304 



THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



Decembek 3, 1904. 



INSECT NOTES. 



An Orange Pest in Porto Rico. 



Tlie Annual Iteport of the Porto Piu-o Experiment 

 •Station contains notes on insect pests by tlie Entomologist, 

 Mr. O. W. Barrett, among which are to lie found references 

 to several pests known in the British West Indies. The 

 following paragraph is taken from tliis rei^ort : — 



'The larva of a weevil determined as E.rojihthdlmui^ 

 sj^enffleri was found eating the bark from the tap-roots of 

 orange _ stock in a nursery near Rio Piedras. The adult 

 insect is common througliout the island not only on citrus 

 stock, but on nearly all kinds of fruit trees. Aliandful of 

 air-slaked lime at the foot of the tree deters the female 

 from entering the ground to deposit her eggs at that jioint. 

 Hand picking will probalily be found necessary to keep this 

 pest in check for the iie.xt few years." 



Specimens of tlie golden weevil of St, Vincent, which 

 Las been determined as Biajinp,'.? spe>i;//( ri, were sent from 

 the head oftjce of the Imiierial Department of Agriculture 

 to Mr. Barrett, who has compared them with specimens of 

 H.iyiplit/ialnnis ^j'Civ/hri and concludes that they are the same. 

 This insect was mentioned in the Arp-!culliiml News (Yol 

 II, p. 280, and Vol. Ill, p. 202). The fact that this is now 

 known to be a serious pest to citrus plants lends interest to 

 the following descrijition of methods used to cajiture the adult 

 "weevils ; — 



A large sheet of oil-cloth is attached on two sides to 

 j>oles which serve as handles. From one of the remaining 

 sides a slit is made to the centre, and this sheet is held under 

 the orange cjr other tree, the trunk or stem of the tree 

 standing in the slit. The tree is then jarred or gently 

 shaken, whereupon the w-eevils fall down and are caught iii 

 the oil cloth. They are then brushed off into a bucket 

 containing kerosene oil and water. This method may be 

 found useful for other insects which have the habit of 

 folding their legs and feigning death whcji disturbed. 



Cotton Leaf-blister Mite. 



During hi.s recent visit to St. Vincent, the 

 Entomologist on the statf of tlie Inijierial Dei^artment 

 of Agriculture devoted considerable attention to the 

 cotton leaf-blister niite. The following e.xtracts from 

 his ofiicial report are of interest as showing what is 

 being done to sn^jpress this pest : — 



The cotton leaf-blister mite {En'op/i>/i's ffo.isi/pii) is quite 

 generally distributed over St. Vincent in all situations where 

 cotton is being grown, altliough many fields are not yet 

 attacked, and there are but few cases where the attack is severe. 



The early-planted cotton has suffered more this year 

 from the leaf-blister mite than has that planted later ; only 

 one field of July-planted cotton attacked by the leaf-blister mite 

 came to my notice, while several planted in June and earlier 

 were attacked. Xo infestation was found in fields planted 

 later than June, with the one exception already mentioned. 

 ()n one estate about 6 acres were very seriously attacked. 



It Las not been possible, as yet, to discover the source 



of infection at several places, for although wild cott.m may- 

 be found growing in every localitv, there is but little of it, 

 and the first attacks have been well to leeward of fields in. 

 wliu-li careful search has not revealed any infection of the- 

 cultivated cotton to windward of these spots. 



On several estates many affected plants have been 

 pulled out, and affected leaves and branches have been taken 

 off and taken out of the field and burned. On one- 

 estate this affected material was thrown into the sea. The- 

 ai)p]ication of lime and sulphur had been begun in a few- 

 places,_ but on account of the frequent heavy showers had 

 been given u]i. 



By the expeiimeiits conducted in Jlontserrat with 

 a number of insecticides sulphur was .shown to be the best^ 

 and its ajiplication as a dust, with equal parts of lime, 

 seemed the most practical method to be used. Extensive 

 experiments will now be tried at lUitland Vale and 

 other _ places in St. Vincent for the sake of testing this 

 insecticide under varying conditions and proving whether 

 plants and fields already badly attacked can be saved, 

 how much must be used, how often applications need to 

 be made, and how much influence the abundant rainfall has 

 m washing off the sulphur from the plants. 



Until further experiiuental work has been done and 

 results achieved, the following seem to be the only recommen- 

 dations to make : — 



(<(.) (;iean cultivation. All weeds and bush should be 

 kept down by frequent weedings, and in all fields of young 

 cotton the plants should be singled out and only one left in 

 each hole. Any cotton not more than 18 inches high mitdit 

 be singled. '^ ° 



{b.) Destruction of badly infested material. Very 

 badly infested plants, or parts of plants, should be removed 

 from the field and burned. 



('■.) Applications of lime and suli.liur. Lime and 

 sulphur, in equal parts, should be dusted on the plants at 

 intervals of about two weeks. A coarse cloth bag of 

 Osnaburg will serve this jiurpose as recommended for use 

 with Paris green in combating the cotton worm Great care 

 should be taken to get the sulphur dust well inside the plant 

 so that it will come in contact with all the branches and leaf 

 stalks, as well as with the leaves. 



((f.) Destruction of wild cotton. All wild cotton growing 

 near cultivations of Sea Island cotton .should be cut and 

 burned. 



DEPARTMENT NEWS. 



The Iiiipenai Comini.ssioner of Agriculture, 

 accompanied by the members of the Deputation fronj 

 the British Cotton-growing Association and the 

 Entomologist on tlie staff of the Imperial Department 

 of Agriculture, returned to Barbados from St. Vincent 

 in K.M.S. -Esk' on Saturday, November 19. 



The Imperial Commissioner of Agriculture left; 

 Earbatlos in S. S. 'Oruro' on Friday, November 25, for 

 Trinidad for the purpose of consulting as to the 

 arrangements for holding the ne.xt West Indian Agri- 

 culttiral Conference. During his visit Sir Daniel 

 Morris had interviews with leading members of the- 

 Agricultural Society and others who are evincing 

 a keen interest in the prospects of the Conference^ 

 Su- Daniel .Morris returned to Barbados in S.S. 'Caprera" 

 on Tuesdav last. 



