159 



IS- Clean away all weeds, grass and bushes about ditches, 

 ponds, and other possible breeding places, since these afford a 

 hiding place for the adult mosquitoes. 



16. Clean up vacant lots and back yards of all cans, tins, 

 bottles and rubbish. 



17. First do away with or treat all places where mosquitoes are 

 known to breed, and then begin to work on places where they 

 might breed. Remember that large quantities breed in wild 

 pines, hollows in trees and in banana leaves. Keep the vegeta- 

 tion low near the house. 



18. As a citizen of your community you should feel a personal 

 responsiblity for the destruction of the mosquitoes in your district, 

 and seek to co-operate with your neighbours in the work of doing 

 away with breeding places. Inspect and treat with kerosene-oil, 

 gutters, culverts, ditches, man-holes, catch-basins, etc., along the 

 roadside. Man-hole covers should be screened. 



19. Where oil is applied to standing water it must de distri- 

 buted evenly over the surface. Use a hand syringe, or, if the area 

 is great, a knapsack sprayer. 



20. Houses should be cleared of all winged mosquitoes by the 

 burning of insect powder. The mosquitoes will fall to the floor, 

 and should be collected and burned. 



21. Relief in any community or district depends entirely upon 

 the co-operation of the members of the community. 



EXPORTING SEED OF PARA RUBBER. 



By H. N. Ridley, M.A., F.L.S., Director of the Botanic Gar- 

 dens, Straits Settlements. * 



As is well-known, the seed of the Para Rubber tree deterio- 

 rates very rapidly after it is ripe and soon loses its germinating 

 power, it is not always easy to send seed long distances without a 

 very large percentage of losses, at the same time the demand for 

 seed in distant parts of the world is very considerable, and a good 

 many experiments have been tried m the Botanic Gardens in 

 various methods of packing to ensure their arrival in good con- 

 dition. The reports received from the recipients of these seeds 

 have been remarkably good, as the following records will show :- 

 Of 7,500 seeds sent to Jamaica on August, 31st, were received on 

 25th October, and Mr. Fawcett writes : — "The 7,500 seeds sent 

 in biscuit-tins are all germinating very well and we shall scarcely 

 lose 500 of them." t 



One hundred were sent in a similar manner to Calabar on the 

 date July, 6th and arrived on September, 20th. The Acting 

 Secretary writes in reply : — " The seeds were soaked in water for 



* Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and Federated Malay States. Vol. V., No. 1., 

 Jan., 1906. 



t Over 87 per cent, of the seed-^ sown gerninated, hut some of the seedliujjs %vere 

 constitutionally week and died, so that only 5,071 plants sui vived, or ahout (iS per cent, 

 of the seeds sown A War IImu case arrived with 2,h00 seeds, but only 18 plants were 

 raised out of the whole number. Direetar, Bulletin of the Agricultural Department 

 Jatnaioa, 



