Sixty Per Cent. Control Of The Diamond Backed Moth

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18674, 6 April 1935, Page 13

Sixty Per Cent. Control Of The Diamond Backed Moth

AN announcement has been made of the discovery of a parasite which should give a 60 per cent, control over the diamond backed moth, a pest which is regarded as doing as much damage as, if not more than, the while butterfly in the Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay districts. This parasite of the moth is not yet available in tho Dominion, but if it were introduced and effected no larger a save to farmers than that claimed' for it, farmers would be saved a great deal of damage to their turnip crops The prospects arc promising in regard to the control of the white butterfly in Poverty Bay. Be vent) colonies have been liberated through out the district, even in Gisborne itself, and if the results are as satisfac-i tory as those in Hawke's Bay, where the parasites were set to work earlier, farmers should be well pleased. Now, Hawke’s Bay farmers are beginning to talk of subscribing to sc-

euro tho importation of parasites for the diamond backed moth. It was Hawke’s Bay which took the initiative in regard to the white butterfly parasites; because that was where the pest was first discovered within the Dominion, and farmers there were alive to tho fact that a few pounds spent on prevention might mean an 1 indirect gain to them of hundreds of pounds by saving big percentages of their crops that were being eaten by the caterpillar of the butterfly. In regard to a proposal that Hawke’s Bay should subscribe for the importation of diamond backed moth parasites, the Telegraph states: —The feeling amongst tho fanners in this provinco who have suffered from, the attentions of the moth to their crops is that the whole question should be treated as a national one, siucc the pe»s is found' wherever crucifer crops are> grown in tho North Island and is striking at the root of our fat lamb industry. Tho truth of this cannot be gainsaid, and it certainly does not appear fair that Hawke’s Bay fanners who set the ball rolling in connection with cabbage butterfly control by subscription should have to do tho sumo .where control of the moth is concerned.

Even if the matter is to be treated as a national one, however, it devolves upon one section, of the farming community to take the first action, and it is fitting that the first: move in the matter should come from the provinces most affected. A suggestion worthy of: consideration is that a representative meeting of sheepi’armors be called and the whole matter bo thoroughly discussed, following which a resolution embodying the opinions of the meeting could bo carried and the desired lino of action followed.