The Cawthron Institute and Its Great Work

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 810, 2 November 1929, Page 19

The Cawthron Institute and Its Great Work

=ji T is just ten years y i ago that a small H took up their quarts ters in a house of some fifteen rooms on a hill overlooking the city of Nelson. They were the pioneer staff of the Cawthron Institute. That those ten years of conflict with the barren soils, of ■war against pests and of struggle to combat waste have not been in Tain is evidenced by the hosts of land workers not only in the Nelson district but throughout the whole of New Zealand who today call the Institute “counsellor and friend.” Many, indeed, might call her “saviour,” for it was only the timely advice of the Institute’s officers which saved many of them from abandoning their holdings. Thomas Cawthron was a successful merchant who chose to leave his fortune for the bettering of mankind's lot. His private benefactions were numberless. The city of Nelson has reason to revere the memory of her benefactor, but when the late Mr. Cawthron bequeathed £240,000 for the founding of the Institute, he lighted a beacon which was to throw its rays far beyond the confines of that one community. Today the Cawthron Institute is a national Institution. From North Cape to the Bluff, the Institute’s work is bearing fruit in the shape of increased returns for the orchardist aid farmer. And as the welfare of

this country is interwoven with that of the primary producer, the labours of the Institute are today reflected in our national prosperity. 'Hie late Mr. Cawthron laid down no oennite scheme of the work for the Institute, preferring to leave the detailed arrangements to his executors. His trust was well-placed. The original 'rustees showed great wisdom in appointing a private commission to aduse them. This body, consisting of w James Wilson, Dr. Cockayne, and Professors Benharn, Sasterfield, Mar-

shall and Worley, after taking evidenco and carefully examining the needs of the Nelson district, reported that the Institute should expend its energies in research work in connection with agriculture and the fruit industry in that district. Later, as opportunity and funds permitted it

should extend its field of operations in other directions. This was a long view. It was intended that the Institute should become a true technical school in educating farmers and fruit-growers all over New Zealand in their needs. Although the official opening did not come till April, 1921, Professor T. H. Easterfield took up his position of director in November, 1919. With him were associated Dr. R. J. Tillyard, entomologist, Dr. Kathleen Curtis, mycologist, Mr. T. Rigg, agricultural chemist, and Mr. W. C. Davis, curator and photographer. It was a small band. Today, ten years later, the staff numbers twenty-four.

In ten years the Institute has achieved so much that, w T ere it suddenly cease to function, there would remain a mass of scientific data, the results of experimental research that would be a monument to its activities throughout all time. No sooner were the doors of the Institute opened than the fruit-growers approached the Institute and said: "Can you give us a manurial programme?” At that time with few

exceptions there were stunted trees everywhere. Now before any definite progress could be made, it was necessary to learn everything possible about the soils of the district—where they were, and how good they were. Then, and not till then, would it be possible to improve the poor ones and increase the economic value of all. It accordingly fell to Mr. Rigg’s lot to undertake a soil survey of the district. Today, on the walls of the Institute’s museum, there hang two coloured maps which show the location and nature of the soil types throughout the whole of the Waimea and adjoin-

ing counties. They represent years of work, but their value is inestimable. With their aid. and with the help of laboratory and field experiments, the institute has been able to state authoritatively what crops can and what crops can not be grown on each soil, and the most suitable methods for the maximum production of those crops. At the end of 1919, the orchards on the Moutere hills were in an impover-

ished condition. Many orchardists were on the . point of bankruptcy. Today the Moutere hills district, thanks to the Institute’s advice, produces a larger number of export cases than any other soil in New Zealand. Lucerne is now successfully grown where formerly it was considered impossible, the area under lucertfe having more than doubled in consequence of advice given. The pakihi lands of Westport and

Collingwood have formed one of the Institute’s knotty problems. These lands occupying an area of about 200,000 acres in .all are swampy and will support neither gorse, bracken nor blackberry. So unproductive are they that large areas have been let on lease at 3d an acre per annum Although there is a widespread opinion that these lands can never be made productive except at prohibitive cost, the experimental work of the Institute on this soil is now showing promise of success. Under lime and phosphate treatment, the soil is no longer swampy and grasses and flax have been satisfactorily established on an experimental scale in certain areas. A piece of work of a very different nature has been an investigation into malnutrition and disease of stock on certain pastures. Very gratifying results have followed the acceptance of the Institute’s advice to provide salt and bone-meal licks for the stock. The special function of the mycologist is to study the fungal diseases

which affect all plant life. A woman has had charge of this department of the Institute since its inception. Perhaps foremost among the work of a decade. Dr. Curtis places her experi-

ments designed to secure control of brown rot of peaches, that disease which alone is responsible for a loss of thousands of pounds per annum to this country. Auckland province is probably the heaviest loser, for nowhere in New Zealand are the climatic conditions so favourable for the disease as here. In experiments ranging over four years of varying climatic conditions, Dr. Curtis claims to have definitely secured control of the disease.

