SHEEP FLY, HORSE BOT, AND HESSIAN FLY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1007, 23 December 1910, Page 8

SHEEP FLY, HORSE BOT, AND HESSIAN FLY.

; [To the Editor.] . V; ; am glad ..to. say .(.the sheep fry 'is .not growing greater: in -.New ; Zealand..' Indeed, 'it- is lessening in ii- • i'c.nsity in the AVairarapa district. : ■ " bot.is also Vgrowing less,' but CdoSnot know, how it: is in other parts.. ./Perhaps, some.of.your, correspondents, will- . , tell'■ us.-.'whether, in .' their the torse ;bbt ;is growing less- in their dis-, V 1 tncti. - . ' ■ ; . - . • ' v.The- HesMan 'fly. has practically disap- ••'?•/ pealed-from, the, -AVairarapa' district, but Mo-not .'ascribethis to-thb .work of the enemy-alone, l which intro. ' .--duced, rthink.-ironv America. "•' -' .■-?■ nasal-hot fly in sheep is still troublesome, and; I should strongly recommen<l ..sheep ' farmers to; split : open the . heads of any sheep killed on the stations ! : orfarihs,. aud'burn or boil the brain, so as to . destroy any- ' Boiling or , - burning the heads .would minimise this ; trouble. 1 .'I-presume at the abattoirs -the heads , arc so -treated. If not, it is • visible .to take'care at thoso places to ; .: ■ ''■thoroughly destroy, any •; larvae in the -heads,-- asthe ~ maggots "trill soon turn : into, .flies again. ■ .. •' ti®' working, of the natural'balance of v, 'lirey .upon, prey"' in New Zealand is admirably .exemplified now in these mat- .. ters, ,as well -as; in the, r.dbblt and' grass-' .-:. liopper. pests. "\\e had practically ceascd . poisoning on the large runs against the .' rabbit-by- 1900." I had ceascd at Dry - River by : 1890: - AVe-found-,that the natu- :; ral enerty did, the work for us, as they .- srs./stiil, doing. It .was a fair balance ??•'V.K?fc J»pon. prey." -The result has v G^, T ri •, tliiLt.• birtl life :has largely increased, and, larvae of all in the open'are exposed to their , attacks'.. The birds are .pot".-in .thousands, but: in millions, and upon,-the maggots. . 'The late •=: "Mr.;. Scddon-'visited Martinborough not - very long before his death. He heard the :/■ ', rush-andnoise of the wings made by the v ; • ■ birds, when, going, to roost on the pl'anta- • '''• lis exclilimed: . - . . .what,;is that.v And when he saw the : ~ jpjg lines of the .millions of birds , to'. rAosti . he thought it one of the most extraordinary sights he had ever wit- • ' --jessed.'. It" is much the same on the : Taratahi and the Jloro'a, in Messrs. Skey ■ and Kcmpton's plantations. What chance 'v 6 t lle maggots (from, which all these : . v narjnful pests come) against such an army ' Y ' of » ""'nged -friends. s .;.None. .The contrary " ; : : nf. all this .is seen-in Australia, where -v \#i&'. n 'hole country has been poisoned info silence,, with \tlie awful uJe of rabbit po;.=on. I'strongly, advise sheep farmers 'ini'SCtr .Zealand to'carryon the remedies I insisted upon in 1883-6, and turn out the ■ natural enemy where rabbits are troublesome,.nudnot tp'iise poison at all, which,' as I say, is threatening ruin to the sheep industry; in Australia. I also stron*lv .advise thein to'carry on the work of •''• : . urowing.plantations, as, the birds must have good roosting and. nesting places. I put out about fifty plantations on Dry •River, every: one of which has been of the ■utmost service, in .keeping the paddocks clear.of all harmful maggots and larvae. • In the ,'Sc'uth Island. , where . the'y are killing , too many-of the birds, they are . troubled here and tliere with caterpillars. Birds, should only be killed off, in the fruit-growing districts.—l .am, etc., c -'COLEMAN PHILLIPS, i Holstein Lodge., Carterton, , , December 17, 1910.'