Vol XVIII No. 457. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



341 



THE MAHOE OOCHON TREE IN RELATION 

 TO THE COTTON STAINER 



In the Ap-icii/Ziiral ^.'e:cs for May 17, I'JlG. there 

 were published some notes by Mr. W. N. Sands, then the 

 Agricultural Superintendent, St. Vincent, on the ' Mahoe 

 Cochoo' or 'dooarubois' tree {Stercu/ii cvribaea), as a food- 

 plant of the cotton staintr. Mr. Samts' 1 as recently 

 forwarded an account ot further investigations in this 

 subject, made, under his direction, ly Mr. F. A. Simmons, 

 Foreman at the Experiment Station, S\ Vincent. These 

 investigations seem cjmpletely to establish the opinion 

 expre.'.sed in the former notes referred to above, thit unHer 

 pre.5ent conditions of cotton cultivatioQ in that island, and 

 with regard to the situation in which the 'Mahoe Cochon' 

 trees grow, instead of being a danger to the crop as a food- 

 plant for the staintr, they act as a trap for the insect, leading 

 it to be destroyed by the attacks of the chinch bug fungus 

 ( Sporotrkhum glohn/ijh um). 



After his first investigation, Mr Sands arranged with 

 the owner of the Owia estate in the northern part of St. 

 Vincent, where the Mahoe trees grow in the forest, to plant 

 a field in cotton in the luon'h of Jaly for experimental 

 observation. This was done, and towards the end of September 

 caieful study of the field was undertaken by Mr. Simmons, 

 who reports as follows : — 



■ I examined all the cot' on plarited at Owia. which 

 cnnsisted in great part of plants in the boiling and tt'iwering 

 stages. I also inspected many plots of similar cotton 

 belonging to smill holders at Sandy Ilay, which is adjacent 

 to Owia. and included in the area that is likely to be 

 infe.sted by the pest froai thu ' Mahoe Cochon " trees. Not a 

 single individual of the pest was discovered in the plots 

 examined, and enquiries made resulted in a few cases beinc; 

 cited where a few of the insects were seen during the first 

 weeding of th" crop, but none since 



' The result of this visit now makes it possible to say 

 whether the "dobarubcis" tree is a menace to the cotton 

 industry of the island. The condition existing io the 

 cotton area in the vicinity cf the tree is rquil to that 

 obtaining in olher arras about the island, and, as the 

 invesligaiions have shtwn, it is better than in certain ca?es. 

 The history of the c.ise brough.t up to date is as 

 follr.ws . The pods of the "dobarubcis'' trees burst, and 

 allow the seeds to fall on the ground during the month of 

 April From this time onward to the end of July, siainers 

 which have migrated from the cotton fieMs feed on the 

 Aetil.^. This source of sustenance fails them at the end of 

 that time, owing to the seeds having rotted or germinated. 

 Thty then appeared on guava bushes on a bit of nncul- 

 livaied land in the near vicinity, their numbers being 

 thinned meanwhile by a fungus disease wl>ich had been 

 contracted in the humid conditions of the fores: where 

 the "bobarubois" trees grow. The co-ton in thejoeighbourhojd 

 at that time had not attained the flowering stugf, and 

 therefore afforded them no sust- nance The likelihood of 

 survivors infesting the cotton plots v.uen the flowering 

 stajji had been reached, has not bet-n l.>rneout 



' As the stainers on the guava bu,^h -s were not collected, 

 one of two things miy have happened (1) they may have 

 migrated to the cV.tou fields at Mo irt iKviiinck e.state, about 

 lOn.iles distant which had 6rst .'^rartel flowering, or 

 ( -J) they may hivc gradually died out n.vicgtothe .louble 

 hardship of uncongenial food and .'is ase. At the time 

 mentioned, ami since then, stainers have been lollectel on 

 the e-tate nara.'J. bat thpir occurrence 1; n been of a sporadic 

 nature, and not of a sudden and lar^e infestation s > charac- 



teristic of stainers migrating from areas where the food- 

 supply had suddenly given out. Moreover, the insect, as 

 noted at the time, appeared weak and incapable of long 

 flights. The alternative would ;ippear, therefore, to have 

 been their fate. 



' From the history of the case it could be seen, however, 

 that if cotton be planted at Owia 't Sindy Bay eirly in the 

 month of May, the pUnt.^ w .uld be directly iofesiei by 

 stainers when they start flowering in the month of -July.' 



SUGAR-CANE CULTIVATION IN MADRAS. 



The Director of Agriculture, Bombay, writes as 

 follows in his report for 1917-18 on the present satis- 

 factory position of cane cultivation in that Siate: — 



In previous reports I have referred to the work oq 

 sugarcane that has been done by the Departmsnt, and I 

 wish to refer to it again The Manjri Farm is in a high 

 state of efficiency and doing excellent work ; the Gokak 

 Farm has st;eadily improved of late years under physical 

 conditions of considerab'e difficulty, and the new farm at 

 Saval-vihir (Godavari Canal) has now on it the flnest crop 

 on the canal, which is spying a good deal with regard to 

 a tract where some of the cultivators grow remarkably heavy 

 crop' ; and at Ratna iri and Rumpto a good start in cane 

 growing has been made. Much progress has been ziade in 

 the trial of new varieties f cane, in cultural and minurial 

 methods, and in gur m iking. There has been a large increase 

 in cane growing during the pist few years, and a large number 

 of the cane growers are amongst the best of the cultivators 

 that we have. It is satisfactory to record that they have 

 largely appreciated and taken up the methods that we 

 advocate, green manuring with siiiiit, the application of 

 nitrogenous top dressings, the planting of tops only, cultii- 

 tion in str.^ight lines, which greatly reduces the coasump:ioo 

 of water, kesps the soil open and reiuces the cost of tillage, 

 and the employment of economical furnaces and precise 

 methods for gur making. It is common now to find cane 

 growers, even in remote parts of the Presidency, trying our 

 new varieties of cane and adopting our methods of cultis-a- 

 tion In the Pjona and Sh >lap ir Districts the Minjri 

 metiiods have now been adopted so widely that they are 

 known to every one, and in other districts they are spreiiing 

 rapidly. A great factor in popularizing the^e improvements 

 has been the short course which is held f ir cuhivators every 

 year on the Minj.i Farm, and whioh is each year bee miag 

 more popular. I fo ind a man in the Sliolapar D.strict 

 who had attended this course, and fully appreoiitcl the 

 opeoing for profit that exists. By the adoption of oar 

 methods he was ecoiio:uising water to such an extjnt thit he 

 was growing 7 acres of cane on the water proviJei by one 

 ?>iho/' a.-i against the CJ, acres of cxa- which the ordmary 

 cultivator can grow witli such a water snpply ; and although 

 7 acres was too large an area for o e mhot in a v ry dry year 

 like the present, the gre.iter part of his crop wis in excellen': 

 cmditioD, and he was cmlideat rU it he could e.isily gr>w 

 5 acres on the water-supply av.iilable. We have s^me 

 romirkably good cane growers in the Daccan ; b it i: mi<t 

 b? admitted thit on our canals the gener.il UvA o' cine 

 c iltivation leaver n-.mh to be desire I. This in my ";• nioo, 

 IS miinlydie to economic cms"-:; and it i.s a raiti.r for 

 great regret tint the cuntryii no' get'ing the fni >> vlt 

 from these cana's which it should gut. 



