THE BLACKBERRY.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18891, 5 January 1927, Page 8

THE BLACKBERRY.

*- ERADICATING THE PEST. (FROM OCB OWJT CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, November 30. One of the references to New, Zealand most frequently seen during the past few weeks has for its text the "200-mile blackberry The official announcement of the Empire Marketing Board's offer of £2OOO annually for five years for research by the Cawthron Institute, on certain conditions, has been widely circulated, and has undoubtedly, been seized upon as an item of special moment. Another paragraph inspired by the same matter runs: The plague of blackberries in New Zealand is only one example of the invading pests which our colonists have, to face from time to time. Not many years ago 30,000,000 acres of Australian pasture land was overrun by prickly pears, brought from Italy, which were spreading at the rate of 1,000,000 acres a, year. Enormous numbers of cochineal bugs had to be imported to devour the ususrping plant that the despoiled land might be reclaimed. The story of the Scotsman who, upon bragging to an Australian of the number of his fel-low-Scots who had settled in the continent, was solemnly told. 'Yes, no doubt; but our greatest pest_ is the rabbit," summed up the situation rather drastically. In addition, the northern island of New Zealand was at one time so thickly populated with wild pigs that their depredations made farming practically impossible, while fifty pigs a day was considered a moderate bag for a skilled hunter. Dr. R. J. Tillyard recently spent some days at the Rothamsted Experimental Kesearch station. At this institution he has selected Mr W. Maldyu Davies, M.Sc, of Aberystwth, to continue research concerning the blackberry insects, testing, and so on.