FIREBLIGHT CONTROL.

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17436, 26 September 1928, Page 5

FIREBLIGHT CONTROL.

NEW POLICY OF DEPARTMENT;

STRINGENT INSPECTION. V

INDIVIDUAL TREE INSPECTION.

In view of tho prevalence of fire- - blight in the Thames fruitgrowing area,/;: all owners of,apple or pear trees in this/: locality. should be interested the fol-.| •lowing letter from the Director of the Horticultural Division, Denarment of v Agriculture, Wellington, which Mr. P. Everett, Government Orchard Instruc-y tor for the Thames and Bay of Plenty./district, has kindly niadeuivailahle'Tor public- information.

Fireblight. Whenever suitable opportunity has offered during the past two or three' years I have given fruitgrowers to s

understand that fireblight would even-

tually have to he dealt with by the;/ Department on practically the same; lines as other diseases r affecting/? orchards, but much more stringently,/; owing to the disastrous effects neglect,, on the part of any fruitgrower might/; have with respect to the whole dis-r triet. There is a tendency to look‘d

to the Department to assume responsU;; biiitv for the suppression of an outfg

break, and in some measure blame the officials for any failure to suppress,

whereas the blame could more eqr.it/ ably lio laid on the careless orchardistp| Individual effort of growers is the key-/* note of control, and recent .legislation; ‘-y,

enables them to apply co-operative ef-

fort more fully than was possible ingf .the past. Consequently "J propose to ; briefly outline the course of procedure.

The ‘Critical Time. With regard to fireblight, each season may lie deemed to commence with the blossoming period of fruit trees, and; anv hold-over canker discovered at this

time regarded a.? a canker from the: ; previous season. "While the cutting oV\t > of infections that occurred during the; blossoming time and later is highly * desirable, and should he attended toflf as thoroughly as circumstances permit, tho damage arising from such in fee- - tions is largely confined to the «■ lar orchard in which thev exist. ’.'-xS.

Disease during this period is to a - ■ largo extent spread hv means of chew- ! ing insects which, although they may. carry the disease to a nearby orchard, l largely operate and spread the disease ,3; within the orchard where it originally gexisted. This fact does ilot mean that reasonable work in cutting, out infec- || tion should not lie carried on, more particularly in-view of the moral effect v that neglect in this regard might haverSf fjn the locality. Consequently the right .Jg to insist on this work being done, ~ 'within reason, is not to lie foregone", gf

Where it is not being carried out satis- -■ factorly recourse may lie' had .to prose- • P cation, but in the main compulsion mgr? tho form of prosecution -will be ferrod till later, growers being given to understand that the control of firer As blight is their responsibility, while Go-.-p# vernment officials operate more as inspectors to ascertain how thoroughly this is lieing done, and when the ne/dg cessity arises to take action. •'

Checking the Disease.

Apart from what might lie insisted upon by the. Department in cutting out and checking disease during the mer and early autumn, a definite date - ' should he fixed after which the finding. /; of hold-over cankers m an orchard

would mean prosecution. This date is fixed as July 31. By this date orchardists will have carried out the major

portion of their pruning, which operalion affords, an excellent opportunity b.. for the search and removal of caillcerg. V & It is physically impossible fur Departmental officers to make a personal in-in-spection of every tree and practically : every limb of every tree in the locality, n The only means of keeping a district 7y free of -fireblight is the hope thatch growers will make this individual tree'.’® inspection and do the cutting out of yb cankers. By means of general inspec-;4f£ lion visits by Departmental officials, and more particular inspection where it is suspected that the grower has ,-y not been quite thorough, the efforts bb

of the careful orchardists will he safeguarded. Tho foregoing in its entirety, of course, can only be applied to those

districts in which hawthorn hedges. have been removed or otherwise satis-bjgs factorily attended to. Jit those .dis-bAjg t-ricts in which fireblight is present! andy£| on fruit areas have been declared,* the ff'l disease will be mainly dealt with as an' ■ , ordinary orchard disease.