Vol. XVIII Xc HU 



THE AGBICaLTURAL NEWS 



\f^7 



There would appear then to be no douUt that there was 

 throuahout the V.'esc Indies a very general plague of rats, 

 and tliat all o' her methods of control having failed to give 

 a satisfactory relief from their ravages, the mongoose was 

 introduced during the years immediately following ISTO. 



For the first few years the results appear to have I'een 

 a'l that was desired . the rats were very much reduced ia 

 numbers, and the damaga done by them was, for a time at 

 least very much less than it formerly had been. 



To quote again from Morns : "as to the conditions in 

 Jamaica, there can be no doubt that on sugar estates the 

 mongoose has fully realized the hopes held out respecting its 

 powers as a rat catcher : and sugar planters all over the 

 island speak in the most unqualifi 'd terms of the good it 

 has done in destroy ing the rapacious " cane-piece' rat, and 

 reducing the expense of rat-catching in ail its phases ' It 

 was estfrnated that the total saving to the island was at the 

 rate of nearly £+'i,000 per annum, within a very short 

 time after its introduction. 



Urich states that ' the first occasion on which attention 

 was paid to the presence of the mongoose in TrinidacJ, »vas at 

 a meeting of the Agricultural Society in 1»9S, when the 

 following is recordsd in the minutes : " In regard to a letter 

 addresseJ to the Colonial Secretary by the Field Naturalists' 

 flub drawing attention to the objections to the introduction 

 of the mongoose into the colony, and to a further letter from 

 Mr. Eugene Lange stating that he had introduced and let loose 

 on bis estate at Santa Cruz five specimens of the mongoose, 

 it was resolved : that in the opinion of the Society, the 

 importation of the mongoose should be absolutely prohibited, 

 and that this Resolution be forwarded to the Colonial 

 Secretary f">' ^^^ information of His Escellency the 

 (-lavernor. 



The same writer also states that it was about lb98 

 when ' the msngoos^ which had originally been considered 

 beneficial in Jamaica, where it had been introduced in 1872, 

 became a great pest there through its omnivorous habits.' 



Itaopears that in ISS'J the Hit Destruction law of 1S67 

 in F.arbaflos was repealed unconditionally, the sugar planters 

 being left to deal with the rat plague as best they might. 



This was about five years after the mongoose had been 

 introduced, and at this time the rat injury to canes ha^i 

 already largely abated. .Morr..s (in 1882) writes : 'Managers, 

 superintendents, and labourers are unanimous in testifying 

 that there have been fewer rat-eaten canes during the last 

 two years than before the introduction of the mongoose.' 



Rats continue to do a considerable amount of damage to 

 ^ugarckues in the West Indies, in spite of the activities of 

 the mongoose. In Jamaica, it would appear that rats are 

 pests of the first importance, A glance through the indexes 

 of the v.lumes of the /onrmi/ of the Agnatltural Sc'cietv will 

 reveal numerous references to rats in recent years. These 

 relate to short articles on the damage done by rats, to briet 

 notes bv the editor, from correspondents on ihe importance 

 of t ikinc hU possible action against rats, etc. There are 

 also notes on rat traps, rat virus, and rat poisons In one 

 volume— that for 1908, for instance-there appear thirtj-one 

 r,aae references, to these headings. .,-,,. 



in Barbados, a Commissi.:.n was appointed on beptember 

 ■■-) 1911 to take evidence with a view to determining in what 

 distti«t8 of the island rats have increased and are damagmg 

 'he cane crops, and to take such steps as may be necessary to 

 ensure that a proper number of mongooses be sent from those 

 district- to a person to be appointed to examine the conten.s 

 r/the .toma^^hs of 100 mongooses, with a view to ascertain- 

 iag whether they are of much use m the drstruetion ot 

 rats 



This Commisaton foai^'that in thoee parixhe.'- where large 

 Dum'iers of niong' ose h.«i been destroyed, there had 'r,t:en a 

 great increase in the nuinbw- of rat-eaten canes, and thiit ia 

 other parishes, wher- either there hud been uo destruction ■•f 

 mongoose or only small numbers had been destroyed the injury 

 to the canes wa.-^ propt^irtionately stiiall. The Commission oiniir 

 to the conclusion that iLe effects of the Mongoose Destruoti'-'c 

 Act had been to reduce so consideraMy the number of 

 mongooses in certain districts as to cause a great incre.ise ir^ 

 the damage to the canes in those districts. 



It was decided that in view of the e.vaiuinaliou of the 

 fifty-nine mongoose stomachs by the Rev. X. B. Watson, it 

 was unnecessary to have any more stomachs examined, and it 

 was stated that no evidence could be obtainsd to piove that 

 the mongoose was responsible for any increase in the damage- 

 done to the cane crop by in.-ect pests. 



The report concludes with the following : 'We are • f 

 opinion that the benefit to the cane crops derived from the 

 presence of the mongoose is so gre>t. that a stop should :<t 

 once be put to their destruction, and we therefore recom- 

 mend that the MouK ose Destruction Act of 190i be repealed 

 As an appendix to the report, figures were given tfi .-how 

 the numbers of rats and mongoose killed and reorded since 

 the Acts came into force, and up to October 1911. The 

 number of rats killed and paid for during the pericd 

 1908 9 to 1911, was 56,578, while the figures fcr the 

 mongoose during the same period were only .'53,974. 



The Keport of the Select Committee of the House of 

 Assembly in 1917, refers to the fact that after the introduc- 

 tion of the mongoose the damage to sugar-canes was m'lch 

 less severe. It explains this, however, by suggesting that it 

 might be due, in part at least, to the cultivation of seedling 

 canes, which having harder rinds are less attackeil 

 than the varieties grown in earlier times. It is also suggested 

 that the rats have been driven from the CAne fields to- 

 seek their food in other localities. In this connexion mention 

 is made of the habit of rats living in trees, and of their ha ring 

 taken to estate buildings. 



The Select Cciminittee came to the conclusion thit the 

 operations against the mongoose ought to be cmtinued under 

 the provision of the Mongnos- an I Rat Destruction .Act, 190a. 

 but nothing is said about the destruction of rats. 



Mcthids ofconti-ol. Trapping, hunting, and the use of 

 poisons and rat virus have all been tried, especially in 

 Jamaica. The elTrts of the mingo ise are much 

 appreciated in rat control in Jamaica, and it would 

 appear that much good work is being done ptivately 

 by estate owners and managers in rat control by trapping. 

 Rat virus does not seem to have been successful, although it 

 would appear to have been very extensively ex|.erimented 

 with. In the other i.slands rats are largely lelt t . the 



mongoose. 



H A H. 



With regard to the statement in an article in the pre 

 vious numbed of the A>;nail/ur<,/ .V;('.v, that the Sea IsUnl 

 cotton is believed to have been transported into Anguilk from 

 Persia, the writer has evidently made a mistake. Sir Oorge 

 Watts,' in his book 'The Wild and Cnltivaied Cotton Plants 

 of the World ' , coocludes, after full discussion of the point, 

 that the modern .Se» Island cottin probibly otiginate.i as 

 a natural hybrid between Gssii/'iiim //,trdickn.',- or O 7'il! 

 folium v.ith G. I'rasilUnse, and has been continu..u>ly 

 improved by selection and cultiv.ition '.-... ;r-4 nr.- -it- 

 valuable fcrt-.'. 



