96 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



under cultivation five or six years ago. It was previously 

 a piece of waste land overgrown with Saccharum spon- 

 taneum and Imperata arundinacea, and it is even now 

 bordered by similar waste lands. Sugarcane grown on this 

 land has brought Gryllotalfa africana prominently into 

 notice as a pest of young cane. This insect was the first to 

 attack the young crop and in April and May in the treated 

 plot as many as 15 per cent, of the plants were damaged 

 by it. 



In last year's Report mention was made of the suit- 

 ability of Lead Arsenate solution as a dip for the protec- 

 tion of cane setts against termites. This year it was tried 

 in the half-acre treated plot of Sathi No. 131, a strength of 

 1 lb. of Lead Arsenate in two gallons of cold water being 

 used. The planting was done in the third week of February, 

 and germination was good in both the treated and untreated 

 plots. In April and May new shoots as well as the setts 

 themselves were damaged by termites in both the plots, and 

 those dipped in the Lead Arsenate solution had no advant- 

 age over those left untreated- The liability of cane to 

 damage by termites seems to depend largely on the nature 

 of the soil in which it is grown. Generally speaking, the 

 crop suffers much less when grown in clayey soils than in 

 sandy soils. In soils which are liable to be infested by ter- 

 mites, no single treatment of the setts can render them per- 

 manently immune from attack nor can it save the shoots; 

 whilst in other soils little or no damage is done by termites 

 even "when no treatment is adopted, and the amount of 

 damage done does not always seem dependent merely on the 

 presence of the insect concerned. 



Indigo. In April, 1918, an investigation was com- 

 menced of the parasitization of the Indigo Psylla (A rytaina 

 isitis). This study is only m its initial stages and only 

 four months' figures are available, but three species of 

 Chalcididse have been obtained and of these one species is 

 very common. The amount of parasitization was small at 

 the beginning of April, but began to increase in the begin- 

 ning of May and reached its highest (about 30 per cent.) at 



