13 



means are not discovered for combating the natural enemies of the 

 fruit tree. Forty years ago blights are said to 

 have been practically unknown in this district; even 

 the peach tree was in those days free from attack. 

 At the present day we hear constant complaints of blights and insect 

 pests, of bitter pit, black spot, aphis, and codlin moth. I do not 

 doubt that all these plagues are capable of scientific control, and the 

 workers at the Institute will no doubt show us step by step how each 

 of these troubles is to be dealt with. Some of these investigations 

 will require to be very lengthy, involving, as they certainly will, a 

 study of the life history of the various pests and of the conditions 

 which are most and least favourable to their development. "Good 

 bread needs baking," and it is only by a very careful examination of 

 each problem, in consultation with the practical men engaged in the 

 industry, that improvements, such as we all desire, can be effected. 

 It is perhaps worth while to point out that a comparatively small 

 improvement in the general producing value of the land in the Nelson 

 district would represent an annual sum exceeding the whole capital 

 value of the Cawthron Bequest ; and if only one investigation out of 

 twenty carried out in the Institute proved to be of direct economic 

 value the expenditure on the researches would be more than justified. 



(c) The flax industry, the third largest of the New Zealand export 

 trades, will benefit greatly by the applications of scientific method. 

 Very little work of value has been published about Phormium tenax 

 since Hector's valuable report in 1889 based chiefly on the reports 

 of the Commissioners in 1871. Three tons of refuse are produced 

 for every ton of fibre, and no use is made of this refuse, though it 

 is known to have a considerable manurial value. My experiments 

 have convinced me that the substance may become a profitable 

 source of alcohol, of mill fuel, and of potassic fertiliser. Experi- 

 ments are badly needed upon flax cultivation under rigorously con- 

 trolled conditions with the object of producing disease-resistant 

 strains, more rapid development, larger leaves, increased quantity 

 and better quality of fibre. Such experiments will certainly be 

 attended with great difficulties, but in view of the success which has 

 followed similar investigations in the case of wheat, of beetroot, and 

 of sugar cane, there is no doubt that the researches should be at 

 once initiated. 



(d) Much experimental work is needed in connection with our 

 forests; indeed, according to that noted forester, Mr. D. E. 

 Hutching, "scientific forestry in New Zealand has yet to begin."* 

 Timber shortage is almost world-wide; it is pressing in New Zea- 

 land, and will in a few years become acute. With a sane forest 

 policy this country would have abundance of timber for its own 

 needs and for a large export trade. This trade would support a 

 large forest population and Avould lead to the conversion of many 

 inferior beech forests into areas of high-class timber and to the 

 reahorestation of districts in which the forest has been thouo-ht- 

 lessiy and disastrously .destroyed. There are apparently few 

 systematic records of the rates at which our native trees grow 



*A Discussion of Australian Forestry. Perth, 1916, p. 389. 



