PUBLIC OPINION

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14597, 22 February 1921, Page 6

PUBLIC OPINION

As expressed by correspondents, whose letters arc welcome, but for whose views we have no responsibility. FIRE-BLIGHT. 'To the Editor. v Sir,—One of my earliest recollections is or being taken, as a small boy io see what was then known as a '"will beast show." II was afternoon in tin 3. liimiii. and Ihe animals—a sorry lot were, (felting some satisfaction oul of siesta. One of my parly a lady; remarked "that It was hard to imogin-: such creatures, as (hose, on view, to Ik I'i.ngcrous under any conditions." Tin; proprietor of the show appeared lo re «,. ni. such an opinion, and, calling on an assistant, he said: "Stir them m with the long pole, John, and lei thr lady hear the lions and ligers mar.' And the noise was deafening. During vccpn\ months I have head paragraphs In Ihe press as regards lire-blight which wa s said to be attacking orchard: and hawthorn hedges. Last week "1 vas announced that a farmer had been tiikcn to Court and fined for non-com plying with instructions from the Department of Agriculture to destroy infected trees. On Friday, the 18th ins!.. an officer of the Department called on "io and pointed out that my hedges aim lie few fruit trees were infected, lie oho served me with a notice to cut out all infected parts well below Ihe poinl of visible infection and destroy s.imfi by burning before u* p.m. on March 'll I 9'? 1,. Now. sir. some GO years ago the district, between Hamilton and Cambridge was surveyed and settled, mostly rnder the Military Service Act, in small sections. The settlers worn English and Scutch, and aimed at making I heir new h< mrs a replica of Ihe old. Nearly all subdivisions were fenced with hawthorn as the permanent hedge. As a P'-rmanent fence the hawthorn ws valuable and as a shelter hedge ! uoubled the value of the rountry for grazing purposes. There musl now he very many miles of hawthorn, and it ihard 1" imagine Ihe landscape without cur live hedges. On my farm alon: there are some seven miles of hawthorn, which for shelter and fence purl„ scs is worth now £SOOO at least. \l ti e present price of labour, to grub up ai.il burn these thorns and to subslil iie a temporary wire fence could not t( done for less than 5; 10 per chain, or, say £sfioo. which (spells a total of o\er £IO,OOO. depreciation and cost » r destruction. When it is done —if it Ci"Uld be don.---where are we? Tlio hawthorn is the most tenacious of plants, and most people, are aware tin' every rootlet \, ft in the ground will grow. As a consequence, even though all thorns in the district were grubbed. in about three years' time the hedges vill have renewed themselves. 1 ask airain: Where are we? I pretend no knowledge of tire-blight, but it' what is pointed oul to me as fire-blight is (hat disease, then I declare it is no no v tb.'ngin Waikato. Our hawthorn bodges have shown Ihe trouble for years, and so far from being ncwly-introdu 1. it is epidemic. 11. is clear that the Department of Agriculture i.- 100 late on this job, and has set itself an impossible task. 1 have read that (Ire-blight is of the same category as "Irish blight" in potatoes, it travels in the air. and ordinary distance is no preventive, liven though every visibly infected fruit-tree and thorn were eradicated, a month later the apparently sound trees might all show the disease. Eradication if all plants subject to fire-blight must cost millions, and even 100 fanners in the same position as myself means £1,000,000 loss to agriculture to comply with the Act. There arc many more than 100 Waikato farmers who have, thorn hedges and who cannot afford lo have a valuable asset converted into a crushing liability, and one is curious to know how much prodding with a long pole it will take to "make 'cm roar." In round figures, there are luO.ooo farmers in the Dominion, and the great majority of these must In ncerned about fruit ti s or hedges. Against these there are a thousand or two commercial orchardists. Most of us are prepared to sacrifice our fruit trees and U pay Is per lb for worse fruit than \\-( grew ourselves; but surely it ;s asking 100 much to expect us to destroy the labour and care of 50 years tor the doubtful bcnellt of -anyone. What are our farmer leaders doing? Is it too much to ask the Department of Agriculture lo apply the next "blisters" to these gentlemen?—l am, etc., J. D. P. MORGAN. Pukeroro, Feb. 20, 1021.