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Not content with attacking the tree, it is frequently parasitic on the fruit. In Canterbury and Nelson I have seen ripe apples clotted over with scale, while not unfrequently a colony may be found nestling in the depression at the base of the fruit. The apple-scale can be easily destroyed, and the trees kept clean with a small amount of trouble and at a trivial cost. At the School of Agriculture, Lincoln, the double-flowered hawthorns, planted as specimens, had their bark incrusted with scale to such an extent that they were unable to mature their leaves. In this condition they were dressed with castor oil, containing about two ounces of soot to the gallon. The mixture was applied with a paint-brush, and the result was all that could be desired ; the scale fell away without scraping, the bark assumed a healthy appearance, and new, healthy leaves were developed within six weeks of the first application. As a measure of precaution, rather than from necessity, a second wash was applied, and the trees have continued in a healthy condition. In planting the experimental orchard, a few young trees, fresh from the nurseries, were observe;! to be slightly infected with scale and x\merican blight: they were treated the same way with complete success. As there are old trees in the neighbourhood of the school badly infested with scale, I gave instructions for the examination of every tree in the experimental orchard in the late winter or early spring, and the immediate application of a fresh dressing to all trees exhibiting the slightest trace of scale or woolly blight—a measure which effectually prevented either of these pests from becoming established, a matter of great importance in infected districts, as these insects are so easily diffused by birds. Peach Blight. To the Hon. the Chairman : My inquiries into the nature and cause of peach-blight were only commenced in April last, so that I have not been able to make myself thoroughly acquainted with, the symptoms developed during the spring months. To the Hon. Mr. Barnieoat: The recommendations I have to make will, I believe, prove sufficient to place peach cultivation in New Zealand on a satisfactory basis. The disease is more generally developed in the North Island than in the South, and the destructive results have been greater in the northern districts. It has proved most destructive in the central parts of the North Island—the Manawatu District, the country about the head-waters of the Wanganui and Mokau Eivers, &c. —the Taupo country, the Waikato and Thames valleys, and, still further north, in the Kaipara and Hokianga Districts, &c. The peach has died out over hundreds of acres. The peach is liable to the attacks of several fungi and to various kinds of insects; but although very troublesome, none of these plagues have any direct or necessary connection with the dying out of the peach, now so prevalent. The first symptoms are usually observed after cold winds during the flowering season, and before the full development of the leaves. The ovary swells in the usual way until the young fruit attains the size of a large pea or small horsebean, the trees up to this time presenting a perfectly healthy appearance ; but the fruit ceases to increase in size, and falls in a few days; the leaves do not attain their full size, and in a short time they also fall. At or shortly before this time orange-coloured dots or punctures, doubtless of fungoid origin, are found upon the young twigs, and in some cases become confluent, eventually leading to disintegration of the epidermis, followed by an exudation of gum to a greater or less extent; the buds decay, and become infested with thrip or other minute insects. As a general rule the lowest branches are affected before the upper. Sometimes the plant is killed by the first attack; but more frequently towards the autumn new leaves are developed towards the tips of the growing shoots. Although these leaves are almost invariably attacked by a fungus, the plant seems in a fair way for recovery ; but in the following spring a renewed attack causes still further exhaustion, and the death of the tree is only a question of time. To the Hon. the Chairman: The disease is manifested equally in exposed and in sheltered situations. To Mr. Hobbs : There are apparent exceptions, but in every case that has come under my notice the supposed exception has been found capable of explanation. To the Hon. the Chairman : The disease is not caused by unfavourable climatal conditions; at any rate, they can only be considered as one factor, and not the most important. All the symptoms enumerated afford evidence of a low state of vitality. The nutritive processes are not properly performed, so that the plant is unable to resist sudden changes of temperature, especially during the flowering season, when the strain upon its energies is greatest; it becomes more liable to the attacks of fungi and insects, and has less power to withstand them. The result has been brought about mainly by growing peach-trees on their own roots, and is to be seen in all countries where such a course has been followed. In this colony nearly all peaches are either of seedling origin or are worked on peach stocks. The first step will be the adoption of a suitable stock. This is found in the mussel-plum, the stock invariably adopted by English nurserymen. Ido not hesitate to assert that the adoption of the mussel-pluin as a stock would place the cultivation of the peach on a satisfactory basis in New Zealand. It would become more hardy and better able to resist adverse influences, while its productive powers could be increased rather than diminished. To Mr. Hobbs : I have seen two young trees worked on mussel-stocks in the colony. They were growing in an Auckland nursery, and were the only trees that had escaped infection. Even plants from six to twelve inches high, still in the seed-bed, were attacked. To the Hon. the Chairman : Affected peaches headed down and worked with certain plums appear to flourish. It is, however, by no means certain that the influence thus exerted by the scion upon the stock will prove permanent. To the Hon. Mr. Miller: The first instance of peach-blight observed by me was in Palliser Bay, about seven years ago. Since that time it has become general in the North Island. I believe it was first observed in the Waikato about twelve years ago,

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