362 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 11, 1911. 



INSECT NOTES. 



SOME INSECT INJURIES TO 

 GROUND NUTS. 



The following is alistracted from Circular li2, issued 

 by the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, entitled The Indian Meal Moth and 

 Weevil-cut Peanuts. 



Peanuts (which are better known in the West Indies as 

 ground nuts) are a crop of considerable importance in the 

 United States, the peanut industry in 1910 being estimated 

 to have a value of §15,000,000. Until a few years ago, this 

 fruit was considered almost immune from insect attack, since 

 the plants were affected in the field by very few insects, and 

 the nuts in storage were protected by their thick shells. A 

 few kinds of beetles were known to be able to penetrate the 

 woody shells of the nut.'^, but the damage occasioned by these 

 attacks was very slight. 



The advent of the mechanical thresher or peanut picker 

 has been accompanied by a great increase of injury by insects. 

 The shells of many nuts are cracked and broken, especially 

 when the machine is fed too fast, in an effort to accomplish 

 the greatest amount of work in the least time. The broken 

 shells allow easy access by insects to tlie kernel, which could 

 not penetrate them in their unbroken condition. 



The loss occasioned to the grower and dealer has, during 

 the past few years, become very considerable — in fact it is 

 estimated that this amounted to !?3,000,000 in 1910, or 

 20 per cent, of the total value of the industry. 



The Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella, Huljn.) 

 has assumed a position of first importance in this connexion, 

 and is chiefly responsible for the enormous amount of injury 

 mentioned above. (Jther insects which are frequently found 

 to injure ground nuts in storage are : the rust-red flour beetle 

 (Triholiun navale, Fab.); the saw-toothed grain beetle [Sil- 

 vanus surinamensis, L.); the cadelle {Teiiel/roides lumiretani- 

 cus, L.); the fig moth {Ephestia nintelta, Walk.) and the 

 Mediterranean flour moth (Ephestia kuelmiella, Zell.). The 

 three first mentioned of these are beetles which have mouth 

 parts sufficiently hard and strong to enable them to cut 

 through the shells of the ground nuts, but they are not often 

 seriously injurious. The entrance of the moths and their 

 larvae is made po.ssible only when the shells are injured in 

 some manner. 



In addition to receiving injury in the threshing machine, 

 ground nut shells are broken after the nuts are put into the 

 sacks. It is the practice to stack the sacks so high that 

 it is necessary for the labourers to climb up on them, and 

 those at the bottom are walked upon and many of the 

 .shells broken. 



In discussing the control of the Indian meal moth, the 

 greatest importance is placed u[)on methods of handling and 

 storing the nuts; while fumigation with carbon bisulphide 

 and hydrocyanic acid, and the application of high tempera- 

 tures are recommended as direct reiiicdial measures when 

 severe attacks are e.xperienced. Attacks by the other insect 

 pests already mentioned may be prevented and controlled by 

 the same means as those used in the case of the Indian meal 

 moth. 



In the West Indies, ground nuts arc not a very impor- 

 tant crop, so that the remedial measures mentioned arc not 

 likely to be necessary. It would be well, however, for 

 growers of this nut to remember that broken shells give rise 

 directly to insect attack; and con.'^equently that care should be 

 taken to harvest and store the crop in such a manner that 

 injury of this kind may be reduced to a minimum. 



PEST LAWS IN PORTO RICO. 



The Government of the island of Porto liico has recently 

 passed an Act (No. 45, approved .March 9,1911) which 

 creates a Board of Commissioners of Agriculture, and amends 

 previous legislation, entitled An Act to Prevent the Intro- 

 duction into Porto Itico of Plant and Insect Diseases, and 

 Pests, and for Other Purposes (Xo. 60, approved September 

 3, 1910). The new act also provides for the introduction and 

 protection of birds useful to agriculture. 



The iioard of Commissioners of Agriculture consists of 

 seven members, representing the various agricultural interests 

 of the island, who are appointed for a period of one year, 

 being eligilile for reappointment. 



Section 6 of the Act relates to birds beneficial to agri- 

 culture, and reads as follows; — 



' That the act of seizing, killing, destroying or keeping 

 in ones possession, any bird beneficial to agriculture, be and 

 is hereby declared to be unlawful. Whosoever seizes, kills, 

 destroys, or keeps in his possession any bird beneficial to 

 agriculture, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and punished 

 therefor with a fine of not less than five ncr more than twenty- 

 five dollars, or with imprisonment for not more than ten days, 

 or with both penalties. The board shall prepare, print, publish 

 and furnish on request, a list of birds which in their opinion 

 are beneficial to agriculture, and any bird comprised in said 

 list shall be conclusively considered as beneficial to agricul- 

 ture for the purposes of this Act.' 



Sections 7 and 8 are the sections I and 3 of the previous 

 law, which have been amended to read as follows. — 



'Section 1 (60— 1910).— That no live tree or plant or 

 any portion thereof, or the seeds of the same (except" roasted 

 cott'ee, cereals, fruits from other than tropical countries, 

 vegetables or nuts, for domestic consumption), seed hulls, 

 or roots, cotton lint loose or in bales, shall be brought into 

 Porto liico from any other place without having attached 

 thereto, in a prominent and conspicuous place, a certificate 

 under oath signed by a duly authorized State or Government 

 entomologist to the ett'ect that the said articles are free from 

 disease: Froi'ided, that in the case of cotton seed, seed cotton, 

 cotton seed hulls or cotton lint, such certificate shall set 

 forth that the locality in which the shipment originated was 

 found by actual investigation by said attesting official or his 

 agent, to be free from the pest known as 'boll weevil,' or any 

 other pests or diseases harmful to the cotton plant: And 

 Provided, further, that in the case of cocoa-nut trees, nuts 

 or products of the cocoa-nut manufactured or unprepared for 

 consumption, such certificates shall set forth that the district 

 in which the articles originated is free from cocoa-nut plague, 

 or any other disease harmful to cocoa-nut trae^: A nd Ero- 

 vidid further, that this Act shall not prohibit lor make 

 conditional, the importation of agricultural prodiicis to be 

 manufactured, , ground, milled or utilized for industrial 

 purposes, 1)ut its importation shall, however, be made subject 

 to reasonable regulations to be prejiared by the Board, with 

 reference to precautions to be taken to prevent its causing 

 harm to agriculture.' 



' Section 3 — That no live tree or plant or any portion 

 thereof, or the seeds of the same (except roasted coffee, 

 cereals, fruits from other than tropical countries, vegetables 

 or nuts for domestic consumption), seed hulls or roots, or 

 cotton lint loose or in bales, except agricultural products for 

 manufacturing, grinding, milling, or for industrial pur|)oses, 

 subject to the regulations provided for in Section 1 of this 

 Act (60 — 1910) shall be brought into Porto Itico from any 

 other place except through the ports of San Juan, Ponce and 

 Mayaguez.' 



