Oct. r, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



229 



Limes, Roses, Laiirustiuus, cactuses, Clover, Ferns, 

 Orchids, and various stove and greenhouse plants 

 being their particular favourites— they are by no 

 means insensible to the ditfereiice between dryness 

 and moisture. To the latter they have a most 

 decided objection, and it is only in warm and dry 

 situations that they give nurch trouble, and it is 

 nearly always in dry seasons that plants. &c., out- 

 of-doors suffer most from these pests. 



Sulphur is one of the most etticieut agents known 

 for killing them ; but it will not, however, mix properly 

 with water in its ordinary form, but should be treated 

 according to the following recipe:— Boil together in 

 four gallons of water 1 lb. of flowers of sulphur and 

 2 lb. of fresh lime, and add U lb. of soft soap, and, 

 before using, 3 gallons more oi water; or mix 4 oz. 

 of sulphate of lime with halt that weight of soft 

 soL,p, and when well mixed, add 1 gallon of hot 

 water. Use when cool enough to bear your hand 

 in. Any insecticide containing sulphur is useful. In 

 hot-houses one of the best ways of destroying these 

 creatures is to paint the hot-water pipes' with one 

 part of fresh lime and two parts of flowers of sul- 

 phur mixed into a paint. If a flue is painted in 

 this way great care should be taken that sulphur 

 does not burn, or much damage may be done, as the 

 flues may become much hotter than hot-water pipes. 

 During the earlier stages of growth keep the at- 

 mosphere moist and impregnated with ammonia by 

 a layer of fresh stable litter, or by painting the 

 hot-water pipes with guano made into a paint ; as 

 long as the air in the house is kept moist there is 

 not much danger of a bad attack. If Carnations are 

 attacked, t\iug up some flowers of sulphur iu a 

 muslin bag and sulphuring the plants liberally, and 

 washing them well in three days time has been 

 recommended. 



Tobacco water and tobacco smoke will also kill 

 these pests, but as neither tobacco nor sulphuring the 

 hot-water pipes can always be resorted to with safety 

 in houses, by far the better way is to keep a sharp 

 look-out for this pest, and as soon as a plant is 

 found to be attacked to at once clean it with an 

 iu.secticide which it is known the plant will bear, 

 and by this means prevent other plants from being 

 infested. These httle mites breed with astonishing 

 rapidity, so that great care should be exercised in 

 at once stopping an attack. A lady friend of mine 

 hail some Castor-oil plants growing in pots in a 

 wiu.low which were badly attacked, and found that 

 some lady-birds soon made short work of the mites 

 and cleareil the plants. The rel spider lays its eggs 

 among the threads of the web which it weaves over 

 the undersides of the leaves; the eggs are round 

 and white; the young spiders are hatched in about 

 a week, and they very much resemble their parents in 

 general appearance, but they have only three pairs 

 of legs instead of four at first, and they do not 

 acquire the fourth pair until they have changed 

 their skins several times; they are, of course, much 

 smaller in size, but are, however, in proportion just 

 as_ destructive as the older ones. They obtain the 

 juices of the leaves by eating through the skin with 

 their mandibles, and then thrusting in their pro- 

 bo.sces or suckers through which they draw out 

 the juices. Th(;se little creatures are .so tran.sparent, 

 that it is very difficult to make out all the details 

 of their mouths accurately. The females are very 

 fertile, and breed with great rapidity under favourable 

 circumstances all the year round. 



