FUMIGATION. 171 



111 Victoria but little has been done in the way of the 

 cyanide system of fumigation, although at the Burnley 

 Gardens a complete plant is working — this only for trees 

 and plants which are imported from the neighbouring 

 colonies or from outside. 



The Burnley fumigator is a wooden building, lined with 

 felt and then papered, the cyanide being introduced for 

 safety's sake from the outside of the building, so that 

 there is no danger to be apprehended from suffocation, 

 the effects of inhaling the gas during fumigating opera- 

 tions. Near the floor of the room is a " turbine fan," this 

 being worked by water, so that when the time of enclosure 

 has expired the cap of the tall flue is opened by means of 

 a lever, the water turned on, and the building in the course 

 of a few minutes may be opened with safety, and the trees 

 removed to make room for another lot which require 

 similar treatment. 



Every nurserj^ in the colony which sends out trees for 

 sale should, in my opinion, be compelled to have a small 

 fumigator erected on the place, so that all stock to be 

 packed should be first treated by means of the cyanide 

 chamber. It need hardly be pointed out to any practical 

 man that it is from nursery stock far more than from fruit 

 that the great danger of introducing many diseases lies, 

 as with fruit the chances of escape from infection are 

 many, but with trees you plant your orchard and at once 

 establish the disease, be it fungus or insect, on a perma- 

 nent basis. With regard to the fumigation of fruits 

 imported into Victoria, I must admit that I am against 

 such a course, for the reason that growers who send their 

 fruits here should be compelled by law to send it free 

 from disease or not at all. I hold it to be unfair to our 

 own growers, who are compelled by the terms of our 

 Vegetable Diseases Act to keep their orchards clean and 

 free from disease, and to erect fumigators, would, in 

 my opinion, tend to render our colony a dumping ground 

 for diseased fruits of other countries. 



