3^4 



THE TROPICAL AGnTCtTLTURTST. 



[November i, 1884. 



care that the industry should he permanently established ; 

 it failed because of the inadequate supply of fruit. 



It is not surprising that persons who are unacquainted 

 with the difficulties which have to be contended against 

 should think slightingly of our settlers for allowing others 

 tn supply in this way what can he produced here so easily. 

 but as greater knowledge of the subject is gained this 

 ig becomes much weaker. There is no great trouble 

 in getting the trees to bear, but there are few countries 

 under the sun where the obstacles to gathering the crop 

 in good condition are sogl sat. The enemies that a gardener 

 in Queensland has to eln battle with are numerous and 

 persistent, and many a man who has entered the lists 

 against them has given up the struggle in despair. No 

 sooner is he rid of one nuisance than another presents 

 itself, and if he retires to rest at night — after a hard 

 day's mil in the endeavour to protect and impri 

 crop— a fresh set of marauders come silently into his 

 orchard and rob him while he sleeps. They are not fanciful 

 troubles which beset his path — they are real and they are 

 grievous — nor are they to be despised because at first sight 

 they seem small. Amongst nocturnal depredators, flying 

 foxes occupy a prominent place. For months there may 

 be scarcely a sign of them, and the settler begins to take 

 hope ; but some evening, when he emerges suddenly from 

 his house, there is a rustling amongst the leaves, and a 

 heavy flutter, as the leathery-winged fox hurries off to 

 a safe distance. In a very short time the neighbourhood 

 is swarming with these destructive visitors, and their numbers 

 are so enormous, and their migratory habits so uncertain, 

 that the probability of exterminating them appears to he 

 most remote. Various methods for frightening them away 

 from the trees have been suggested, and it is reasonable 

 to expect that some effective plan will be found, though 

 hitherto none of the attempts, so far as we are aware, 

 have been attended with very marked success. But there 

 an many other smaller enemies, whose attacks are not 

 less persistent. There are moths and other insects which 

 come by hundreds and thousands; hut whence they come 

 and whither they go who can tell ? There is the common 

 banana moth, which may be caught at night by hanging 

 a bunch of ripe fruit on the veranda, or other convenient 

 place to which they have free access. Then there is the 

 large and beautifully-marked moth which attacks the orange 

 when the fruit is turning colour, or even at an earlier 

 stage. A smaller one settles on the ripening bunches of I 

 grapes, and drives its sharp sucker into the fruit, so that 

 in a few days — even if the insects are not particularly 

 numerous — the untouched fruit is destroyed by contact with 

 the fermenting juice of that which has been perforated. 

 There are other moths besides these, and, in addition to 

 them, are the insects whose larvae are the disgusting maggots 

 which fill with corruption the most luscious peaches, apricots, 

 plums, guavas, and other kinds of fruit. Strangers to the 

 country may wonder that settlers do not grow more fruit, 

 but those who have gained their experience from attempt- 

 ing to do so have quite another tale to tell, for there is 

 scarcely one which is not liable to the attack of some 

 sort of insect abomination. After all, then, there is an 

 xplanation which must be accepted as one of much force. 

 It, at any rate, enables us to understand how it is that 

 many a stout-hearted man who has attempted to make 

 fruit-growing a remunerative industry has, after a few 

 disappointing years, turned his attention to some other 

 enterprise; and it is important, to ascertain whether these 

 numerous and persistent enemies cannot lie so reduced in 

 number that their attacks maj be kept within reasonable 

 bounds, so 1h.it the industry may lie carried on with a fair 

 prospect of success. This, we believe, may he accomplished 

 if it is dealt with in an inte'ligent manner. One of the 

 first things to be ascertained is the source from which 

 the insect pests are derived. The orange moth, for instance 

 i whether it has been introduced or is indigenous to the 

 country matters nothing), is a perfect insect, the larvae of 

 which feed upon one or more indigenous plants. If oranges 

 are planted in new ground many miles away from any 

 others, and hidden as it were in the obscurity of the 

 hush, when they begin to bear the enemy soon 

 his appearance and commences his work of destruction. 

