Dear Adam , curiously I have just finished reading the account of the introduction of Kudzu by the american government of the time as a solution to the erosion problems caused by inappropriate agricultural methods which had lead to the famous "dust bowls" Mark > "Message du 28/01/09 19:40 > De : "Adam Fikso" > A : "Pacific Bulb Society" > Copie à : > Objet : Re: [pbs] importation discussion and PBS > > > Moving to other biological control models Snakes in Trinidad.--Bring in mongooses to control the snakes. Fine! Excellent results at first,. But after the snakes were eaten, and there were no more and the baby mongooses had to be fed, they started decimating the chickens on which > poorer and rural folks depended--wth resulting poverty . > > Australia provides better and more enduring examples of biological control gone sour.. But the kind of thinking here is known in the military as "Get a bigger hammer" i.e., more of the same. If an unregulated financial market provides examples of nationwide bank failure through bad judgment, then clearly what is required is more of the same.... > > ...People who import seeds as individal growers,connoisseurs or hybridizers are not often the source of the agricultural devastation that arises from Mediterranean fruit flies or similar agent. But I have never seen a studhy on the matter. Anybody know of any such studies? And how did Kudzu get into the country anyway? I'm going right now to look it up. " >