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3
1885–6
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VINE DISEASES BILL.
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REPORT
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THE SELECT COMMITTEE of the Legislative Council, to whom was referred, on the
1st September, 1886,–" The Vine Diseases Bill," –with power to send for persons and papers, beg leave to report to your Honorable House:–
That they have examined the witnesses named in the List (and whose
evidence will be found appended hereto); and that in accordance with a resolution of the House they visited the vineyard at Camden Park and one near the town of Camden.
The evidence shows that the Phylloxera Vastatrix was first noticed in
Australia in certain vineyards near Geelong, in Victoria, and was supposed to have been brought there with grape-vines imported from France. Destructive measures were adopted there, and it is believed that the pest was not spread from that centre in that Colony. The vines were uprooted and burned, the land was chemically treated with bisulphide of carbon, and has been laid down in grass.
This disease at Camden was first proved to be Phylloxera some eighteen
months since. It is supposed to have commenced its ravages there in 1879. Camden and its neighbourhood is the only known centre of the disease in New South Wales. It appears at present to be confined to less than 17 acres within a circle of 3 miles.
The Committee visited Camden Park in company with Mr. Charles Moore,
Director of the Botanical Gardens, and had an opportunity of seeing the insect. It is almost indistinguishable to the naked eye. A powerful microscope revealed the presence of insects which corresponded in appearance with the figures of the Phylloxera insect given in the scientific text-books. As well as on the roots of the grape-vine, an insect, very similar, if not quite identical, was seen on the roots of the English oak-tree, growing close to the vineyard.
Your Committee are of opinion that as the disease is confined at present to
narrow limits, the proper course to pursue is to destroy the virus and vineyards now infected, and thus prevent any further spread of the disease. That this should be done at once, and before the insect develops into the flying stage of its existence, which is said to take place in the end of the summer, probably in the month of February.
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