THE HEDGE LEECH IN THE WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1478, 22 December 1881, Page 2

THE HEDGE LEECH IN THE WAIKATO.

Mr J. A. Douglas, Brunt wood, Tamahere, writes under date 19th inst. : — To the Editor. — Dear Sir : — " Last Sunday I observed that the (( hedge leech" had made its debut for this season on thorn, plums, cherry and pear trees. I immediately started syringing the leaves of the trees with a decoction of white hellebore powder and water, two liberal applications of which are generally sufficient for the season. It is not an expensive remedy, as a heaped up tablespoonf ul of the powder is plenty for a bucket of water. En passant, old kerosine tins with a small end out out and a handle of No. 5 or 4 wire are very handy for the hellebore water. , Throw the powder on the top of the water and let it stand for 12 or 24 hours, then Btir it well with a stick or by terating the water with a strong garden syringe. See that the water is the same all through— the powder thoroughly mixed, no lumps. Syringe the leaves of every trep on which you see a single leech. ; Be most liberal to the leaves of the top branches as the drip from those falls on the lower leaves and not directly on the ground. The leech first made its appearance here on a whitethorn fence. The following year it attacked also, pears (very severely), plums, peaches and cherries, ou iar u nap not touched apples, Spamsn chestnuts and English walnuts in the same orchard. I have been told that it is an imported pest. If so, reasoning from analogy, it ha begun with thorns and spread to plum, peach cherry and pear trees— as ifc gets more acclimatised it will probably develops a taste for other articles of diet in our Now Zealand menu. The hellebore water kills every leech it touches, and also, birds that eat too many poisoned leeches. Can any one tell me this ?If you apply it now to plum trees with plums about half grown will it penetrate the skin and poison some of Her Majesty's lieges later on ? Secondly. — Is this leeoh the larvae of some winded insect ? if so is there any w»y' of waging a war of extermination on the parent insect P It is easy enough to tackle an acre or two of orchard and its fences) but how can yon deal with miles "of whitethorn, blackthorn, or Vermont damson fences,' all of which are badly attacked <by the the leech. Whether or not' the plants are weakened bj the injury to k theleaveas' t.ne the result is Tory aiwnghtly, 1 and spoili the

appearatos of what ought to ba green lanes for several months ereij autumn. The leech is spreading very fabfc and war should be declared against it if only for the benefit of the landscape.