 It should be the object of those who are interested in 

 orangeries to discover the plant on which the caterpillar- 

 feeds, aud to distinguish the insect in this early stage of 



development. The moths may be killed at night in large 

 numbers, and in the day too, for they settle iu darkly- 

 shaded hushes, and when disturbed rly for only a short 

 distance; but having reached the perfect state they begin 

 to he mischievous, and if possible they should be destroyed 

 in the earlier forms, before they have time to do harm. 

 Many of the larvae of noxious insects feed upon plants 

 which grow iu the form of weeds on neglected ground. 

 A large proportion of them, when about to change from 

 larva to pupa — that is, from caterpillar to chrysalis — bury 

 themselves a few inches below the surface of the soil; and 

 this is a hint fur cultivators whose own observation has 

 not discovered so much for them. With these the remedy 

 lies very much in their own hands. By keeping down 

 the weeds the food of the larvae is destroyed; by disturbing 

 the surface of the soil the pupae may be also destroyed; 

 and these facts point a moral which it would he well to 

 remember: "Nothing pays a farmer so well as good 

 cultivation." If success is to be attained by those who 

 1 iu fruit-growing, it cannot be had by carelessness 

 and negligence. The best quality in fruit is the result of 

 good culture. Destroy all weeds; keep the surface of the 

 soil loose by constant stirring; and destroy all immature 

 fruit as soon as it falls to the ground. If you have pigs 

 they will do the work well — aud do it at once. Fowls 

 11m serve the same purpose — if you have enough of them 

 — hut see that the fruit is not left for more than forty- 

 eight hours: and. if you have no animals to consume it, 

 burn it at once. Do not bury it, for that does not des roy 

 the insects it contains, but rather protects them. Plant 

 only so much land as you can keep in good order. Let 

 110 weeds of any kind grow within the orchard fences, and 

 let tli land in the adjoining fields he grazed close ;it all 

 times of the year, even if the stock have to he fed in 

 the winter months. Rather let a neighbour's cows eal 

 down the grass, without making a charge, than let it 

 stand through the summer. By these means the plague 

 of insects will not. be exterminated, but they will be kept 

 within bounds, anil labour will have a reasonable prospect 

 of success. — Queenslandt r. 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS IN INDIA. 



Recent experience of preventable loss of life in India 

 amoi u r st animals both in peace, and war, has not been 

 thrown away. In 1865, the Madras Government appointed 

 a Veterinary Surgeon to investigate au extensive out- 

 break of cattle disease in the Nilgiri district; and Mr. 

 Thacker, the officer then named, continued up to 1871, 

 in the execution of the duty then imposed upon him with 

 the most satisfactory results. In 1873, there was a severe 

 ik of murrain in the Chingleput district, and for the 

 next three years a Veterinary Surgeon was again employed 

 iu alleviating sickness amongst animals. From 187b to 

 1882, there was an absence of activity, but iu August of 

 that year a Cattle Disease Prevention Department was 

 formed. More recently, instructions have been issued to 

 the village officials, by the Collectors of each I ustrict, 

 whereby reports and monthly statistics of cattle disease 

 will in future be submitted to Government. Directly on 

 occurrence of au outbreak, a report is to be sent to 

 the Collector, aid weekly bulletins will be forwarded until 

 the disease subsides. Nor have the Military authorities 

 been inactive. A Transport Department has been organ- 

 is- |. . .Mie result of the lessons 1 . 1 1 p _ ■ 1 j 1 by the' waste of 

 animal hie duringthe Afghan campaigns of 1879-81 ; various 

 rules and regulations have been issued for guidance ; classes 

 for instruction in transport duties have been formed ; and 

 in Future, preference will he given for employment iu the 

 : during war, 1 rs who have passed through 



I hi prescribed c ■•■ All bis is alculati d to be of ad- 

 vantage iu the saving of animal life. A great deal, how* 

 ever, has yet. to he done, before a smattering of veterinary 

 knowledge shall be ral amongst military officers and 



yet mon • e ths public is to some extent instructed. And 

 it is because intelligent interest in this important subject 

 is likebj oed, and sustained, that, we periodically 



welcomi | trance of the Quarterly Journal of Vetei >, i- 



a,<: Scienct in Ind in, an adventure lately embarked upon 

 s of the Army Veterinary Department, 

 two of whom are serving in this Presidency. 



The last number of the Journal, published this month, 



