THE HEMP INDUSTRY

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2391, 11 February 1922, Page 3

THE HEMP INDUSTRY

YELLOW LEAF DISEASE. Large areas of flax land in the Manawatu have been turned over for other purposes, and the mills closed through the ravages of “yellow leaf” disease. Work for flaxmill hands lias to that extent been reduced. The disease has been studied by Messi’s R. Waters and E. H. Atkinson, of the Biological Laboratory, Wellington. Reporting in the journal of the Department of Agriculture, they hold that “it should he clearly recognised that while every endeavour is being made to trace the cause of yellow leaf disease to a specific organism, nevex--theless in the light of our present knowledge it cannot be assumed that a. micro-organism is certainly the cause. Even if the ti’ouble is finally traced to a specific organism, the present evidence would show that only under pi’ecise conditions does it exhibit distinctive parasitism. We would therefore stress the study of requisite environmental conditions; it may ultimately prove more productive of control measures than a knowledge of the casual agent.”