BRONZE BEET[?]

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 389, 25 November 1932, Page 4

BRONZE BEET[?]

| ROTORUA ORCHARD SU FROM RAVAGES OF PEST. A Rotorua resident who! ] zealously cultivating his ofi ports that extensive damage caused by the bronze beef develops from the larvae notorious grass grub. ^ After spending an afterno:H| ing his friut trees, the !-Wm found the next morning plum trees had been almostf|w by some insect pest whidffl erally stripped the trees S foliage. Ther.e was, howevtjP hair nor hoof of the inva^^ seen and nothing to indicaii^ this plague of locusts lradiH out of Egypt or the blue. B| Finally, after an unava®« the orchard owner retired atflH leaving his trees without an insect pest upon them-fi| turned half ah hour later,^p after darkness had falletgB his amazement discorered^^ literally alive with thoi^K beetles which were devoi^E leaves with almost appallinfHg The drone of the insects asfle ceeded in their wo|k of almost resembled a swarro!'-^^ bees* Determined to exact bution the orchardist depat^p turned to the attack with a a lead arsenic spray ' he wrought diligently.* Hr In th6 morning, howevgHK returned to count headSi^Ws again no sign of a beetlei@E or dead. Even more puzzled, 1 owrier -decided to investi'gJ,|H and proceeded to dig' under the trees. There, of 10 inches, he found the invasion. _ The soft uff|^ this depth, he states, ^■Ef alive with masses of hrot:|^ lying in the soil almost W| manner of ants. Appai'^jK ever, none of the inV^-^p was ariy the worse f°r 'Wjm of , the previous eve^Hf and he is now expei'imE^M other sprays which will VB| ually with the trouble. H| A peculiar f eature of was that the beetles did to attack _ apple or Peal'B| cohcentrated on certaifi flR plums._ Some seasons _ago,