270 



JOUENAL OF AGEICULTUEE OF P. E. 



Dissolve the soap in the water, then add the crude carbolic. 

 Finally add enough water to make two quarts of solution. For use, 

 this stock solution should be diluted at the rate of one pint of stock 

 to six gallons of water. 



THE CHANGA. 



The changa or mole cricket, Scapieriscus vicinus, attacks a majority 

 of the vegetables grown in Porto Rico, and is especially destructive 

 in the sandy-loam soils of the coastal regions. 



These rather ferocious looking insects (Fig. 24), with their fore 

 legs peculirrly adapted for digging and excavating, make galleries 

 or runways just beneath the surface of the soil, where hidden from 

 sight they can travel in safety from one plant to another. They feed 



chiely on the roots of living 

 plants, and the stems and foli- 

 age of young seedlings that 

 have just been set out in the 

 field. They feed usually at 

 night and are frequently to be 

 seen around the houses in the 

 evenings, where they have been 

 attracted by the lights. 



Control. — Fortunately these 

 insects are readily controlled by 

 the use of a poison bait,^ made 

 as follows: 



Pounds. 

 Flour (low grade)-- 100 



Fig. 24. — The Changa (Scapieriscus Paris green 3 



vicinus). Adult. 



Mix these two ingredients 



thoroughly, and broadcast the resulting mixture over the prepared 



ground about a week before the vegetables are planted or protect 



each individual plant by placing about a spoonfuU of the mixture in 



a shallow trench around the plant. Either of these methods will 



prove \cry effective in controlling the changa. 



CRICKETS. 



The so-called "sick cricket." Amphiacusta cariMea, is another 

 insect thnt feeds indis' riminately on vegetable crops. It is nocturnal 

 in habH. hiding durin'" lite day under trash or in craks in the soil, 



^ S. S Crossman and G. N. Wohott, Circ. No. 6, Board of Comm. of Agric. of P. U. 

 (Insular Exp. Sta.) 



