172 



" This corps of excellent Avorkers, men familiar with every phase 

 of modern agriculture, will certainly give a great impulse to the 

 industry in Cuba, and we may look for the development of wonderful 

 things in tropical agriculture in Cuba during the next decade." — 

 Louisiana Planter, 14th January, 1905. 



687.-AN EXPERIMENT WITH THE PALM BEETLE.— 



RhyncophoruH palmarum. 



In the Bulletin for January, a short account was given of measures 

 necessary for the destruction of this enemy of the Coconut Palm. We 

 have since carried out the experiment of cutting a Cabbage Palm with a 

 view of ascertaining how many beetles could be taken, from the trunk 

 when cut to pieces. 



The tree was cut on Thursday, 2nd February, and 48 hours 

 afterwards the first lot of beetles were taken. Previous to this not a 

 single beetle could have been found, but the attraction of the partly 

 soured cellular tissue brought the following numbers, which were 

 captured twice a day — morning and evening. 



4th February, 1905 ... ,.. 23 



• > ii i . . , , ... ... i «/ 



6th ,, ,, ... ... 6 



Several beetles were found to have pierced the interior of the 

 stems, for the purpose of laying their eggs, but after the 6th, there 

 was apparently little attraction and no more beetles were captured. 



On opening the section of trunk on 18th February, it was found 

 that a number of Larvae were present, which had been evidently 

 hatched out from eggs laid by visitors previous to capture. It is 

 proposed to count these at a later date, when full grown. 



688.-A HANDY CANE MILL* -(Illustrated.) 



Some few years ago we purchased a small American three-roller 

 cane mill for use at the Experiment Station. This mill has been found 

 very effective and useful, extracting as much as 60 per cent, of juice 

 (by weight) from various qualities of canes. By the courtesy of the 

 Agents wo are able to illustrate this mill for the information of our 

 readers. The sole agents in Port-of-Spain are Messrs. Edgar Tripp & Co. 



