58 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



February 13, 1904. 



INSECT NOTES. 



The Experiment Station at Montserrat. 



The following is ;i brief rejjoit by Mr. H. A. 

 Ballon, B.Sc, Entomologist on the staff of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture, on the condition of the 

 Grove Experiment Station at Montserrat in relation 

 to insect pests. It will be seen that nothing of the 

 nature of a serious insect attack has occurred at the 

 Station and that e\"ery effort is made to keep the 

 plants free from pests : — 



The general condition of the plants in the gardens and 

 nurseries was very good ; very few insect pests were found 

 and these, with one exceiition, were well-known forms and in 

 very small numbers. 



A tew iilants in the nurseries, attacked by species of 

 Lecanium and the Black Line scale, which had been left 

 over in the nurseries, were taken out and destroyed. 



The only new insect found at the Botanic Station was 

 a species of Bagworm, feeding on the leaves of the grape 

 fruit. Several specimens were taken but all died while still 

 in the larval stage, and so far I am not acquainted with the 

 adult insect. Spraying with Paris green will serve to keep 

 this insect under control. 



In the rejxjrt of my visit to Montserrat in May 1903 

 {A'jrindtural News, Vol. II, p. 248) I mentioned a hedge of 

 lime trees at the Station which had been sprayed. At the 

 time of my last visit, this hedge had not received the second 

 spraying and showed only slight re-infestation. 



The trees are remarkably healthy and vigorous, and 

 their freedom from scales indicates Avhat might be accom- 

 j)lished by careful spraying. 



The spraying apparatus at Grove Station consists of two 

 Knapsack sprayers and several Atomizers. A good stock of 

 insecticides is kept on hand. Mr. Jordan i.s trying some 

 experiments with crude sulphur from the local Soufriere, for 

 insecticide purposes, and this will also be tried in the leaf- 

 blister mite experiments. 



Onions in Montserrat have been attacked bj' two species 

 of caterpillars, and this with the unfavourable weather will 

 probably somewhat reduce the crop. The caterpillars differ 

 from the so-called onion moth in that they do not live inside 

 the leaf. One of these is a moth larva, the adult of which I 

 have not been able to obtain, and the other is a butterfly 

 larva not determined, but probably Piois sp. These are 

 easily found in the \ery early morning or late in the evening. 

 As soon as the sun is on the onion [ilants it is very 

 difficult to find them as they evidently hide in, or on, the 

 ground during the day and come out again to feed after 

 sunset. These pests cause the leaves to turn a greyish brown, 

 and the field takes a dry look as if some leaves were ripening 

 prematurely. The larvae seem to be alike in eating onlj- the 

 outer epidermis and the soft tissues leaving the inside 

 epidermis to wither and turn brown. Spraying or dusting 

 with Paris green will prol)abIy prove a simjile and effective 

 check for this pest. I was unable to find any Thrijis on the 

 onions. 



FOREST RESERVATIONS IN TOBAGO. 



A letter was recently received by the Imperial 

 Commissioner of Agriculture from Dr. J. C. Giffbrd, 

 who has for some time been working on forest reserva- 

 tions in Porto Rico, mentioning that he had found an 

 old map of T(jbago, made before Queen Victoria's time, 

 on which was marked a forest reservation. Dr. Giffbrd 

 stated that it was labelled ' Reserved in Woods for 

 Rains,' and asked to be furnished with further informa- 

 tion relating to these tropical reserves. 



The Government of Trinidad, (jn being communi- 

 cated with, furnished reports on the subject by Mr. F. 

 Lodge, of the Indian Forest Service, and MV. C. S. 

 Rogers, Forest Officer in Trinidad, and mentioned that 

 forest reserves are now being laid out on all the 

 mountain lidges in Trinidad. 



Mr. Rogers' account of the Tobago rain reserve is 

 as follows : — 



The reserve in Tobago referred to by Dr. Gilford was, 

 until 1903, merely a tract of land reserved from .sale and 

 marked on the ma[(. It included little more than the top of 

 the main ridge of the Central Range of the island ; its area 

 was given as 2, -500 acres. I find that its area by planimeter 

 is 5,200 acres. 



In 1900, Mr. Lodge, Deputy Conservator of Forests of 

 the Indian Forest Service, rei>orted on Forest Conservation 

 in the cf)lony of Trinidad and Tohago. He recommended 

 that the Tobago rain reserve should be enlarged so as to 

 include the catchment areas of the streams which rise in the 

 Central Range. A copy of Mr. Lodge's report would 

 doubtless be of interest to Dr. Gifford. 



In 1901, Mr. Rogers, of the Indian Forest Dei)artment, 

 was apjiointed Forest Officer in the colony of Trinidad and 

 Tobago. He visited Tobago in the following year and in 

 order to carrj- out Mr. Lodge's reeommentlations projiosed a 

 new boundary for the Tobago reserve. This boundary is a 

 line parallel to the main ridge of the island at a distance of 

 -1 mile from it on the northern, and 1 mile from it on 

 the .southern side, coiuiected by lines skirting the boundaries 

 of private lands on the east and west. 



These proposals were sanctioned and the boundary was 

 ordered to lie surveyed and marked out on the ground. The 

 work is now in progress and it is expected that it will be 

 finished bj- the end of February. The area is estimated at 

 10,000 acres. The map, from which the area of the old rain 

 reserve was calculated by planimeter, is that in use in the 

 Crown Lands Office. 



A Victim of the Mosquito Plant. Cnder 



the above heading a correspondent of the Jfa(h-as Mail 

 records the results arising after having thoroughly rubbed 

 his hands and face with the fresh leaves of the African 

 mosquito plant (Ocimum viride). The niosquitos being 

 still troublesome, as a further precaution, he crushed the 

 stalks of the leaves, and well rubbed in the juice. At 

 the moment the effect seemed successful ; but the next 

 morning a rash a]ipeared on his face which later on developed 

 into rather painful blisters. The victim is now concerned to 

 learn whether the juice of the leaves or the stalks caused the 

 trouble. He has tried in vain to persuade his friends and 

 the doctor to make experiments on themselves to settle this 

 point, in the interest of science. 'For myself,' he adds, 'I 

 am content to consider the efficacj' of the plant as a mosquito- 

 fuge sufficiently proved, but I am bound to confess I prefer 

 the evil to the remedy'. 