One of the Institute’s greatest gifts to the orchardist has been a spraying schedule to control black spots in apples and pears. By carefully watching the trees during the blossoming period, Dr. Curtis is able to advise growers of the particular time when spraying should be done. This information is published by the Institute in the advertising columns of newspapers and is also broadcast If the mycology department had given this country nothing more than the control of brown rot and black spot, it would have achieved much. But when the following list of work which has been carried out in the first ten years of the Institute’s existence is reviewed it will be seen that the department has contributed a considerable quota to our knowledge of fungal diseases in this country. An investigation into the three worst diseases to which cereals are subject —rust, smut and take-all—has been conducted on wheat, barley and oats. Varieties resistant to these diseases were introduced from Europe and U.S.A., and after being tested out

through a series of seasons, a certain proportion were found to maintain their resistance under New Zealand conditions. The tobacco industry is still comparatively new to New Zealand. The Institute has carried out surveys of the diseases of the plant as these appear from time to time in the various districts where the crop is grown. Much valuable information of the ailments to which tobacco is liable has thus been gained. The market gardener has to thank the Institute for advice arising from experiments on the mildew of tomatoes in the glasshouse, and on leaf blight out-of-doors, whilst on the subject of tomato root-rot, Dr. Curtis reports having maintained an enormous correspondence with harassed growers all over New Zealand. A series of experiments have also been carried out on root-rot in raspberries and black rot in hops. Finally, extensive in\%stigations into the diseases of trees have been made. These include not only a research into

the maladies to which nursery trees are liable, but also much work in the pints radiata plantations of Marlborough, Nelson and Canterbury. The Entomological Department of

the Institute is concerned with researches into the control of insect pests and the biological control of noxious weeds. Both insects and weeds are responsible for very great annual losses to the Dominion. It has been estimated by the officers of the Institute that pear midge alone costs this country from £15,000 to £20,000 annually, and the bronze beetle has been responsible for growers losing as much as 40 per cent, of their crops. Up to the end of 1927 Dr. R. J. Tillyard was in charge of this department and on his appointment to a position with the Commonwealth Government, was succeeded by Dr. D. Miller. From 1920 until the end of 1926, the researches were confined to orchard pests, for the most part, and in 1927 the biological control of noxious weeds was undertaken. In 1928 the activities of the Department were further extended to deal with entomological problems affecting livestock and forestry. The first major problem undertaken was to control woolly aphis by means of a parasite. In North America such an insect was known to exist and Dr. Tillyard arranged for consignments of this species, known as Aphelinus mail. to be seflt to the Institute by the Bureau of Entomology at Washington. The Aphelinus was successfully reared by Mr. A. Philpott and shortly after liberation became thoroughly established throughout the Dominion with the result that the woolly aphis was rapidly reduced in a spectacular manner.

In a similar way the control of the golden scale insect of oak trees was attempted: the parasite, another North American species, was successfully established and is now to be found infecting the scale in Nelson and Canterbury. This work was carried out by Mr. E. S. Gourlay, Assistant Entomologist. Attempts have been made with the parasitic control of earwigs, grass grubs and pear slug but in these cases the parasites have failed so far to establish themselves sufficiently for control purposes. Researches connected with live stock include the control of the sheep maggot-flies. These are the common blow-flies which have adopted the habit of blowing the wool on living sheep: the maggots work down on to the skin which they attack causing

the death of the infected animals. The losses from such Infestations are very great indeed. The parasite was imported from England by Dr. Miller from the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, London, and the rearing of it commenced at the Institute in 1928. This work is aided by a grant from the New Zealand Sheep Owners’ Federation. The rearing and distribution of the parasite is being carried out on a large scale and the State Department of Agriculture has kindly consented to the Inspectors of Stock in the maggotfly areas assisting in its liberation. Durirg the present season also, it is hoped to liberate parasites of the mealy bugs. Four species of these parasites have been received from California and are being reared at the Institute. In order to have a large supply of mealy bugs for the parasites

to breed upon, the former are reared on sprouted potatoes to which they readily adapt themselves. For the forcing of the supply of potato sprouts a specal insectary is utilised where the temperature can be kept at the desired level. Owing to the ever-increasing areas of exotic forests being planted in the Dominion, the development of Forest Entomological Research has become necessary both for the protection of these areas and for the control of insects attacking native timbers. At present the control of the steel-blue horntail of pine-trees and of the gumtree weevil is being undertaken. In the Noxious Weeds Control Scheme by means of insects, the researches are being centred on the control of ragwort, blackberry, gorse, and piri-piri. The insects imported for this purpose are species known to coniine their attention to the weeds In Question, but in order to ascertain as far as possible the likelihood of such insects attacking plants of economic value, they are thoroughly tested under quarantine conditions before any liberation can be considered. At present, experimental work with the control of ragwort by means of the clnna bar moth has reached a satisfactory stage. Such then is the record of the Institute’s ten years of research. Bymeans of articles in scientific journals, through lectures to Farmers’ and Fruit Growers’ Associations, and in some cases by wireless broadcasting, the results of those researches have been disseminated throughout the length and breadth of this Dominion. How much the man-on-the-land has appreciated those services is shown by the immense correspondence which is carried out by the officers of the Institute with farmers and orchardists all over the Dominion. And, be it remembered, this service is rendered willingly and gratuitously. No record such as this would be complete without some mention of the Institute’s Museum under the control of Mr. W. C. Davies. Throughout the year, many visitors take the opportunity of seeing the many excellent exhibits set out here. Perhaps foremost among these must be placed the two sets of transparencies which have been built into the windows. These depict photographically the native trees of the district, and also

the -work of each department. Here also are to be found some very fine collections of insects, specimens of native and imported timbers and New Zealand minerals, while a collection of priceless old China has been acquired by bequests and donations from the Marsden family. What of the future? The Cawthron Institute is still in its infancy, a mere stripling of ten years. Those ten years have seen the primary producer of this country reap the incalculable benefits from the Institute’s activities. But the work is just beginning; much is yet to be done. The Institute looks forward to an era of increased usefulness to New Zealand. Many problems are yet unsolved. Time and the wholehearted support of the people of this country alone will see the Institute’s aspirations fulfilled and its Ideals realised.