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efforts almost hopeless, because their gardens are inundated with 

 pest from the indifferent man's garden. Again we think that old 

 abandoned orchards should be destroyed, as they are only breed- 

 dng places for pests, and again I would say that delay in this 

 matter will only give time for the insects to become so numerous, 

 that to undertake to eradicate them will be a far more difficult 

 task ; for instance, I have never known the pear slug so bad as 

 this year, and last year it was worse than the year previous, and 

 so on. This pest is spreading year by year, and others likewise. 

 Hence the necessity for Legislative enactment. Great care 

 should be taken to prevent the measure being arbitrary or oppres- 

 sive, aiming at cleansing and avoiding destructive measures, 

 except in cases of abandoned orchards. We think, too, it should 

 prohibit the importation of nursery stufE from disease-infested 

 colonies. For instance, young orange and lemon trees are imported 

 from New South Wales. The round orange scale abounds there ; 

 therefore young trees of the citrus family should be prohibited 

 from New South Wales ; this is one example, and must stand 

 for all. Heaven knows we have plenty of disease to cope with 

 without importing more. We do not think there is nearly so 

 much danger of disease being imported in cases of fruit as with 

 young trees, and we think all plants from any colony should be 

 fumigated or steeped in some solution before leaving ship or 

 train ; for the pear slug {Selandria cerasi) is said to have been 

 imported in some plant other than a fruit tree. 



What insects the Bill should include, we would respectfully 

 submit that there are many pests we do not even know the name 

 of, to say nothing of a means of destruction, and while we think 

 that a Bill should not overlook any, we think it should only be 

 drastic towards those for which there is a known remedy, for 

 instance — Hellebore powder will certainly destroy the pear slug; 

 bandaging the bole of the trees, and putting some warm soft sub- 

 stance in the fork of trees and spraying with Paris green while the 

 apples are in their earliest stages will be effectual in keeping the 

 codlin moth within bounds. I am afraid it can never be eradicated, 

 but it can be kept within such a limit as to make it of very little 

 danger. The red spider and peach aphis, especially the black, 

 can be coped with successfully, the green aphis is rather more 

 difficult, but can be destroyed ; on the other hand, the root-borer, 

 as far as I know, cannot be coped with, or there is no specific 

 found yet that is effectual, others the same way. So we suggest 

 that the Bill for the time being will only be stringent towards 

 those insects, such as the pear slug, codlin moth, red spider, and 

 peach aphis, for which there is a known remedy. 



We would also suggest that the words trees, plants, or vege- 

 tables shall include hedges, especially whitethorn, because they 



