AGRICULTURAL BUREAU OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Waikato Times, Volume XL, Issue 3259, 18 May 1893, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL BUREAU OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

—-♦- — WHILE some attempts, successful and Xrwise are being made in the colony to place agriculture upon a better status, and assist those who arc actively engaged making their voice authontatnclj liCJhi, rS able to improve their condition, and place agriculture, generally, upoo » footing, equal, if not superior, to otl eis though less iniportant ca loudly clamour for State aid. before us the annual report of tht A f>" 3LI Bureau .J S.u.k" the vear ending June 30, ISJ-, ana a normal of its columns gnes some indie. - Son of the great benefits accrue to that colony from the s—l operations of the /snieau, 0 1 Y that the South Australian f ?" vcrnl " c " . the year under notice subsidisjUl^iH; stitutiou to the extent of £l , oo °' aum paid for secretary, of branches, experiments, tc. \\ , the following extracts from the report, In the introduction, the ChairmaMtjc Hon. F. KrichaufT, i\I.L C.), MJ • report gives the particulars of tht third congress of the members 0 which was held in September 1891. Besides the eleven members of the Bureau, there were seventy-four representatives of thirty of the branches present, and those gentlemen Mr discussed the twenty and more pi 1, tical papers which were read at the meetings, The following is a lwt "Diirvins," "Vine-growing, > ine and Fruit Growing for Farmers," "borne Practical Hints to our small Sheepowners." "Footrnt in Sheep, " Agricnl- - Colleges Visited,- & ob -Tree: its Cultivation and Uses, SIIOS and Ensilage," "The Froiluction of Rain by Artificial Means, liactical Hints 011 Tree Culture," " Red Rust Lxperiments," "The Improvement of our Dairy Cattle," "Some Thoughts upon Farming and upon Co-operation by I'armei's," " Horae-brccdmg. Iu addition to'this, there is a long list of pipm touching upon almost every branch of farming, gardening and fruitgrowing, which have been read before the central bureau and branches during the yearAll important section of the report is that relating to Vegetable Pathology and Economic Entomology, and as the subject is of intense interest to agricnlculturists in this colony we give it in lull:- ' , "Nearly every country and community that is interested in tho welfare of tlio tillers of soil has found it to be necessary to tho services of ono or more perfons who have made tho diseases of plants and the liabits of insects special subjects of ftudy. These specialists arc quite distinct from botanists and entomologists who embrace the whole science of botany and entomology within their studies. _ It is very necessary to make this distinction, because tho epecialists who take up a single one of the numerous brandies' of either of those sciences are able at a glance to decide upon the nature of a diseaso in plants, or of an insect or other pest, and to denote the remedial or other action to be adopted, whilst the general botanist or entomologist would require to look through hundreds of authorities in the endeavors to identify it, and perhaps after all fail to do go. It is needless to enumerate tho great number of parasitic fungi and injurious insects from the dfpredalions of which our agriculturists and horticulturists already C suffer, hut wo may say that the annual losses from these cases amount to many thousands of pounds, nud that there is every liopo that those losfcs could be mitigated considerably, or even totally avoided in many oases, by the adoption of advice which could bo given by the specialists. Such has been the result of tho labors of specialists in these two branches of science in America, tho Continent of Europe, England, Cape Colmy, and elsewhere.. The colonies of New .South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand, and Tasmania each employ specialists to advise their colonists and to conduct observations upon the life, history, and habits ot tlio numerous introduced and indigeuoiu pests; but South Au«lialia has been indebted until the present moment to the generosity of the officers of tlio adjacent colonies for tho identification of 11 considerable number of microscopic fungi, insects, etc,, attacking tlio crops aud produce of her colonists. Tlio Bureau desires hero to express its gratitude to those officers for tho services so freely and liborally rendered, and to express the hope that, the time i.< not far distant when South Australia will bo in 1 position to co-operate with the scientific branches of the Agricultural Departments of tho other colonies in fre endeavour to prevent the introduction of such pests from abroad, and ill combating those which, unfortunately, have already found a lodgment here."

An instance of the value of such specialists is given later on where the report deals with the caterpillar plague in the south-east"Year after year hordes of caterpillars have devastated tho cereal crops of the settlers in the South-liast, They march from field to field, stripping tho bells off the nearly ripe oats, the ears off the bailey, and the Hag off the wheat crops. Fields giving promise of yields of from forty to sixty bushels per acre are so destroyed that the crops will scarcely pay for reaping. No organised effort has ever been made to cope with this destructive. caterpillar,. and no inquiry made into its life history until last season, when one of the members of onr Naracoorte branch imprisoned some of the caterpillars until the moths were produced from. them. These were sent to Mr .J. 6. 0. Tepper, F.L.S., of the Adelaide Museum, who believes them to belong to the genns Mamimtn or Agratii The only successful method yet discovered to arrest the progress of. these caterpillars- has; been to v dig a trench across the line of march to 'an ; adjacent crop, with deeper, holes at" intervals in tho trench. The caterpillars fall first into the trench, then march along the bottom until they fall into the holes, and when the holes are nearly full they are buried in with soil and fresh holes made, There is great' ground for hope that the caterpillars could be destroyed wholesale by means of the Pearson-Dobb'o broadcast spraying machine and si' table insecticides, and we strongly .asire that such a method shall be tried next season, If successful, as we feel assured it would be, the enormous damage inflicted by this pest would be prevented."

It is impossible to lay aside the report of this South Australian institution without feeling that something of the kind is needed in New Zealand. We believe that a powerful combination, organised for tho purpose of advancing tho interests of agriculture, is now being formed, In the union of all the Northern Agricultural Associations and Farmers' Clubs, including that of Waikato, under the leadership of the Auckland Provincial and Agricultural Association, we hope to see the first important step towards the union of the agricultural and pastoral interests throughout tho colony, Such a noble object-is well worthy of the best efforts ol all who are interested in the progress of the colony. In this direction, also, our Government might, as in South Australia, give substantial assistance to the movement at a very trifling cost to the State. <i