The red spiders, as I have already stated, are 

 not real spiders; but belong to the family Acarina 

 or mites, a family included in the same class fthe 

 Arachnidiej as the true spiders, from which they 

 may be easily distinguished by the want of any 

 apparent division between the head and thorax and 

 body ; in the true spiders the head and thorax .arc 

 united together and form one piece, to which the 

 body is joined by a slender waist. The Arachnid;e 

 are followed by the Myriapoda (centipedes, &c.), and 

 these by the Insectao or true insects. The red 

 spiders belong to the kind of mites called spinning 

 mites, to distinguish them from those which do not 



form a web of any kind. It is not quite certain 

 at present whether there is only one or more species 

 of red spider; but this is immaterial to the horti- 

 culturist, as their habits and the means for their 

 destruction are the same. The red spider (Tetrany- 

 chus telarius) is very minute, not measuring more 

 than the sixtieth of an inch in length when full 

 grown ; their colour is very variable, some in- 

 dividuals being nearly white, others greenish or 

 various shades of orange, and red. This variation 

 in colour probably depends somewhat on their age 

 or food — The red ones are generally supposed to be 

 the most mature. The head is furnished with a 

 pair of pointed mandibles between which is a pointed beak 

 or sucker. The legs are eight in number ; the two front 

 pairs project forwards and the other two backwards ; 

 they are covered with long stilf hairs ; the extremities 

 of the feet are provided with long bent hairs, which are 

 each terminated by a knob. The legs and feet appear 

 to be only used in drawing out the threads and 

 weaving the web. The thread is secreted by a nipple 

 or spinneret situated near the apex of the body 

 on the underside. The upper surface of the body is 

 sparingly covered with long stiff hairs.— G. S. S. — 

 Rural Australian. 



MINOR INDUSTRIES FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



The following letter from Mr. D. Morris, formerly 

 Government Botanist of Jamaica to " Governor 

 Robinson of Trinidad, will be read with interest: — 



Royal Gardens, Kew 

 21st May, 18S6. 

 Dear Sir William Robinson, 



On my arrival at Kew, Mr. Thiselton Dyer was 

 good enough to place iu my hands correspondence 

 and papers bearing upon the prosecution of Minor 

 Industries in Trinidad, which are of a very interest- 

 ing character. 



The Island is to be congratulated upon the able 

 and energetic action you have taken in this subject : 

 and possibly no time is so suitable as the present 

 for drawing attention to small industries, which in 

 the aggregate, would go far to make up the difii- 

 ciency in the larger stables of Trinidad, and of the 

 West Indies generally. I am not sure how far I 

 can help you, but I shall be happy to give the 

 results of my experience and knowledge in Jamaica 

 and other places known to me: and it is quite 

 possible that indirectly, if not directly, suggestions 

 thrown out in this manner may be capable of being 

 utilized as local circumstances may allow. 



As regard the utilization of Trinidad-grown Corn 

 Meai. and Sweet Ooun', a letter from Kew was sent 

 a few days since to the Colonial OlBce, which no 

 doubt will be duly forwarded to you. The weak 

 point in papers received here was the absence of 

 numerical results in Mr. McCarthy's Report. The 

 general impression all round was good: but in tlie.se 

 days men require a substantial and reliable basis on 

 which to rest their conclusions, and unfortunately 

 in this instance it was not supplied. I wrote Mr. » 

 McCarthy on the subject but, as was natural, he 

 had not brought his books with him to Eugland 

 and hence could not give me the detailed analysis 

 of the two corns. He has promised to supply them 

 on his return to Trinidad and I would recommend, 

 that they be published as soon as possible. If it 

 can be shown by actual analytic results that Creole- 

 grown corn is richer in food products than American 

 imported corn, the superiority of the former will be 

 established beyond question. 



Tea will grow in Trinidad at elevations above Cacao 

 and the Hybrid-Assam variety is specially suited 

 for a warm, moist climate such as exists in Trini- 

 dad. It is essential to have a trained experienced 

 manager from Ceylon or India, and such a man 

 might be obtained for about £250 a year. In addi- 

 tion to supplying local wants, I .should think a 

 good quantity of Tea might be supplied to the 

 ^lainlaud at renumerative rates. A plantation of 

 say 50 jacres, might be established at the rate of 

 £10 per acre. The first crop would be avail.able in 



