SALE OF DAIRYING LAND

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 278, 20 August 1919, Page 10

SALE OF DAIRYING LAND

6d(By .Solegraph— PreSHoAunciaMnu:, Timaru, August 19. ; -At Teni'idca to-<lay, "Springfield," consisting of rich dairy land, the farm of , the late" Tilr. Donald Grant, within a f nvile'of Teniuka borough, was sold at S suction in ten/lots of 10 to 20 acres. A | 20-acreMot,' With four-roomed house, sold ! at i£Bß';'pcr. acre. Other lots wero sjdd

at i£o>3 to JEBO an aero. Of the smaSler lots nearer the borough only one, oi five acres, was sold at iSO an aero.

LADY-BIRDS AND GREEN FLIES

The story of how tbe Californian fruit orchards worn nearly ruined by tho green lly pest and how ruin was averted is an interesting ono. bonis years ago tho orohaixla were over-run by green flies, find no amount of spraying could keep them in cheek. The fruit farmers estimated that in ono valley alone over ono million pounds worth of apples, pears, and melon vines were destroyed by the uphie, as the green fly is scientifically known. Buin seemed to stare the farmers in the face, until the United States Government took a hand in tl)o game. Tho Californian farmers had by scientifio methods of cultivation chiuiged the timo oi' the year when their fruit came to perfection, making it later in the year. Now this had a curious effect. Tho lady-birds, tho natural ineniy of the green ily, when they awoke from their winter hibernation, found nono of tho latter to feed cpon, and so died of starvation. The green llics, on the 6ther hand, catue to life later in tha jear, and finding no enemies to prey upon them waxoa fat and multiplied in their absence. Tho problem, then, for tho United States Insectary was to find a method by wliioh tho lady birds could Itii ntado to appear during the season of the green lly. Investigations proved that millions of lady-birds hibernated in tha Sierra Nevada Mountains. Largo quantities of specimens were brongnt jrom these mountain tops, and experiments carried out by keeping tho lady-birds in cold storage and waking batches of them at different times by raising the temperature. This proving successful, tiie difficulty then became ono of being able to 'collect sufficient lady-birds to cope with the depredations of the green ily. This was overcome by employing a large number of men who each winter climb tho snow-clad slopes, accompanied by pock-mules, una coiieet tne Hibernating lady-birds in millions. These are transported by train to Sacramento, where they are kept in cold storage and darkness until the tiino coiiies for them to bo dispatched to tho l'ruit farms. A couplo of pounds weight is sufficient for even a large fruit farm, as there are 33,001) lady-birds in each pound. The entire \ experiment has proved a success, and I again tho yearly bnttle goes on between tha lady-bird and green lly, the latter being kept down in numbers, and ita % destruction of fruit is now nearly a negligible quantity. From the above it will be seen that .by altering tho natural functions of nature there is a danger of bringing on difficulties which may entirely outweigh the benefits that accrue by the alteration.