39

I.—Ba

i 9. In your opening statement you mentioned weekly tenants ?—Yes ; and that seems to me the bugbear in keeping down the pest. ■ 20. Could you give any case of where there are weekly tenants of orchards ?—Yes, a great many. 21. Mr. J. W. Thomson.] Do you spray for the codlin-moth?—Yes. To give you an idea of the faith I have in spraying, I have just imported a machine which cost me as much as £10. To derive any advantage from spraying it must be done effectually and well. There are a great many different kinds of spraying-machines. You might say that any ordinary garden-squirt was a spraying-machine, but it is not a proper machine for the purpose, and to go into an orchard and use a tool which is not proper for its purpose is simply wasting time. 22. Do you bandage your trees ?—-I do so. 23. Which do you think is the more effective, spraying or bandaging?—To deal with the enemy properly you must fight it in all directions. 24. We have had it in evidence that bandaging is much more effectual than spraying, what is your experience in that respect?— Well, I say, as I said at first, that to battle with the enemy you must use all the means in your power: for instance, after bandaging your trees it is right enough, for you will catch many grubs. But there are other means by which these grubs conceal themselves. For instance, by accident I found a willow log about the length of this table lying alongside one of my trees with a sun-crack in it. I took it up and split it at the wood-chopping log and I found it thoroughly full of these grubs. 25. Mr. Duncan.] Of the codlin-moth?—Yes. It shows that wherever these grubs can bury themselves out of sight it will be the means of harbouring them. Even a dirty fence with leaves lying along the bottom of it will harbour them. Therefore you must use every means to battle with them. 26. Mr. J. W. Thomson.] Do you think that injudiciously spraying the trees will injuriously affect their vitality ?—The first lot of Paris green that I sprayed with was certainly not a great success ; it seemed to me to injure the trees. Then, Mr. Blackmore was round our district some twelve months ago, and I asked him the reason why the trees were hurt, and he told me that it was on account of the brand of Paris green that I had used. So I resolved to use another formula. Last year I used arsenite of lead, and I found that very successful. You can put it on as strong as you like and it will not injure the tree, and not only that, but it will kill other insects as well, such as the pearleech. 27. Mr. Duncan.] You stated that this codlin-moth came, as you thought, from other people : that is, from the small gardens which are in your immediate neighbourhood ?—Most decidedly, the pest must come from the dirty neighbourhood to the clean one. 27a. Supposing this table were marked out into sections and I had a section up here, I should be as likely to receive the pest from a section at the other end of the table as from any other ?—Yes. 28. Do you not think you had it plentifully yourself when you found it in that willow log that you spoke of?— Most decidedly I had. lam trying to exemplify this: that there is a necessity for clean cultivation. That would not have happened had I known of it. 29. Are you sure that you were not giving a lot to your neighbours ?—Fortunately, I found it out before any damage was done. 30. Is it not possible for them to locate themselves in the soil?— No. 31. How do you account for that? You have them living in a log and not in the soil?—lt is not the habit of the codlin-moth to live in the soil. 32. Hon. Mr. J. McKenzie.] Do you cultivate your orchard ?—Yes. 33. You keep it clean and cultivated ? —Yes. It is as clean as the top of this table. 34. Mr. J. W. Thomson.] You have an orchard of half an acre : what might the receipts be from that orchard—l do not mean the profits, but the net proceeds ? —I have taken as much as £25 from it before I was troubled with this pest. 35. But not since ?—No. I can assure you of this : that there are people in the district from which I come who will hail with pleasure a measure of this sort being passed, for the simple reason that they are so hopeless and tired of seeing this pest existing that they think it would be less trouble to do away with the trees than fight the pest without protection. 36. Hon. the Chairman.] Has a Government expert been in your district much ?—Mr. Blackmore was there last year. He paid us a flying visit again this year, but it was much too short, as he was called back. 37. Did his visit give satisfaction?— Most decidedly. I must congratulate the Government on appointing such a gentleman as that, for I can assure you he has opened the eyes of many of us who have gone in for fruit-growing. I imagine that what he has taught us is going to do a great deal of good. It has put a large amount of stimulus and energy into the matter, and if the same system is continued I believe that it will make New Zealand one of the greatest fruit-growing countries in the world. 38. Mr. Kirk.] You say that you have a dozen apple-trees : how many trees did you cut back and graft ?—I have about fifty-two trees in the garden, and I cut back the others. 39. You have dealt with the codlin-moth in a systematic way? —Yes. 40. And it has greatly reduced the pest ? —Yes. 41. Consequently, it has increased your profit ? —Yes, exactly so. I should like to state from my own experience my belief that if spraying and cultivation are carried out in a systematic manner, and especially in an isolated orchard, the result must be most satisfactory. I know as a fact that a man living two miles from me has succeeded in saving 90 per cent, of his fruit. 42. Did you use the quantities recommended by the Government ?—I got the mixture from Kempthorne and Prosser. 43. That is mixed in the way recommended by the Government ?—Yes, I suppose so.