Feb. I, 1886,. 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



52i 



INSECT PLAGUES. 



The distingHished lady naturalist who presides 

 so ably over one important department of teach- 

 ing at the Eoyal AKrieultural College at Ciren- 

 cester has put forward an opinion to which we in 

 Ceylon should do well to give the fullest con- 

 sideration. There is, we apprehend, scarcely a 

 country in the world which has suffered more 

 than has Ceylon from the ravages of insect life. 

 Hardly one of our agricultural industries has escaped 

 unscathed from their attacks. Coffee, cinchona, 

 cardamoms, coconut trees, — and probably, erelong 

 tea — have their productiveness aft'ected by these 

 obnoxious visitants. If, as has been asserted by 

 the lady in question, there exist means whereby, 

 in a general way, such plagues may be guarded 

 against m the future and eradicated in the present, 

 our debt of gratitude to those who would show us 

 how to accomplish such a result would indeed be great. 



But it is acknowledged — and it must be evident 

 to us all in Ceylon as the result of past experience — 

 that individual effort can do little in such a direc- 

 tion. It IS only, we suspect, by legislative enactment, 

 and its full enforcement insuring co-operative work- 

 ing among all classes of our .agricultural popul- 

 ation, that the desirable end can be attained. 

 There exist among us plenty of intelligent men 

 who have already devoted much of tune and money 

 to the endeavour to rid themselves of those noxious 

 enemies. But what can single effort avail upon a 

 single estate or garden, or groups of estates and 

 gardens, when on adjacent properties the evil is 

 left to develop without any attempt to cope with it ? 

 We have recently had practical demonstration in an- 

 other colony of the useful effect of (iovernment 

 interference in the direction referred to. In Cyprus, 

 antecedent to British possession of that island, the 

 constantly recurring plague of locusts prevented 

 the hope that so long as it was allowed to con- 

 tinue the newly acijuired colony could be made 

 prosperous. Acting upon the advice sought and 

 obtained from those best qualified to advise upon 

 such a matter, the authorities in that island took 

 vigorous measures to deal with the evil. Hundreds 

 of miles — we do not think we exaggerate in saying 

 so — of canvas screens were erected, over which 

 the locusts in their wingless state were compelled 

 to march in their steady migi-ations. On surmount- 

 ing these screens they were compelled to drop into 

 troughs of water prepared tor their reception, and 

 the result was that in one single season it was 

 computed that a slaughter of these had been 

 effected to the extent, we believe, of over 200 mil- 

 lions ! What has been the result of the steady and 

 conliuued application of this principle? We are 

 under the strong impression that the plague will 

 no longer visit the colony in any serious degree. 

 It is at all events certain that for several seasons 

 we have heard very little about the crops of the 

 Cypriotes being destroyed by the agency of the locust. 

 Now it strikes us that what has been accom- 

 plished in one colony with such success could not 

 entirely fail of accomplishment, though by a 

 different method perhaps, in another. There must 

 and— according to the dictum we have quoted— 

 there do exist means for realizing a similar success 

 with respsct to the destraction of obnoxious insect 

 life in other lands. It is true that in Ceylon our insect 

 life is of a more diversified character than that 

 dealt with in Cyprus ; but nevertheless we should 

 hold that the principle has been proved, and that 

 it is to the application of it that our attention is 

 desirable. Nearly all varieties of insect life psss 

 tbioagh certain diatioct phases, In the ooe or 

 66 



1 other of these phases, the creatures possess but 

 limited power of mobility, and are thus open to 

 j organized attack for their destruction. It is in the 

 j selection of the one particular .stage to which 

 ■ effort should be directed that the chief duty of our 

 , naturalists consists. That point being determined, 

 I the further duty rests with them of pointing out 

 [ the method to be pursued whereby attack maybe 

 most effectually made. To enable these two duties 

 to be properly fulfilled, it is evident that opportunity 

 mn=t be afforded for the study locally by an expert 

 in ,-.uch matters of the habits and peculiarities 

 of each fomi of insect plague to be dealt with. 

 Such oppoil.uiity can only be afforded by Gov- 

 ernment aid, and it appears to us that we shall 

 be— in view of the importance of the matter as 

 regards its revenue — fully justified in calling upon 

 our authorities to see that such aid is afforded, when 

 next the necessity arises. When the ravages of 

 leaf-disease upon our coffee trees first became 

 strongly apparent, experts were called in to study 

 the question. It is generally held that in that 

 instance the course pursued was not productive 

 of much practical result; but, although this may 

 be true positively, it is far from, being the case 

 if we take the negative value of Mr. Ward's life- 

 history of Hemileia vastatrix and his inferences into 

 account, in sliowing in what directions outlay was use- 

 less, and so saving money, time and labour. The 

 enemy was of a particularly insidious character in that 

 case ; but the same disability scarcely applies to the 

 evils which may assail, and have assailed, our 

 more modern industries. Science asserts that such 

 evils generally can be coped with. We hold that 

 such a (11,-tifm, so strongly expressed as it is and 

 justified by the results already obtained as we 

 have pointed out above in the case of Cyprus, 

 deserves attention on the part of our rulers. When 

 once experts have decided on a course best to be 

 pursued in Ceylon, whether it be in respect of 

 an enemy of tea, cacao, coconut palm or any 

 other staple, let the most stringent measures 

 be taken to ensure its adoption and pursuance. 

 There should in such a matter be no half-measures. 

 To be successful too there must be united action on 

 the part of Europeans and natives alike, and the 

 only way to ensure this is to make its avoidance 

 liable to serious iicnalty. In any step towards 

 this desirable end that our Governmont may have to 

 take, it will have, we feel sure, the unanimous and 

 steady support of all interested in the welfare of Ceylon. 

 ^ 



THE MINCING LANE WHOLE-BEBRY 

 COMPANY (LIMITED), 

 with a capital of £10,000, in 20 shares of £.nOOO 

 each (the first issue of shares has been fully 

 subscribed), is announced. The prospectus is of 

 more than ordinary interest:— 



This Company has been formed by Merchants, 

 Growers and others interested in Coffee, to combat 

 the adulteration tliat has been going on for years, 

 and to supply tile public with Coffee direct from 

 the Colonial Market, /n\i/, ivastrd, in small quaut- 

 ities suitable for faniilicB, clubs, hotels, restaurants, 

 and other public institutions, thus avoiding all 

 iuterniediatc ch.arges or profits. That no article of 

 Colonial produce is subject to so much adulteration 

 as Coffee is amply pro\ed by the various analyses 

 made from time to time : but we wish to draw 

 p.articiilar attention to an analysis made in ISS-> by 

 the public analysts. Messrs. Wigner and Uarland, of 

 S7 siiriii)les purohascd 011 the same day at :i7 

 different shops in the Metropolis, and which gave 

 the foUovying results :— Two samples were genuine, 

 one contained 68 per cent and .3.3 samples from 7 

 up to 57 per cent of Coffee, the whole averaging 

 32 per cent of pure Coffee and 63 per cent of 

 chicory, dat^t, daudeliou and other northlese veget- 



