175 



year ; and the average extraction from estate's canes for the crop was 

 57o/o, by the same mill. 



The return from the small area of ordinary canes that could be 

 spared water was 25 tons per acre. This shows the value of irrigation 

 in a dry year such as 1902-03 was, when the average return per acre 

 from non-irrigated canes was 9 tons. 



D.102, 103, 80 and Otaheite have done better as First Ratoons than 

 as Plants. 



Joseph Shore. 

 18/6/03. 



AN INSECT PEST OF SWEET POTATOES. 



Gruh. Mr. Cradwick, Travelling Instructor, sent to the Director of 

 Public Gardens for identification and remedy a sweet potato, which 

 was destroyed for purposes of food by the holes made through it by a 

 small maggot-like whitish grub, about a quarter of an inch long. 

 The grub has no feet but is able to bore its way through the potato. 

 The portions of the potato next the borings become black and dis- 

 coloured, and even the untouched parts are said to be without taste 

 and to be refused by pigs. 



Perfect Insect. The potato was kept for some time until the grubs 

 had passed through the quiescent or pupal stage, and developed into 

 the perfect insect, the sweet potato weevil. It is one of the snout-beet- 

 les, about a quarter of an inch long, of a bluish-black colour, brownish 

 in the middle, with long, blackish snout or beak. It is known to ento- 

 mologists as Cylas formicarius. 



Remedy. As the infested potatoes are useless as food, there need be 

 no hesitatation about burning tbem at once, as well as all the rubbish 

 on the ground which may harbour more ( f the insects. Destruction 

 by fire prevents the multiplication of the insects, and future attacks 

 may be less severe. 



In order to give no opportunity for later development of these pests, 

 it is well to plani the ground with some other crop, such as corn or 

 cane, which are not affected by the maggot. 



CULTIVATION OF RICE IN THE UNITED 



STATES.* 



By Leslie Harrison. 

 It can be stated that rice cannot be grown without irrigation, and for 

 all practical purposes that statement will hold true ; for while it is 

 true that " Providence" rice has been grown in the past, and is grown 

 yet, it is also true that rice grown without the artificial application of 

 water has comparatively small commercial value in the rice industry 

 of the southern States. 



The methods of cultivation and irrigation are widely different in 

 the two great rice districts of the country ; for excepting the fact that 

 the resultant crop is the same, and that both are grown by means of 

 irrigation, there are few points of likeness. For example, Carolina 

 rice-growing is historically the oldest in the country, and its present 



* Forestry and Irrigatiou. July, 1903. 



