liEMEDltiS. 1 1 



plants of maize, ot bliindi, of juari, of beans, of any erop plants should 

 never be g-rown in the fields at any time. They eome up from stray seed 

 and are allowed to grow freely, perhaps in border strips ; they harbour 

 pests and help them over critical periods when food is scarce ; all such 

 plants should be pulled up unless grown for a distinct purpose. 



A precaution that might be used far more freely is that of trenching, 

 either to isolate an infested plot or to protect an uninfested one from a 

 neighbouring infested one. When caterpillars are abundant, they eat the 

 plant they are on and move away to others ; rarely they move in a body, 

 usually singly ; the owner of an infested plot is doubtless glad to see 

 them go, but his neighbours should certainly make trenches, which need 

 not be more than a few inches deep with sloping sides. Such trenches 

 do much to isolate pests which cannot fly, especially caterpillar plagues ; 

 these caterpillars often become restless and move about at a special period 

 of the day, falling very soon into the trenches ; large numbers can then 

 be killed in a very simple manner. 



Another simple precaution on small holdings is the common hen, an 

 indefatigable insect hunter ; turkeys and guinea-fowls are equally good 

 but rare. The hen should be a regular part of a ryot's small belongings, 

 and there is a certain justice in obtaining fat hens from the insects which 

 eat crops ; it is necessary to give the hen a basis of other food and not 

 compel her to a purely insect diet. 



Whilst there are many methods of destroying insect life on a small 

 or large scale, for every pest there is, as a rule, one single remedial method 

 which proves successful. There is no one specific capable of universal 

 application, no " cure-all,'''' no patent medicine warranted to kill every 

 thing from fleas to locusts ; if there is, it has not yet come within the 

 range of practical science and is made only to sell and not for use. 



In devising remedies, the essential things are a knowledge of the 

 habits of the insect and a full understanding of the local conditions. The 

 habits of the insect vary little from place to place, and their variation can 

 be predicted ; but local circumstances vary from village to village, and 

 what is effective in the west may not suit the east. Thus it is that no 

 remedies can be given for such a pest as the Rice Stem Fly ; its destruc- 

 tion is purely a matter of local knowledge and of so altering the local 

 agricultural practices as to baffle the insect ; no amount of scientific 

 training', no remedies from the most advanced scientific nation can help 

 us in a case like this, and nothing can replace the local knowledge that, 

 combined with a knowledge of the habits of the pest, at once points to 

 the one weak spot in the life of the insect and adjusts the agricultural 

 practices accordingly. That is the essence of remedial measures. 



