FIGHTING PESTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 250, 13 June 1932, Page 7

FIGHTING PESTS

PARASITES TO DESTROY AUSTRALIAN FRUIT BLIGHTS. Recently there arrivqd in Sydney 81,300 bahy immigrants for Australia, to he reared and trained as soldiers. They are the 81,000 eggs of a bettle, to developed the St. Johns Wort and 300 eggs of a &y to destroy scale on fruit trees. This effort to fight pests with parasities has followed on the great success scored by cactoblastis, the cochineal insect from Texas, in keeping down pricldy pear. It is an interesting fact in nature that nearly every living thing has a parasite. In fact, the parasites themselves

I have hyper-parasites, and these again i have tertiary parasites. For Dry-CIeaning. i It is for this reason that the 300 fly eggs will, after hatching, be placed in entomological quarantine to free them from their own parasites, and so give them a greater chance to do their work. There is a natural parasite on the sheep blowfly in Australia, but the parasite's own parasites prey upon and prevent it from keeping the blowfly down. It is for this reason Australia is now experimenting with blowfly parasites from abroad. There are many other pitfalls. An Australian ladybird was introduced into New Zealand to exterminate an orchard pest. The latter took refuge in gorse, whare the ladybird would not follow. The ladybird then died or flew away into the mountains. When a heetle that feeds on a weedpest is introduced, a long period of testing it in the laboratory follows. It is tested to make sure it will eat the pest and nothing else. Cactoblastis, for instance, dies when its natural food, prickly pear, is all destroyed. 1 /