Vol. XVIII. So. ii 



THE AGKICULTURAL SEWS, 



U9 



'AUhf'iiyh tlie excess i? not great, yet it is entirely 

 •coutradii-tnry to what would be expected, if the mongoose is 

 the chief factor in tlie supposed reduction in the number of 

 li?. irds in recent years. 



Viv) The number of frogs and toads destroyed is 

 gieatei- in ihe norili than in the south. 



■.\3 with the last section, these figures scarcely suppoit 

 the idea that the mongoose has been the cause of the 

 (•.\ termination of these animals in the district where it has 

 been long established. The results must be qualified how- 

 ever, by the fact that the flat low-lying nature of the Caroni 

 districi gives rise to a greater amount of standing water, and 

 suitable breeding places for frogs and toads. In spite of any 

 long-continued destruction, there still .seems to be a sufficient 

 number in the north to form 'juite a large proportion of the 

 ood of the mongoose- 



■iv) Ten oreda'ieous beetle grubs were found in the 

 stomachs of the mongoose from the southern district, while 

 none were found in those from the north. 



'Although probably significaQt, it is doubtful if any con- 

 clusion of practical importance could be drawn from the 

 liwures. Too little is known of the habits of these insects. 



'(vi) A much larger number of both .spiders and centi- 

 pedes were found in the stomichs from the northern section. 



'The general remarks under (iv) and (v) apply here also. 

 Tiiere appears to be no evidence that the mongoose has 

 •reated any unusua' scarcity of these animals in the districts 

 that it has inhabited for many years.' 



The following general conclusions are expressed, together 

 with the thanks of the writer for the assistance rendered by 

 various planters in obtaining the necessary stomachs for 

 examination, and to Mr. F.W. Urioh for his help with regard 

 to some of the identifications of the stomach contents: — 



'Although the results obtained from the comparison of 

 the food in the northern and southern districts are somewhat 

 contradictory, it is probable that the conclusions given above 

 are more or less justified, and that the presence of the 

 mongoose, except in limited numb-Drs, on an estate in Trinidad, 

 is undesirable. Special conditions in other localities (such 

 as poisonous snakes or very severe damage from rats) might 

 cause the balance to be in its favour, but even in these cases 

 it should be possible to find some less risky method of control. 



'The present method of paying one shilling per head 

 .-^eems ti meet the conditions, and as it will automatically 

 cease to act whenever they become too scarce to make their 

 capture a paying business, it is not likely to be carried to the 

 point oi e.xterraination. 



'Although there is good evidence that in the early days 

 of its introduction into Jamaica it greatly reduced the 

 number of rats, which were an extremely serious pest, there 

 is no d'lubt that the mongoose should not be introduced into 

 •any country where it does not now exist. Perhaps the most 

 unfortunate introduction up to the present has been into 

 British (Tuiana, whence it may in time spread through the 

 whole of continental America. It has here ceased to be 

 a local problem, as in the smaller islands, but one that 

 concerns all the neighbouring countries, and specially severe 

 methods should be adopted to prevent its spread. 



'Finally, it is suggested to those in a position to carry it 

 out, that the food of the mongoose be now investigated in India 

 to see if there has been any change in its diet since its intro- 

 duction into the West Indies. It is hardly too much to say 

 that-many thousands of pounds and many years of worry 

 would have been saved to the |>lanter5 in this part of the 

 world if this had been undertaken, no> now, hut '':-tore the 

 mongoose was introduced, almost ^i•:y years ■ 



A.n. 



WASTAGE OF GREEN LIMES 

 IN SHIPMENT. 



In a letter to the Imperial Coniciissioner of Agricultura 

 for the West Indies, ilr. J. Jones, Agricultural Superinten- 

 dent, Dominica, draws attention to the considerable amount 

 of wastage which occurs in green limes shipped from that. 

 island to the New Vork market. Apart from the question, 

 of rough handling of the limes, he considers that the condi- 

 tion of some of the packing houses is such as to causa- 

 a very seriois wastage even in the case of most carefully 

 picked fruit. It would appear that most of the places used 

 for 'quailing,' i e. curing, and packing limes, are in the first 

 place much too small for the purpose. Again, instead of tiers 

 of shelves for curing the fruit being provided, thera is no 

 other accommodation than the fioor. on which the limes are 

 placed in heaps from which the fruits are seiectsd for packing. 

 The rejected fruit is often allowed to reaiiin on the floor 

 until the limes begin to arrive for the nest shipment, and 

 even longer than that. () wing to thesa conditions it would 

 seem likely that many of these packing rooms must bet 

 infested with millions of germs which are capable of starting 

 decay, and this alonr must be a cause of a considerabla 

 proportion of the wastage now observed- 



In reference to this matter, Mr. W. Nowell, ilycologisn 



on the staff of the Imperial L'epartment of Agriculture, states 

 that for exact advice on the point it would be necessary to 

 know what the rots are which affect the packed fruit, and 

 especially to discriminate between Di plod ia and the Penicil 

 liums. With regard to general advice, Mr. Nowell suggests 

 that a card suitable for hinging up should be printed with 

 some elementary maviras. and distributed to pickers ia 

 order to prevent their forgetting. 



Mr. Nowell goes on to say that obviously all rejected 

 fruit should be removed once a day. All injured fruits should 

 be rejected in pickint; Uninjured fruit is not attacked by 

 Penicillium, even though covered with spores, under any 

 ordinary condition. Diplodia attacks the stem end evea 

 of uninjured fruit. "(Quailing' or curing is condemned by the 

 United States authorities, and the alleged grounds for its 

 adoption are not valid. Dry sound fruit should travel with- 

 out rotting, provided that injured fruit is not mcluded in tha 

 same package. Injuries may consist of pricks, cuts, and 

 bruises, caused by dumping or rough handliug. If stem-end 

 rots are troublesome they can be stopped by a coating of 

 shellac, as noted in the Ai^ficultur'^l NeiDs, Vol- XVII, p.94. 

 Packing houses should be light and airy ^not tightly closed ac 

 night but always well ventilated). If they are kept clean, and 

 have no collection of permanent dust, are frequently white- 

 washed, the tables scrubbed, etc., spraying with fungicide-s is 

 not necessary; if they are not, spraying will not cure the 

 trouble though it may diminish it. For actual disinfection of 

 fruit, copper sulphate li'J.OOO is best and cheapest, but wash- 

 ing of any kind is not to be recommended. For spraying 

 rooms, one of the ordinary commercial disinfectants would bd 

 most likely to serve the purpose, liycol, with molasses, is 

 used with great success for laying dust and killing spores io 

 the South African mines (see Report on the Department of 

 Agriculture. Sooth Africa, 1912-13, p. 180). 



As will ba seen from the above. Mr. Nowell ati., i ,-.- 

 much importance to general cleanliness and methods of 

 sanitation. In fact this is another instance of the truth of 

 the adage that prevention is better than cure. It is far 

 better and easier to prevent the rots than to cure them wbsnt 

 once thev have started attacking thefir.it. 



