Dec. I, 1886.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



415 



VEGETABLE CULTUEE IN NUWARA ELIYA ; 



INSECT PESTS— A NEW WBINKLE &C. 



{Written for th- ''Oei/lon Obsercer.'') 



Kitchen gardening at the Ceylon sanitarium is 

 not " all beer and skittles." I have been up here 

 for nearly a year opening up extensive gardens, for 

 the rearing of choice European vegetables, and, though 

 as is usually the case, I have had to pay for my 

 experience, I have jet no wish to bottle up and hide 

 under a bushel, any useful wrinkles, or little know- 

 ledge I may have gained. 



You have long ago asked me, to jot down some 

 instructions as to the growing of vegetables in the high- 

 lands of Ceylon. To begin with, I had not until Lttely 

 acquired sufficient knowledge to authorize me to write 

 on the subject with any degree of confidence. In 

 the second place, constant outdoor work, superintending 

 Nuwara Eliya coolies, — and surli cooJies — is not cou- 

 ducive to scribbling and desk work. I am not, I think, 

 naturally a bad-tempered fellow, but if Job himself 

 had had the ordeal to go through, I do believe the 

 writings of that patient Saint of old, would have 

 been handed down to his posterity in a very much 

 more modified form. But I am wandering from my 

 subject, and first let me give you a few Hues on our 

 insect pests. 



1. — Insect pests. — The worst enemy to Horticulturists 

 here, and indeed lower down to about 3,000 ft. elev- 

 ation, is the "black grub," the most destructive of 

 all loathsome creeping things, it has been my mis- 

 fortune to make the acquaintance of. It is the 

 larva of a small gray moth,* and reaches to 

 the length of about 1| inches. This black imp 

 may be termed an omnivegetarian, feeding on no 

 particular plant, but cutting down indiscriminately 

 everything that comes in its way. Fancy what a 

 blessing this little cuss would be if it would only 

 confine its attacks to the herbage aiud weeds, which 

 nature originally provided for it to feed on ! Not a bit of 

 it, his taste has got highly educated. He has a decided 

 predilection for the succulent cauliflower, and is 

 ravenously fond of a good salad, beetroot and let- 

 tuce plants not having a ghost of a chance with 

 him. The omnipresence of these " varmints," seems to 

 me to be a good example, of Darwin's theory of the 

 survival of the fittest.or at least in this instance of the 

 moat voracionif. The unkindest part of it is, that 

 this knowing poochie, does not seem to feed on 

 th'e plants it attacks, but simply cuts their throats, 

 just at their junction with the ground. In a word, 

 he is a regular little garotter. He leaves his victim 

 prostrate and knowing his deeds are evil, proceeds 

 onwards in the darkness of night, to repeat his 

 wanton mischief. The mothers of these little imps 

 must be bad ones, for they do not attach their 

 eggs to any particular food plant, as most respect- 

 able and high caste moths and butterflies do, but 

 deposit them in the ground — instinct dictating to 

 them that their ill-begotten progeny from their 

 naturally predatory habits— will have no difficulty 

 i\x gaining a livelihood. Now what are the cures for 

 this pest ? To begin with we have a plant growing 

 in Nuwara Eliya— a tall species of Lobilia, f which 

 when cut up and put round the stems of the 

 young plants, undoubtedly wards off the attack of this 

 destructive gtub. This acts, however, only so long 

 as the acrid, milky juice of the plant is fresh and 

 potent and this chopped up Lobilia requires to be 

 repeated frequently, to be of much efficacy. 



But now let me give you and your readers a 

 wrinkle, which to a great extent, thwarts this vdlain- 



* Ayrotis segctum—A clouded, dark grey motti If iuch 

 in expanse of wings, with whitish margin to upper 

 wings, and abdomen whitish grey. A similar American 

 species, is A devastator, the moth of the " cabbage 

 cut worm." A specific name most appropriate to our 

 Devastator. 



t Lobilia excelta. 



ous little vegetable garotter. My friend W. and 

 I sometime ago put our heads together, and 

 vowed vengeance against him- We made up ever so 

 many horrible concoctions, the rehearsal of which 

 would be far from pleasant:- many of them were 

 most effective and such as no poochie ever born could 

 face, — but too expensive and troublesome to pay. 

 At last we got on the right tack, and the best and 

 most effective cure w<^ have yet discovered, is one, 

 which I fear you will look ou, as down right dese- 

 cratiim and vandalism,— but the truth must be told. Our 

 old Ceylon Observers are carefully cut up into squares of 

 3 by 3 and 4 by 4 inches. These little fragments 

 of the " Old Kag," are carefully rolled round 

 the necks of our cauliflowers, beet and cabbage plants 

 &c., and form real comforters. We then finish off by 

 giving these fragments o"f your valuable journal a dash 

 of coal tar and when Mr. Poochie comes in contact 

 with them, he sheers off iu quest of a more palat- 

 able diet. The past numbers of other local papers 

 are dissected iu the same ruthless way, but I 

 feel sure, the editors will excuse the apparent 

 sacrilige, when they view the matter in a utili- 

 tarian and philantliropic point of view. The London 

 Times, the t^pectator &,c., sent me occasionally by a very 

 dear friend, share the same fate. It is indeed an 

 interesting subject "for reflectiou, that the mental 

 food provided for man by so many able journalists, 

 should scare away the black grub. Mr. Poochie has 

 evidently no stomach for tarred literature. 



The next destructive larvje we suffer from here are 

 those of several species of bjetles— or what are gener.illy 

 known _as white grub— repulsive looking things with 

 big heads, but not very injurious to vegetables. 



A much more serious pest is a little tiny black fly 

 which appears only, thank goodness, at certain seasons. 

 There are several species of these, some almost micros- 

 copical; two of them are evidently of the lehne^imonida 

 family and to the minute larvas of which, we fear, 

 we have to trace much of the damac:e done to our 

 very young seodhngs. The wire-worm is also a severe 

 scourge to say nothing of the cockchafers. 



Sulphur when sprinkled over the seed beds just 

 before the first or cotyledon leaves make tbeir ap- 

 pearance, will be found useful in warding off the 

 attacks of the small black flies : and of course, one of 

 the best plans to keep down black grub, is to con- 

 stantly collect them at the roots of the newly cut plants. 

 Thi^, however, is far too expensive and tedious a task 

 in a large garden. 



I have noted briefly our worst insect enemies, and 

 in my next I will enumerate and return thanks indi- 

 vidually to our best garden friends— the insectiverous 

 birds. A. W. 

 ♦ 



BURMAH: PLANTING AND NEW PEG- 

 DUCTS. 



(By an old Ceylon Planter.) 

 Areacacha. 

 Arracacha is an esculent tuber known in the 

 vernacular of the West Indies by this name ; it 

 requires no water, it flourishes equally well in dry 

 or wet season, it gives a much larger yield than 

 the ordinary potato ; many people in Jamaica, even 

 the blacks, prefer it to the yam and potato. No 

 insect or blight— nothing seems to interfere with 

 its growth, and it is believed that its general in- 

 troduction into India would go far towards making 

 many of our provinces nearly famine-proof ! If 

 such a result can be' attained it is certainly worth- 

 while trying its introduction into this country, 

 The Arracacha is a native of the elevated regions 

 of' equatorial America, Pasto and New Granada, 

 whero the root is largely cultivated for food. It 

 has since a very recent date been introduced into 

 Jamaica; it is called by hoUm^iii Arracacha escu- 

 leuta and is classed in the natural order Um- 



