Vol. XIII. No. 318. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



219 



CITRUS FRUITS, CACAO, COFFEE. 



Citrus fruits are attacked by some twelve species of 

 scale insects. These are controlled in normal seasons by the 

 parasitic fungi Cephalosporium lecanii and Sphaerostilbe 

 coccophila, with the result that the attacks are not often 

 severe except when the citrus trees are grown on unsuitable 

 lands and under conditions which are generally unfavourable. 



The caterpillars of the swallow tail butterfly {Papilio 

 anchisiades) sometimes occur in numliers, feeding on the 

 foliage of the trees. 



The cacao beetle {Steiraslo7na deioressum), the cacao 

 thrips (Heliothrips rnhrocinctus), the citrus mealy bug 

 (Pseudoccus citri), and two small homopterous insects 

 Horiola arcuata and Aethalion retkndatum are occasionally 

 observed on cacao trees. 



Coffee is attacked to some extent by several species of 

 scale in.serts. 



VETERINARY NOTES. 



FORAGE POISONING. 



(CERBBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS.) 



Nearly world-wide in its distribution, and the cause 

 of great losses among.st horses, it is a remarkable fact that 

 in .spite of careful investigation the cause of this disease 

 still remains an obscure and puzzling problem. The large 

 number of different names which have been applied to the 

 disease affords evidence of its extensive distribution and of 

 the uncertainty \vhich has always existed as to the specific 

 cause of the ailment. Perhaps the most comprehensive 

 discussion of forage poisoning is that which appears as 

 Bulletin No. 65 of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, written by Dr. J. P. Mohler, Chief of the Patholog- 

 ical Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry. Dr. Mohler 

 in discussing the nomenclature of the disease comes to the 

 conclusion that the proper name for the complaint is cerebro- 

 spinal meningitis which represents a disease synonymous 

 with Borna disease, which occurs to a considerable extent 

 in Germany. 



Although the specific cause of the complaint as already 

 stated has not yet been discovered, the years which have 

 been passed in careful study and experimentation have 

 shown that the disease can be controlled effectively only by 

 a total change of feed and forage; in other words, by 

 preventive measures and not by medicinal treatment. It 

 would .seem however, in considering Dr. Mohler's discussion 

 of the etiology of forage poisoning, that the theory of toxic 

 fungi in fresh fodder is not antagonistic to the observed facts 

 in many of the outbreaks. For instance, an outbreak investi- 

 gated several years ago among the United States army 

 horses showed that many horses had died of cerebro .spinal 

 meningitis as a result of eating mouldy baled hay, and as 

 soon as the hay was eliminated the deaths ceased. Other 

 horses in the vicinity not fed upon this hay failed to contract 

 the disease, but after the hay had been opened and exposed 

 to the sun for three or four weeks, its feeding could be 

 carried on without producing any ill- effect. Forage 

 poisoning, therefore, seems to be an auto-intoxication 

 rather than an infection, and due to certain chemical 

 poisons or toxins formed by organismal activities. The 

 nature of the substance which causes these harmful 

 changes or of the poisonous bodies that are formed 



remain unknown. That the disease is not infectious is proved 

 by the fact that in several cases a herd of diseased animals, 

 although separated merely by a wire fence, did not infect 

 a healthy lot the other side. Moreover, all the different 

 bacteria that various investigators have isolated from the 

 lesions of the disease could not, when inoculated into healthy 

 animals produce the typical symptoms. 



FEEDING PRICKLY PEARS TO INDIAN 

 CATTLE. 



Some interesting trials have been made recently by the 

 Indian agricultural authorities on the feeding of' prickly 

 pears as a famine fodder to ordinary cattle. The results are 

 published in detail in the A'/ricuHural Journal of India for 

 April 1914. 



The pear used is stated to be the common variety which 

 is to be found anywhere along the road sides and on waste 

 land. The botanical name of the species is not given. The 

 chemical analysis of the pear made during both dry and wet 

 seasons was: — 



Wet season. Dry season. 



Moisture 92-65 79-32 



Ether extract -22 -78 



Albuminoids 31 -Qs 



Soluble carbohydrates 4-37 11-61 



Woody fibre -^5 2 48 



Ash 1-60 5 13 



Containing nitrogen 

 Containing sand 



100-00 



•049 

 •12 



100-00 



•11 

 •04 



The fodder is prepared for feeding by removing the 

 spine by burning. In carrying out this operation it is 

 necessary to be careful that the pear is properly burned, 

 otherwise the cattle will refuse to eat it. Fed alone the 

 material is not .sufficiently nutritious to form a maintenance 

 ration, and it was found desirable to add 6 B). of cotton seed 

 to every 100 lb. of pear. The results obtained in this and 

 in further experiments with cows were satisfactory, in accord- 

 ance with the conclusions set out in the following summary:^ 



'It has been clearly demonstrated that the prickly pear 

 if properly prepared and mixed with 6 per cent, of its 

 weight of cotton seed, is not only enough to support life, but 

 will enable an animal to regain condition even after it has 

 become very poor from semi- starvation, that the cultivators 

 could save their cattle in times of famine by feeding the 

 above, the cost of preparation being very low. With the 

 "Effective" stove enough pear could be prepared for a pair of 

 bullocks, weighing 1,450 to 1,500 lb. at a cost of Re. 1-6 

 for oil and Re. 0-3-3 for the necessary cotton seed, or a total 

 of Re. 0-4 9 per pair per day. One stove would be sufficient 

 to burn pear for ten pairs. The pear was used with profit at 

 Manjri, for the dairy dry stock, when fodder was dear, and 

 effected a considerable saving. It is profitable to feed it as 

 part of the ration at any time when fodder is scarce and prices 

 are high. No ill-effect was noticed at any time throughout 

 the whole six months of the experiment, and it is still being 

 carried on to find if there will be any ill-effect produced by 

 feeding it for a much longer period. A point worthy of 

 notice is, that, although the stoves used worked well if 

 properly managed, and the directions which accompany them 

 are carried out, they will soon get out of order, if carelessly 

 handled or negligently treated.' 



