Vol. XVII. Xo. 420. 



THE AGKIUtTLTURAL NEWS 



267 



work. No efforts have been spared to bring to the notice of 

 the planters the necessity of dealing with the insect whenever 

 and wherever found. 



Although there was a very heavy infestation of cotton 

 stainers on trees of several kinds near the Botanic Gardens 

 in -May and June, these have all been destroyed by means 

 of traps and by the use of the Primus torch, and for the 

 four weeks previous to writing no stainers had been found on 

 the traps which were put down in the places where the 

 insects had been killed in large numbers. At the Experi- 

 ment Station and at the Government Ginnery there are no 

 stainers, owing to the careful and systemntic trapping and 

 deatruction which had been practised. 



This account shows plainly that a very considerable and 

 important amount of work has been done in St. Vincent on 

 the control of the co'ton stainer, and it indicates that the 

 great need at present is for co-operation by the planters and 

 all interested in cotton grjwing with tl e Government in its 

 efforts to destroy the food-plants of the insect, and to estab- 

 li.sh a close s<^ason during which no cotton shall be grown 

 in the island. 



In order for a clo.se season to be a success, the law must 

 be most strictly enforced, and when the appointed time 

 arrives, all cotton must be removed from the fields, and 

 disposed of in the manner decided upon as being the most 

 suitable. No compromise is possible, if the cotton industry 

 is to. be safeguarded. This also applies to the destruction 

 of the food-plants of the insect. It has been demonstrated 

 that the destruction of food-plants is capable of greatly 

 reducing the numbers of the stainers which can tide over 

 the non-cotton season, and now it is recjuired that constant 

 care be e.\ercised to prevent new growths of the plants that 

 have already been destroyed, and to apply the provisions of 

 the law to other plants as soon as they are found to provide 

 sufficient food to allow these insects to live and breed during 

 this time. 



Another point raised in the editorial raenti ned in the 

 first part of this article is the matter of natural enemies of 

 cotton stainer. This aspect of the ca«e has received much 

 .-'tudy by the officers of the Imperial Department of Agricul- 

 ture, and the officers of the local Departments in all those 

 islands of the West Indies where cotton is grown. Cotton 

 stainers have also been studied in this rei^pect in many other 

 c<iuntries, always with the same conclusion, that the group 

 to which cotton stainers belong comprises insects which have 

 very few natural enemies. Stainers themselves are particu- 

 larly free from natural enemies, and it is certain that in the 

 West Indies there are none which can be expected to exercise 

 iiny satisfactory degree of control over this pest. 



The resolution passed by the I'.oard of Directors of the 

 St. Vincent Electric Co. Ltd., indicates that they were alive 

 to the need of continued attention to the control of cotton 

 stainers by the Government, and of co operation by everyone 

 interested in the cotton industry in that island. The com- 

 ments on the subject by the Seii/n indicate that there are 

 those who have not kept themselves informed as to the work 

 that has been, and is being done in this conne.xiou. 



H.A.B. 



THE EGG PLANT. 



This plant is rather commonly cultivated throughout 

 the West Indies under various names. Perhaps the com- 

 monsst is Melongene, or some corruption of it, which is 

 evidently derived from the botanical name oF the species 



Solantim melongena- This plant thrives well in these islands, 

 perhaps because it is originally a native of the tropics, and 

 has not long been submitted to the process of selection in 

 temperate gardens. As was noticed, however, in the article 

 under Plant Diseases in the Agricultural Neivf, December 29, 

 1917, it is susceptible to a bacterial disease known as wilt. 

 This trouble may be met by grafting the egg plant on wild 

 species of Solanum. The one used for this purpose in 

 Jamaica is said to be Solanum mammosum. In 'Nature 

 Teaching', by Sir Francis Watts, it is suggested that Solanum 

 tarvinn, another wild plant of the same genus, should be used 

 for this purpo.se. The process is as follows: a wild plant of 

 a cimvenient size is selected as the stock. A piece of the 

 stem of the stock i.^ then cut off, and with a sharp 

 knife a longtitudinal cut to the depth of about li-inches 

 is made into the stump, and a wedge removed. The 

 scion, a small branch of the egg plant about twice as 

 thick as an ordinary lead pencil, and about 4 inches 

 long, is tapered to fit the cut made in the stock, and 

 most of its leaves trimmed off. The scion is then inserted 

 into the stock, care being taken that the cambium 

 layers or inner bark of stock and .scion are in contact, at 

 least in one place. The graft is then wrapped round with 

 twine or woollen yarn. A large leaf should be tied like a cap 

 over the scion and the top of the stock, so as to shield the 

 joint from the rays of the sun- As this is a soft, quick- 

 growing plant; there is no need for the use of grafting wax 

 or tape, the plant remaining moist until union has taken 

 place. 



It is considered advisable to pick off any flowers which 

 form during the first two or three month.'', in order to allow 

 the plant to make vigorous vegetative growth. 



It is als3 reported from Jamaica that buds of the egg 

 plant take readily when inserted into the wild sticks. 



It would seem that thi.s method of growing egg plants 

 is far preferable to permitting the plant to depend upon its 

 own roots. In the first place, the stock is perennial, and 

 therefore bearing is continual. In the next place, the raising 

 of seedlings is attended with certain difficulties, not only- 

 owing to insect attacks, but, as has been before stated, to their 

 susceptibility to wilt infection. The use of a more vigorous 

 and hardy stock of the wild species for grafting with scions 

 of improved varieties of the garden vegetable offers, it would 

 seem, every advantage in the way of protection against the 

 foregoing adverse conditions. 



Should the truit trade of the West Indies in the future 

 attain dimensions which are desired, another advantage con- 

 ne<ted with this method of the propagation of the egg plant 

 suggests itself. The grafted plants are perennial, as was 

 noticed above, and therefore by pinching off the (lowers 

 during the season when the fruit is not desired to be shipped, 

 the energies of the year's growth could be concentrated upon 

 production in the months when the market offered most 

 remuneration, for instance, during the early winter month? 

 before the Florida crop is ready for the northern markets 



In Jamaica Solanum mammosum is known as 'shushum- 

 ber', and in many of the smaller islands Solanum torvum 

 is known as 'plate bu.sh' or 'turkey berry'. Both of these 

 species have a stn^ng erect habit, growing ■"> or 6 feet in 

 height. The berrie.s of Solanum torruni are occasionally used 

 in cooking, as a substitute— a poor one it may be stated— 

 in place of tomatoes. These plants are really common weeds 

 alontf roadsides and in waste places, so that there would be 

 no difficulty in obtaining a plentiful supply of stocks for 

 grafting purposes. 



