destory all the affected fruit that is forming, all of which should be burned. “ One Who Pays Rates."—There is no objection to the publication of your letter, but, not having supplied your name and address, you have not compiled with our requirements.