May I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGKICULTUIHST. 



9°3 



doubtful whether any of these insect slaughtei'ers are more 

 efficient in suitable cases than the general practice of 

 fumigation. Noverthelees there are cases where fumigaliun 

 is of no effect, or where its application is from various 

 oauaes undesirable, and then the gardener has recoui-se 

 to such tried friends as Gishurst Compound, or petroleum 

 oil, or kerosene used in the proportion of a wineglasslul 

 of the oil to a gallon of water, in which soft-soap is stirred 

 up so as to form an emulsion, and seciu'e an equal mixture 

 of the oil. To use this, constant stirring is necessary to 

 secure the diffusion of the oil, and the liquid should then 

 be applied to the plant thi'ough a fine rosed syringe or 

 spray-producer. Constant stu-ring is necessary or the oil 

 may liill the plant, as well as the scale insect. Prof. Kiley 

 recommends, as the result of many trials, the following 

 emulsions: — Refined kerosene two parts, sour milk one part, | 

 or if milk cannot be obtained then condensed milk is , 

 employed, as iu the following formula: — Kerosene, 1 gal., 

 condensed milk 2 cans ( H pint), and water ^j pints. Mix ' 

 the condensed milk and t&e water before adding tlie oil. j 

 AVhen the oil is added churn thoroughly till a sort of 

 butter is produced. When required for use this butter 

 should be diluted with twelve to sLxtecn times its bulk of 1 

 water, so that the emulsion resembles milk, and it may \ 

 iu this state be used with a powerful syringe or, still 

 better, force-pump, for the destruction of scale insects on 

 Orange trees, Oleanders, Cactuses, Kc. For other creatures, 

 such as aphides, thrips, or red-spider, Pyrethrum powder j 

 applied as hereafter mentioned is more suitable. The 

 Pyrethrum powder, known in commerce as Persian insect 

 powder, is a veritable boon to suffering tourists, as many 

 a traveller will acknowledge. The powder is made from, 

 the dried fiowers of Pyi-othi-um roseum, a hardy perennial, 

 from which the now numerous double Pyrethrums of gardens 

 originated. The plant is a native of the lower regions 

 of the Caucasus Mountains, and is nowhere cultivated oir 

 a large scale. A nearly allied Dalmatian species, P. 

 cinerarifoliura, is u.scd for similar purposes. 



Both these plants might readily be cultivated here, 

 though no doubt a hotter summer than we are generally 

 blessed with is needed to develope the acriil oil, upon 

 which the insecticide properties depend. The flower-heads 

 slioidd be gathered when fully expanded (but before the 

 ripening of the seed), di-ied under cover, and finely 

 pidverised; the powder, if not wanted for immediate use, 

 should be preserved in tightly-closed vessels. AVhen used 

 as an insecticide it must be remembered that its effects 

 are not permanent in the open air; if, for instance, it 

 affects the insects on a particular plant, it has no effect 

 upon those which may happen to ahjht on the plant half 

 an hour after the application. Again, the powder is of no 

 value unless it come in actual contact ^vith the insect, 

 and has no effect on the eggs or pupie of the uisect. In 

 these particulars, says Prof. Riley (from whose paper in 

 the aimual report of the (American) State Entomologist 

 for 1882 we extract these particulars), the Pyrethrum is 

 less eft'ectual than the arseiucal poisons. On the other 

 hand, the Pyrethrum is perfectly harmless to plants or to 

 higher animals, and may thus be used without fear of 

 untoward conse(iuences. Under cover the Pyrethruru is 

 naturally more effectual, so that its use iu greenhouses 

 or in domestic houses for the preservation of furs, or in 

 the herbaria, or cabinets of the naturahst is very effectual. 

 The ordinary mode of application is as a dry x>owder 

 distributed by ''dredging'' the plant, or by the use of bellows, 

 or of an elastic ball. This method of appUcation is well 

 known. Less familiar is the process of fumigation by its 

 means; the powder burns freely, giving off much smoke, 

 which suffices to kill or paralyse flies or mosquitos in a 

 room, and is very efficacious in the case of furs, feathers, 

 herbaria, or in greenhouses. ^Vn alcohohc e.^tract may also 

 be used, distributed by a spray-proilucer. But the simplest 

 and most efficient plan, says I'rof. Riley, is to dissolve 

 (r' suspend) the powder in water and use it in a fine sj-ringe 

 or spray-producer. Beutloy's spray-producer will be well 

 adapted for the purpose. The Pj-rethrum water is most 

 efficacious freshly made, and loses its qualities if kept. 



