JAMBEROO,

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 317, 2 November 1860, Page 3

JAMBEROO,

Blight.—lt would be very opportune and beneficial if we could find in this quarter (Jam* beroo) some one competent like the Great St. Patrick, Who drove the frogs from off the bogs, And banished all the vermin. to extirpate that troublesome and destructive insect,--the aphis, with which this district has been infested for some two or three years, and wh:oh confined its ravages principally to culinary herbs, but which now had assumed a more serious aspect, by attacking the growing wheat and green stuff, and completely destroying it. They have been making great havoc in the Stoney Creek locality for some six or seven weeks, and one party, I am told, has lost about six acres of wheat by them, and so detestable is' the smell which they impart to the plants, that it is of no use for anything in the shape of food' for cattle. They are still confined to one place, and have not appeared as far down as the valley of Jamberoo (and long may they stay away), and although there is not a large quantity of wheat growing down here, yet what small patches there are, will entail a great loss on the grower, as it is all some of them have to depend upon. A great many ways of destroying these insects have been propounded, but I believe the most effectual is strong soapsuds applied to the plant twice a day ; but of course this only applies to small patches of vegetables, as it would be impossible to adopt it generally, perhaps a change in the atmosphere will do more than all human contrivances.