2o8 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[September i, 1882. 



For instauoe, rats, especially the black and brown 

 species, have alwaj'S caused considerable loss to coconut 

 plantations by attacking the young nuts on the trees 

 and destroying them, sometimes in mere wantonness, 

 in immense uiunbers. With the spread of the mnngoose, 

 I am informed that more rats than foi-merly have 

 taken refuge in coconut plantations, apparently diiven 

 away from sugar estates by the mimgoose; and, as 

 the latter cannot cUmb, the rats are apparently quite 

 safe. This, I fear, ^iH always be the case, especially 

 with the black rat, which nests in trees, and is a 

 splend d climber. It is only in the opeu, where cultiv- 

 ation is cai'efuUy kept up, and the rats have no 

 special shelter or trees to climl>, that the mungoose 

 is a successful rat-killer. Coconut planters are now, 

 however, xu'otecting their trees when grown up by 

 jilacing strips of tin around the stem, about ' six feet 

 from the gi-ound, after effectually clearing out the 

 rats and then' nests from the trees. Bats, liere called 

 "rat bats," probably do quite as much harm in some 

 districts to young coconuts as rats, and to depredations 

 of this kind there would appear to ho no remedy. 



The cultivation of cocoa will no doubt ultimately 

 benefit by the introduction of the mungoose to a cou- 

 siderable extent. The peasantiy have hitherto suffered 

 so severely by the dein-edations of rats that this cultiv- 

 ation has never been taken up by them on a large 

 scale. Owing to the introduction by Government of 

 the best varieties of cocoa from Trinidad, and the 

 energy displayed by several large idauters in establish- 

 ing plantations, cacao is likely to prove a very imjiortant 

 industry iu the island. 



The following table mil show the rapid increase 

 which has taken place in the export of cocoa from 

 Jamaica since 1874 : 



Year. 



1875 . 



1876 , 



1877 . 



1878 , 



1879 . 

 1880 



Quantity Exported. Value. 



. .. Sllcwt £873 



. .. 459 ,, 1286 



. .. 375 , 1051 



. .. 1694 ,, 7832 



. .. 2153 „ 6631 



3304 , 10,918 



Where large areas are planted with cocoa, and where 

 the gi'ound is kept clean and open, the mungoose 

 must prove of gi'eat service in checking the depredations 

 of rats, and the trees being small and low rats would 

 be unable to make a permanent lodgment in them. 



Similarly with coffee, which has hitherto sirffered 

 most severely from their depredations. The proportion 

 of "rat coffee" on some estates is probably one-twentieth 

 of the whole crop, and it would be larger still it it 

 were all carefully gathered and ciu-ed. The actual 

 damage done to coffee by rats has been estimated as 

 high as £15,000 per annum, and probably this is not 

 far beyond the mark. 



In some districts the greater yield of coffee' and 

 cocoa, in recent j-eara, has been attributed more to 

 the influence of the mungoose than to the increased area 

 under; cultivation. Certainly the large increase of om- ex- 

 ports iu cacao during the last five years caunotbeaccounted 

 for alone by the increased area devotedto this cultm'e. 



The actual benefits coufeired by the mungoose of the 

 ctdtivatiou of corn, aiToi\TOot, sweet potato, peas, and 

 those gToimd provisions cultivated by the negi-oes, caunot 

 be estimated at present. "Where the cultivation is 

 neglected, and grass allowed to gi'ow plentifully, from 

 my own experience, " says a planter, "with the gi'owth 

 of corn the mungoose is of little or no advantage ; but 

 when the laud is kept clean, and the mungoose has 

 free action to see and dart upon its prey, I am of 

 opinion it is of immense advantage to corn, &c." 



Tmuing now to another phase of the subject, viz., 

 the injtu'ies said to be inflicted by the mungoose on 

 poidtry and other domestic animals, the general opinion 

 amongst the negi'oes and those who have not suffered 

 severely by the depiedations of rats is of a 



character decidedly unfavourable to the mnngoose. 