Prof. Riley supports his conclusions by the evidence 



.'itforded by immerous trials made by himself or under his 



' direction. It is prettv clear then that the gardener has in 



I'yrethrum powder, used as al)Ove doscTibcd, a simple and 



efficient means of destroying many insects at a comparatively 



small cost. Indeed it is quite open to him to grow and 

 prepare his own insecticide, and thus spare himself the 

 expense of purchasing other not more effectual things at 

 a relatively high price. To prevent disappointment, however, 

 it must be added, that it is of no service in the casi' of 

 hard-shelled insects, as Ijeetles, scale insects, or hairy cater- 

 pillars; but for all kinds of aphis or greenfly it is s-poken 

 of as a specific, as also for fhes and gnats. Whether it is 

 fatal to wasps is not stated, but certaudy it is hardly so 

 to slugs, as most gariUmers known to their cost. — Gai'denei's' 

 Chi'onidt. 



I'vt 

 people 



EUROPEAN AND NATIVE CULTIVATION ON 

 THE PLAINS OF CEYLON: 



NEW .WD OLD PBODUCTS. 



seen as much hill and lowcountry scenery as most 

 I'd like to know where you will find a lovelier 

 grander view than from my little new product es- 

 tate bungalow, looking from the porch, covered with flower- 

 ing creepers, towards Adam's I'eak crowned with roseate- 

 tipped clouds in the early morning, ami bright with the 

 reflected Ught of sunset in the evenings. Long groves of 

 cacao, wide-spreading fields of d.ark green tea dotted about 

 with the graceful areka palm are seen stretching away 

 right and left, and a pretty rippling stream, close by, 

 makes its pleasant way down to a cool shady dell, where 

 may be seen as pretty a garden as in many an English 

 homestead. It is well stocked wnth celery, carrots, onions, 

 radishes, and lettuces, reminding one of the " old house 

 and garden at home." There are flowers too, and there 

 are grapc-rines and oriinge trees and pines, and, in fact, 

 most of the fruits of the country in abundance. Opposite 

 the porch, beneath a clump of shady trees is a neat Uttle 

 ariary, well stocked with birds of song and plumage; 

 pigeons abound and feed from a stranger's hand ; all 

 about us in short tells as pleasant a tale of Ceylon rural 

 life as need be wished for. The air is ever fresh, bright, 

 and invigorating, for it comes over cool green glades aud 

 heavy jungle in which the sun but rarely penetrates, and 

 in the early hours of morning, when tlie wind descends 

 upon us from the lofty ranges of the Peak, it feels quite 

 .spring-like, and rcnuuds one of the air in Devonshire. 



There is an excellent cart road from the railway, made 

 with village labour at a trifling cost, for the people, knowing 

 well how much it would help them in the transpoit of 

 then- few products to a market. Anyone who will come 

 amongst these poor creatures and give them the smallest 

 •amount of work to place food within their reach, will earn 

 their lasting gratitude. Too gladly they give their laboiir, 

 and had they but the tools and the seeds ; how cheerfully 

 they would plant and sow and reap. I have done what 

 was in my power by example, by draiinng, opening, trench- 

 ing and planting with y.ams a. rather large stretch of some 

 unprofltable swamp on which from the earliest time an 

 uncertain crop of poor sickly paddy was raised, a truth of 

 which was pounced upon by the village Arachchi on liehalf 

 of our Sovereign Laily the Queen. I brought together some 

 of the villagers, and' placed them on the work that they 

 might profit by example. A wide and tolerably deep ilrain 

 was cut midway through it, from enil to end. Into this 

 were opened cross-drains, smaller and covered over by 

 slabs of stone. Then when the ooze water had made its 

 way out, aud the band began to dry and crack, the villagers 

 were set to cut up the thick heavy turf, and stack it for 

 drying, whilst the soil below was turned over mamotie- 

 deep and allowed to remain so for a month. Then the 

 dried turf converted into jjeat was burnt, and the ashes 

 and burnt clay scattered over the face of the land and 

 finally dug into it. At the end of three luonths the whole 

 aspect, the entire nature of the place, was changed. It 

 was no longer a pestifeous ugly swamp, but a pleasant 

 field, on one jiortion of which a number of yams have 

 been plante.l and are doing remarkalily well, looking as 

 strong and healthy as though on the best Land in the province. 

 From one small plot of this ground, reclaimed some time 

 ago. the i)roiluce in yams has been equal to a retvu-n of 

 Rii.iO the acre, aud this without any application of manure. 

 Now there is nothing in this i)roceeding that luay not 

 be adopted by any of the villagers about, and I have no 

 doubt with tools they will follow the example thus set them. 

 There are very few villages that have not an unprofitable 



