BIG PRIZE NOT WON.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 236, 5 October 1928, Page 9

BIG PRIZE NOT WON.

DESTROYER OF BLACKBERRY.

MANY METHODS PROPOSED. RESULTS DISAPPOINTING. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. "I think it should be made known to those interested in the destruction of the blackberry pest that the result of the offer of a bonus of £10,000 for an effective method of achieving that object cannot but be regarded as disappointing," said the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. O. J. Hawken, in a statement issued to-day. He said arsenic and soda preparations and similar mixtures provided the most effective means so far known if carried out methodically. "I have lately reviewed the whole question, and considered various specifics which have been submitted, and as a result I have decided it is only fair to those who entertain hopes of winning the bonus that they should be informed of the position," added the Minister. "I have reluctantly been forced to the view that there is little prospect of the object of the offer being realised in the near-future." All Failed Under Test. There had been many claimants to the bonus, but in each case in which a method was disclosed investigation b«d shown that it did not differ materially from similar treatments which had already proved not sufficiently effective to comply with the conditions of the offer. In no case had an applicant been able to show that he or she had successfully treated an area approaching the minimum of one acre, on which the cost of treatment could have been assessed. There had been no want of persons who could prove that individual bushes had been destroyed, and who had assumed from that fact that similar treatment would enable large areas to be cleared with equal success, but none had demonstrated to the Government proof of their assumption. Arsenic and Caustic Soda. Mr. Hawken said the work of the Department of Agriculture had been very largely devoted to practical trials with spraying compounds, and it had been shown that by far the most economic** and effective are those of < Mt™. Of A . soda, in prejertio"--** ™

arsenic to Jib of caustic soda, had been found to give excellent results. It was applied at the rate of 5 per cent, taking from 100 to 200 gallons of diluted material an acre where blackberry is fairly dense, and costing in the vicinity of 8/ to 16/ an acre for the materials. The great weakness of this arsenic soda spray was the fact that treatment had to be repeated several times before any really effective killing took place, M there was always danger that later sprayings were either not done or were unduly delayed, when they were of little effect. Arsenic and soda spraying, properly carried out, and repeated whea fresh growth appeared, was really highly satisfactory, and conld be viewed at the present time to be the most satisfactory way of dealing with the blackberry pest on those types of land where cultivation methods cannot be carried out.