122 



THE AGEICULTUEAL NEWS. 



April 9, 1904. 



INSECT NOTES. 



Ticks on Fowls. 



The Imperial Doiwrtment of Agriculture has recently 

 received, from a corre.si)ondeiit in Barbados, specimens of a 

 tick from a fowl house. The specimens were accompanied 

 by a letter stating that the fowls had been drooping and a 

 few had died and that it was suspected that this tick might 

 be the cause. 



lieference to this pest {Aiyas sp.) is found in the 

 Agricultural A'ews (Vol. I, pp." 74 & 106). On p. 106 

 Mr. J. H. Hart, Superintendent of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens, 

 Trinidad, is quoted as saying: ' It kills fowls rapidly unless 

 they are treated. We have found kerosene and cocoa-nut 

 oil, in eijual parts, very effective.' 



In Barbados i)ure kerosene oil has been recommended 

 for disinfecting the poultry house, and also white lime wash 

 with 4 oz. crude carbolic acid to the gallon of wash. These 

 may be put on with a si>raying i>ump, or with a brush, 

 taking care to cover all parts of the interior and to penetrate 

 all cracks and crevices. Careful disinfection of the poultry 

 houses and fowl runs, and treatment of the fowls themselves 

 will be necessary in order to exterminate the pests. 



Scale Insects in Cyprus. 



The Cyprv.s Journal (Vol. I, no. I) has an interesting 

 article on Carob scale disease. The C'arob (Ceratonia 

 siiiqua) is a tree which, while not yielding crops of high 

 value, is of con.siderable importance on account of its 

 contribution to the general sujiply of stock food in the 

 island. Several scale insects are known to attack the Carob 

 of which the AVhite Scale (AspiJiotus ceratonine) is the most 

 serious. This appeared a few years ago in small numbers 

 and in scattered localities, but is now generally distril>uted 

 and has become in some places a serious pest. 



In the village of Kili the attack of the White Scale has 

 been the worst. Here, in the valley lying between two 

 ranges of hills, the atmosphere is hot and moist and jieculiarly 

 ada[)ted to the multiplication of the scale insects. At the 

 .same time, the Director of Agriculture states that in this 

 badly infested locality he had never observed the Lady-bird, 

 Chilocorus lisuftulatus, which is common in other parts of 

 the island, nor had he seen any other parasite on the scale, 

 and he considers that these facts explain why this locality 

 should be more badly infested than others. 



The Carob not being considered of sufficient economic 

 importance to warrant the processes of spraying or fumigating, 

 the Director of Agriculture }iroposes the following method 

 of combating the scale disease : — 



All the leaves, fruit and twigs are removed in January 

 and the trunk and limbs of the tree are white-washed with a 

 thick solution of slaked lime containing 3 to .5 per cent, 

 petroleum. This is put on with a brush or a piece of cloth 

 attached to a stick. This treatment is not costly and is quite 

 effective. One year's crop from the tree will be lost, as all 

 the energies of the tree will be devoted to recf>very from the 

 stripping of the leaves and twigs. Watch should be V&\ii of 

 the trees for several years after this treatment and all 

 scale-infested leaves, fruit or branches removed. 



Cockroaches. 



Several notices have appeared in the columns of 

 the Ayrlcvltural Xew^ regarfling the destruction of 

 cockroaches. The following method, from L'Ai/ricul- 

 tii.rc pratique des puy^ cIkiaiaIx, seems simple and 

 likely to be effectual: — 



Wide mouth bottles 6 inches or S inches in height are 

 partly filled with oil [sweet oil?] and [ilaced in the haunts of 

 the insects. The bottles should be slightly tipiied up and 

 fa.stened in this i>osition to make the ascent ea.sier to the 

 cockroach. Attracted by the odour of the oil the insect 

 plunges into the bottle and the oil, where he is killed by the 

 action of the latter. 



Banana WeevU in Madagascar. 



The L'Aijraultttre prati-/ue dts ptujs chuuih contains an 

 article on this subject in which the damage to the 'Fig' 

 banana by a weevil is mentioned and a description of the 

 weevil in its dilferent stages is given. This insect is the 

 same as the Banana Weevil known in certain of the West 

 Indian Islands {S^ifienophorug norJit/ux), which tunnels in the 

 stems and frequently causes the death of the tree. 



The special importance of this pest in Madagascar is due 

 to the fact that the bananas are used as shelter for cacao, 

 and the destruction of this cover gives the cacao a set-back 

 for five or six months. 



No remedies are suggested, excejit to choose those 

 varieties which are least suscei)tible to the attack. 



Mr. H. Maxwell-Lefroy, formerly Entomologist on the 

 .staff of the Imperial Department of Agriculture, recom- 

 mended the use of lime, ashes, soot, or refuse tobacco, at the 

 base of the banana stem, to prevent the entrance of the adult 

 borer, and the destruction of the infected stems by burninu-, 

 by treatment with quick lime or by burying them, for the 

 destruction of any eggs, larvae, pupae or adults that might 

 be within. As a single banana stem sometimes contains as 

 many as fifty borers in dift'erent stages, this would seem to be 

 quite ft rational method. 



The Tsetse Fly and Sleeping Sickness. 



An interesting article in JViiture of February 1, 1904, 

 on sleeping sickness rehearses the proof that the tsetse fly 

 is res[ionsiblB for the transmittance of this fatal di.sease. 

 For 100 years the sleeping sickness has been known in 

 Africa, but only recently has the nature of the disease and 

 the method of its transmission been well understood. 



The tsetse Hy disease (' Ngana ') of cattle was shown by 

 Colonel Bruce, B.A.M.C, F.Ii.S., to be caused by a micro.scopic 

 organism, called by scientists a trypanosome. This organism 

 is introduced into the blood by the tsetse fiy when it bites its 

 victim, having been derived from an unhealthy animal. 

 Surra disease of horses in India is also caused by a trypano- 

 .some and there is a similar disease of cattle in South America. 



In 1902, trypanosomes were discovered in man. Since 

 that time nuich work lias been done on the sleejiing sickness 

 and the relation between it, the presence of trypanosomes 

 and the distribution of the tsetse fly, and it has been demon- 

 strated that the distribution of the disease and of a certain 

 specie.'* of liiting Hy are identical. Trypanosomes in the 

 blood produce only a characteristic fever, but in cases where 

 a try|ianosome has gained entry to the cerebrospinal fluid, 

 sleeping sickne.ss and consequent death result. 



There is no treatment for the .sleei)ing sickness that 

 affords any hope of a cure ; the disease is always fatal. 



