MOSS AND BLIGHT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2215, 18 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

MOSS AND BLIGHT.

Whiting on this subject, says " Hortus : " When fruit trees become of a cortaiu age it is usual for them to be covered with mosses. Whether these are injurious to trees or not is a question that has been discus«ed more or loss for many years. But whether the growth of mosses on trees is regarded aa a cause of unhealthmess or merely the result of a disease, they certainly ought not to bo encouraged. They should be destroyed as aoon as they make their appearance. There exists, as is generally admitted, a striking similarity between animal and vegetable life, which havo a great many points in common. The bark of the tree is tho same to the tree as the skin is to the animal. Whoever heard of a man in perfect health whoso skin was a prey to scurvy, a dog or a horse bad with the mange? Animals badly infested with insects cannot be healthy, for they are in a continual state of irritation. So is it with trees, whose bark is infested with parasitic growth or insect pests. We cannot expect, under these circumstance, to find a tree healthy, or capabls of bearing good crops of firstclass fruit. Trees left to themselves with their barks preyed upon by insect and parasitic growths will sooner or later die. I am well aware that a good number of fruit trees with their limbs almost entirely covered with mosses frequently bear heavy crops of fruit, but the fruit is never so sound or so well flavoured as fruit grown upon trees free from such pests. Trees in the above condition should, when the leaf is off the tree, receive some attention. "Some pruning or thinning out overcrowded branches, and admitting more air, will aid in checking their growth, but the most effectual method is to dreo3 the limbs with materials which will kill the mosses and insocU There are a great number of disinfectants available for the purpose. Potash dissolved in water will destroy lichen growth, and if the application is repeated a few times it will decompose the dead bark, and leave the surface of the young and healthy bark free from injurious growth of all kimK Soapy compound* are usually preferred to pure potash, as they remain longer and are more obnoxious to insects that deposit their eggs in the bark." Paraffin is also extensively used for the same purpose. In the Nineteenth Century tho Rev. Henry P. Dun»ter says:— The tree appeared to be gradually dying, and I was reluctant to cut it down. On former occasions I had recource to tks ordinary remedy—the common oil brush, but not having common lamp oil at hand it occurred to me to try whether paraffin would have the same etfect. About a pint of paraffin was put into a wide mouthed bottle, and with a painter's biush the tree received a dressing wherever any blight had m.ide its appearance. The oil was then well rubbed over. The result was that all traces of the American blight were obliterated by the process, and in a very few days the moss, and also large patches of lichen, which were thickly spread in all directions, turned black and died. The above was applied in the autumn. Encouraged by this first trial, I dressed during the following autumn several other trees with equal success." We can fully bear out the statement of the rev. gentleman about kerosene (paraffin) and lamp oil being fatal to parasitic growths, but at the same time we recommend the most guarded use of them. "Hortus" points out the resemblance between the bark of a tree and the skin of an animal, and we know what result quickly follows if you pour kerosene over an animal to destroy vermin. You kill the vermin, but you often injure the beast as well. It is even more the case with fruit trees, many of which are often seriously injured by the application of such a powerful poison to plant life as kerosene is. The aanje with lamp oil. It clogs up the pores of the bark, and quickly produces canker. What we prefer for the purpose in question, is common household soap dissolved in boiling water, and with a littlo kerosene stirred in while it is still warm. The soapy water takes up the ! kerosene and forms a most efficient insecticide. It should not be used too strong, for a i weak solution will bo quite sufficient to destroy the woolly blight. It is not enough, however, to just dose a tree and then leave it alone till next year. A good look-out should bo kept for the re-appear-ance of the pest, and the treatment renewed, when the tree will by degrees be educated into a much more healthy state, and will be less liable to recurring attacks. Some varieties of trees are, however, so predisposed to attacks of the aphis, that it is very doubtful policy to have them cm the premises at all. They are an endless source of trouble, and are generally of very small profit.— Exchange

The World says :—": — " It seems but yesterday that Hobart Pawha was amonpst us at the little house on the shady side of Berkeley-square, acting indefatigably as the society sponsor of Hasan Fehmi, working hard for the Turkish extent c cordiale, which never cameabout, and wilting Jingo letters to the morning papers and torpedo articles for Blackwood. It was a shock to many people on Saturday evening to learn that the cheery Admiral had died amongst strangers at Milan on his way home, for the latest tidings of his health had been more encouraging. His youthful exploits, his adventures as a I blockade runner in America, his command of the Turkish fleet in Cretan waters, the removal of his name from the British Navy List, his daring and narrow escape during the Russo-Turkish war, are by the time nearly all forgotten. For a brief hour they will be again the topic of conversation and comment. Augustus Hobart died a Marshal of the Turkish Empire and full of Ottoman honours. He certainly did his best for the country of his adoption ; he told yarns like a true salt, and now we can hear them no more we shall gladly pardon the long bow he occasionally drew for the benefit and amusement of his audience. In him the Sultan has, perhaps, lost his only really trusty servant. Hobart Pasha will bo quite as much missed in Loudon as he will be on the shores of the Bosphorus." An Irishman who had on a ragged coat was asked of what kind of stuft it was madd "Bedad, I don't know!" said he. " But I think the moat of it is made of fresh air.