Codlin Moth in Nelson.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 206, 11 June 1887, Page 4

Codlin Moth in Nelson.

In a thoughtful leading article the Nelson Weekly News discusses the codlin moth question in connection with the labours of the local Fruitgrowers' Association, & committee of which has been recently engaged in considering tho important subject of the repression of orchard pests. We shall be interested in learning the results of their deliberations. The article refers to the special rapidity with which tike moth has spread in tho Nelson orchards as compared with other districts, and accounts fcr the fact as follows :—: — " There is scarcely a blessing or advantage without its drawback. We cannot have a climate so confessedly delightful as that of Nelson without tho disadvantage which is inseparable from it The conditions of heat and moisture, the absence of long frosts in winter, the almost incessant sunshine and tho months of dry weather in which human beings find they can either work or play with a minimum of inconvenience — these things are as favourable to the vitality and multiplication of insect life as of human." But according to this theory Auckland orchards .should be in a worso position than those of Nolt-on, for in some seasons frosts are almost entirely absent in the neighbourhood of the Auckland isthmus. The real and most fatal encouragement to the codlin moth is long continued neglect in the cleaning of old trees. Tho northern fruit plantations are for tho most part quite young compared with the Nelson orchards, and tho moth has not had the time or the oppoitunity to establish himself so firmly in the former as in the latter district. Give him time, and Nelson will have nothing to crow about in the matter of codlin moth pationage -that is if northern orchardists do not awake to the necessity of battling vigorou-ly against the pest year after year. Referring to what might bo done by tho Fruit-growers' Association in the way of instiucting the general public on the subject of 01 chard pests, our contemporary says : — " One thing tho Committee must certainly do, and that is, dill'use throughout, the district, by means of pamphlets and the Press— which will, of cour-e, be glad to render what assistance it ean — the best obtainable information as to tho treatment of o» chard-* and gardens ofllicted with tho pests. Such information can, of course, be at present obtained without much difficulty by any one who will seek it in likely quarters?. Tho New Zealamj Farmer, c. <j , published monthly, in Auckland, and at tho moderate cost of ten shillings per annum, gives all the most modern information on this and a variety of other subjects, and a\ ell deserves tho attention of anyone really desirous of learning how to deal practically with tho codlin moth. JBut what is wanted is a small handy pamphlet, dealing with this and other garden pests?, in an easily, intelligible and practical way, and giving the actual results and cos>t of experiments already tried by competent people. Such pamphlets have already been published in New Zeahnd, but do not seem to be as well-known as they should be. Amongst them may be mentioned a 'Report on the Fusicladiums, Codlin Moth, and other Fungus and Insect pests, attacking apple and pear trees in South Australia,' by F. S. Crawford, published by the Hon. Commissioner of Crown Lands in South Australia. Another is the ' Report on Insects Injuriou ■ to Fruit Crops in Great Britain,' prepared by Chaf. Whitehead, F.L.S., for the Agricultural Department, Privy Council Othce. Both these pamphlets are before us, and though the prfce at which they are published is only, in each case, a few pence, jet they contain so large an amount of really useful and carefully compiled information that they are, to the orchardi&t, worth their weight in gold."