It is but natiu-al that an ichneumon shotild eat eggs 

 and destroy chickens when other supplies faU; but 

 from my own experieuce (and I have some one hundi'ed 

 and fifty fowls run nin g freely about the yards) I cannot 

 recall a siugle instance in which eggs or chickens 

 have been actually destroyed by the mungoose, and it 

 is, and has been, for some time, very prevalent in 

 the neighbom'hood. Many of my correspondents, how- 

 ever, state the fact, and on this account the negroes 

 destroy the mimgoose whenever they find it. The evils 

 as yet, is not of a serious character, whatever it may 

 eventually attain, and certainly not gi'eater in most 

 districts than that formerly caused by rats before the 

 mimgoose became common. At present there would 

 appear to be uo diminution in the supply, or increase 

 in the price of either poultry or eggs. It is said that 

 the mungoose will not trouble any fowl-bouse near 

 which a dog is kept, and, as it is a day walker, its 

 depredations in these respects are likely to be kept 

 within comparatively reasonable limits. 



From the natm'alist's point of view, the acclimatisation 

 of the mungoose is likely to cause a distiu-bance in 

 the distribution of many of our indigenous animals, 

 which is much to be regi'etted. For instance, quaiU 

 wild gnineafowl, and most gi-ound-hatching birds, are 

 rapidly diminishing. 



Sea aud water fowl ai-e also being attacked in severae 

 of then- nesting places, with the evident result of their 

 being gi-aduaUy reduced. The yellow snake, or boa 

 (Clulabothnis inoraatus), itself a good rat-catcher, and 

 the "meek-faced" gi'ound lizard (Amevia dorsalis), are 

 also becoming daily more scarce.* 



The diminution and probable extinction of animals, 

 in no sense dangerous, but, on the other hand, highly 

 useful, may hereafter considerably alter the con- 

 ditions of animal Hfe in the island. For present, how- 

 ever, we can only note the facts as they present 

 themselves to us, leaving it to the naturalist of the 

 futm'e to di'aw his own conclusions. 



One view is, that when the mungoose has attained 

 its maximum distribution, and its food supply is 

 diminished, it will, like the Kafile ant and Agua toad, 

 become less felt in the economy of life, and tiud its 

 natural place with the rat — but both in dimiuished 

 numbers. While on this subject — the due balance of 

 animal life — I may mention that it is the opinion of 

 one trustworthy correspondent that the Agua toad, 

 when it swarmed over the island, by destroying the 

 predatoiy insects which held the ticks and gi'ass lice 

 in proper check, brought upon us the present tick 

 tafliction of the colony. If this view be correct, then 

 we may hope that, now the toad is diminishing, we 

 have also seen the worst of the tick plague. Truly, 

 a consummation, much to be wished 1 — D. Moekis, Jam- 

 aica, -Feb. 24. — Field. 



Leafless Plants. — The anatomical structure of plants 

 bearing phyllodes, or stems with few or no leaves, 

 such as liiisciis. Asparagus, Acacia, Spurtiuiii, and 

 Gasuariiia, has been examined by H. Pick, who finds 

 that as the amount of foliage decreases so the stems 

 approach in structure to the leaves, the cortical 

 parenchyma assuming the palisade form to common iu 

 the upper surface of leaves, while numerous intercellular 

 spaces aud stomata are also present. He has also 

 found that plants w-ith few leaves give out most 

 oxygen and assimilate most. ^Vhen light is excluded 

 starcli is stored up in tlie plants in the course of two 

 or three days, while in plants with abundant foliage 

 this takes place only in from eight to fourteen days. — 

 Plia rinace at tea I Journal. 



» As a meaos c£ ilesiroyius; the Jreaded Fer-Je-lanca, 

 or rat-tailed tnaka ht .it. Lucia, the mimsjouse uutlit ao 

 good- iC wi-uld be iuteiesiiU'^- to learn wbetber It has 

 been tiled, and with what result. 



