The Garden. Spent Bark for Mulching.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 192, 19 February 1887, Page 1

The Garden. Spent Bark for Mulching.

This material has been extensively used in some places for many- years past. It is invaluable to those whose gardens are liable to suffer from drought. I have a border under a wall, the coil of which is light and sandy, and where during the hot days we have bean obliged to water plants and young trees sometimes twice a day to keep them alive. Lately I had nearly the whole of it first well watered, and then coveted with about 3 inches of well-rotted spent I bark. After about three or four weeks' almost daily exposure to a burning sun, I found the soil which had been covered quite moist, though no rain bad fallen, nor had it been once watered, After a free u«?e of it for some time I am convinced that about three fourths of the labour is saved by the mulching, and the appearance of the bed U i improved I would strongly recommend (where it can be obtained) two inches at least being used, as it not only keeps the ground moist, but prevents weeds to a groat extent from growing. The bark thonld ba well rotted' before u?ing, and if used in the spring, the ground to be covered should be allowed to get fairly waim — C F., in "Harden Illustrated." The Codllu Moth. The orchardists of New Zealand for so\eral years past have realised ihat they have a hard and unceasing tight on their hnnrj& in combating the different insect pests that threaten the lives of their trees ac well a« tbe almost total destruction of the fruit. The Codlin moth is now all moet a universal pest in New Zealand, and, as most apple growers are now aware, when it onca invade* an orclbard it is exceedingly difficult to get rid of. It is only a few years ago thnt its ravages were felt here to any extent, but now more than two-thirds of the crop fs spoiled every season. From every fruitgrower around Auckland the question is continually asked, " What is to be done so as to check the ravages of this pernicious insect? Nothing effectual can be done till our orchardists wake up to the fact that only by organising strong local associations who \vih take stepa to see that earnest, persistent, and united work is carried on, can | its ravages be reduced to a minimum, j These associations should meat from time to time so as to discuss the most effectual remedies for this and other orchard pe9ts, and when and where necessary the Government, should give them the power to see that certain remedies are enforced, ac it is of little use a few growers trying to keep this peet undar if one or two orchards in the same district are allowed to carry on in the present haphazard manner For the last two years I have given this pest a little attention. For the most part the cure? that are recommended are what might be called summer ones, 3"eh as traps, etc., for catching the grub when it issues from the fruit In nearly all these cases the infected fruit must fall to tho ground with the insect still in it, such insect to be caught in travelling up the trunks of the trees Now, from frequent teats of inftcted apples which I have opened as taken frcm the trees. I have found nearly half of them without any grub. The grub has evidently left the fruit and taken up its quarters upon the limb 1 * of tho tree, where in nome crevice it would spin its cocoon, from which it would be ready to issue in the form of a i moth in the spring and begin to lay it 3 eggs in the next season* fruit. Some of the traps for catching the grub 9 which do not leave the fruit till it falls are very good, but something must be done to catch or trap those which leave the fruit while on the tree Picking off and destroying all infected fruit before the insect attains anything like maturity will, in a measure, help in some cases ; but this cannot be done in all cases. To meet the difficulty there mußt be some system of poisoning in the spring. In a former issue I gave an extract from an American paper, where for a year or two past experiments with solutions of Paris green and London purple have been tried with considerable success. The trees are sprayed (syringed) two or three times in the early spring with the«e poisons, while the moth is flying about looking for fruit to deposit its egga in. The poison has the effect of driving off the moth or killing the newly -laid egg. Careful observation bas proved that where tho poison has been thus applied there is not the slightest danger to be apprehended by the consumers of fruit when it has reached maturity, the materials all being absorbed by the atmosphere or washed off. Anyone who has infected trees should tiy a number of the appleß which are beginning to arrive at maturity, and he will soon be able to satisfy himself that a considerable number of the grubs leave the fruit before falling. To reach these apring applications will need to be resorted to. This year the ravages of the insect have been severely felt in some of our local orchard?, and unless strong preventative measures are taken the depredations are sure to increase instead of decrease. The effect of this has been discouraging on fruitgrowers, and on those contemplating the planting of aew orchards. Thie ia not a bright lookout for our" fruit interests, but I think that some are getting discouraged too soon, as they have the remedy in their own hands if they will only use it, and that is, the forming of associations, and making it compulsory for all owners of fruit trees to take steps to keep pests under. To some of my correspondents that occasionally ask me how the Codlin moth can be got rid of entirely, I can only say that there is but one method, and that is, all fruit must ba entirely destroyed &11 over the country for ona year. It would be impossible for the moth to propagato, if all fruit; was destroyed. Tho moth only laya its oggs in the young fruit. Ab the fruit grows the egg develops into a grub, and foods on the growing fruic till it becomes a full-grown insect, when it leaves the fruit, and in 'some convenient place it weaves a cocoon, from which it emerges in tho spring in the shape of a moth, and again lays eggs which will pro* duce the grrib. Now, if all fruit were pulled off the trees in a young state and destroyed, the food supply being cut off the grub most die. Though Such , ia the base, I do not believe that if the 'above was tried it '

would be possible to get rid of all the fruit in every orchard, and a few left would be sufficient to brk q about the same state of affairs a few years hence. Even if it were possible to destroy all, we would soon receive fresh importations from either America or Australia, even though no iin portation of fruit was allowed It would only be necessary for some one in America or Australia to place by accident a basket of fresh-pulled apples from an infected orchard beside a cane of general merchandise coming to Now Zealand The grubs from the infected applet would be leaving the fruit; and the crevice* in the cases would give just the proper places for building their cocoon*. By thh means freeh supplies would be imported, which the sharpest eyes in our Excise would fail to detect.