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THE AGRICULTURAL XEW; 



FEBP.rAEV \4, \9\4. 



INSECT NOTES. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



SUMMARY OF ENTOMOLOGICAL INFOR- 

 MATION IN THE YEAR 1913. 

 IIL 



In the last issue of the Agricultural News, information 

 presented during 1913 on insect pests of cotton and citrus 

 plants, and on miscellaneous matters was summarized. In 

 the following article the summary of the miscellaneous section 

 is concluded. 



Miscellaneous. 



^PEAY MixTLEES AND POISONS. The occurreuce of the 

 West Indian cacao thrips {Heliothrips [Physopus] ruhw- 

 tinctus) in Florida as a pest of mango and avocado pear is 

 mentioned on page 266, where is given the recipe for a spray 

 mixture which has been found useful in combating this pest 

 in that State. The mixture consists of black leaf tobacco 

 extract, 1 gallon; whale oil soap, 1 ft.; water, 50 gallons. 



Another spraying mixture is mentioned on page 298, in 

 an article entitled the 'L^se of Flour Paste in Spraying'. It 

 appears that flour paste has a special value as a spreader and 

 carrier of other insecticides and has given good results when 

 used against red spider both by itself and in connexion with 

 nicotine-sulphate. 



A cockroach poison is described on page 314. This con- 

 bists of a mixture of finely powdered naphthalene, and boric 

 acid in equal parts; it should be sprinkled plentifully in 

 the haunts of the cockroach. 



USEFUL BIRDS. Gauldings as destroyers of mole crickets 

 in Porto Rico are mentioned on page 314. As a result of 

 this article, Mr. Austin H. Clark of the U. S. National 

 Museum, who has made extensive studies of West Indian 

 birds, states in a letter to the Imperial Commissioner, that 

 the green heron is, as stated, Ardea rirescens, but that the 

 blue heron is Florida Coerulea instead of Ardea herodias 

 and the snowy heron is Egret ta candidissima instead of 

 Ardea egretta. 



STABLE ELY. The biting stable fly (Stomoxi/s calcitrans) 

 formed the subject of the Insect Notes on page 218, where 

 a severe outbreak of this insect in the Southern United States 

 in 1912 is described and reference made to its agency, known 

 and suspected, in the transmission of diseases. It is there 

 stated that Stomo.iys cahilrans was recorded as occurring in 

 the West Indies only in Jamaica and St. Vincent. Since 

 that article appeared the records have been made which 

 include Barbados and Montserrat. 



iMi'EJtiAL BUiJEAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. The Insect Notes 

 on page 74 consisted of an article on the Entomological 

 Eesearch Committee, reviewing its work briefly for the three 

 years of its existence and noting its newly extended scope 

 which should mean greatly increased usefulness. 



PLANT IMPORTATION. In Mauritius, a law has been 

 enacted in regard to plant importation (see page 410), which 

 prohibits absolutely the importation of any plants in soil and 

 prescribes the conditions alone under which plants, seeds, 

 cuttings, etc., may be imported. It will be remembered that 

 Mauritius has suffered severely from the importation of the 

 brown hard back Phi/talus smithi, and the present proclama- 

 tion. No. 81, of 1913, is a wide step calculated to prevent as 

 far as possible a repetition of such an event. 



Curious Germination in Dioscoreaceae. — In the 



case of most plants which are propagated vegetatively, a small 

 portion is removed containing a leaf bud or 'eye', the ger- 

 minative tissue within the bud being necessary for the com- 

 mencement of growth. However, a few plants are exempt 

 from this rule, and have the peculiar and hitherto inex- 

 plicable power of developing gerrainative tissue from whick 

 leaves and stems grow. Thus the leaves of the Sansevierias- 

 and Begonias may be cut into pieces, which are inserted in 

 the soil, like cuttings. 



The ube (Dioitorea alata, L.), according to an article in 

 the Philij^pine Agricultural -Sei'i'ei?' (November 1913), is- 

 quite an important root crop in many districts of the 

 Philippines. The proximal end of the tubers are saved for 

 seed as it is commonly believed that the rest of the tuber is 

 incapable of making any growth. Observations have been 

 made however, in Florida, which show that this restriction of 

 germinative area does not exist. The same was proved im 

 the case of six other species of I;ioscoreaceae. Every one of 

 the tubers germinated and developed into healthy vigorous 

 plants after being.set out in the field. Thus a good size 

 tuber of the ube may be cut into six or more parts for seed, 

 according to size, .i 



In the present connexion it may be of interest to point 

 out that if a tender seedling of Anona cherimoya. Mill ,_ 

 Rollinia orthopetala A. DC , or Uraria rufa, Bl., is brokeii 

 oft' below the cotyledons, germinative tissue will develop from 

 the remaining budless stump if the plant is in good condition. 

 This peculiarity probably holds true in the case of many 

 other plants belonging to the same genera. 



The Spreading of Prickly Pear in tlie United 



States and Australia. — An article in the Agricultu- 

 ral Gazette of New South Wales points out that Cacti have- 

 not spread rapidly in the past in the south-west portion of 

 North America owing to: (1) limitation of available moisture, 

 (2) minimum temperatures, (3) grass fires. Cacti are spread- 

 ing faster to-day in the same area, owing to: (1) scarcity of 

 grass fires, (2) distribution of stock. It is stated in the article 

 (which is written by an ofticial of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture) that there seems no hope that the Queensland 

 Commission will find any natural checks that may be 

 introduced into Australia. A sufficiency of moisture and 

 absence from frost are held to be the great controlling 

 factors in the distribution of these zerophytes. On the other 

 hand, as the result of conversation with the Australian officials 

 above referred to, during their recent visit to the West 

 Indies, it may be stated that the position does not appear 

 to be as hopeless in regard to the introduction of natural 

 enemies, as the writer in the Agricultural Gazette of New- 

 South Wales apparently makes it out to be. 



Selection of the Pigeon Pea.— Attempts at the 



selection of pigeon pea or Rhar (Cajanus indicus) have been 

 made in India. Early plants have a low spreading habit and 

 the foliage and the fruit small. No morphological character 

 appeared to be correlated with wilt resistance. The thick- 

 podded erect forms were generally more resistant to the west 

 \\-inds. Large pods and seeds were associated with the erect 

 habit of growth. In the field trials, the erect form was always 

 found to be superior to the spreading form. {Monthly Bulletin 

 of Agricultural Intelligence a»d Plant Diseases for October 

 1913.) 



