9 March, 1908.] Insect Pests in Foreign Lands. 143 



in Mirelas State are greatly reducing the pyest. I could not find that the 

 parasite on the orange maggot, recorded from Mexico, was of any value 

 in checking the pest. 



On returning to Mexico City I made several visits to different districts, 

 and spent several days at the Department with Professor Herrera obtaining 

 information regarding the pests of agriculture which I have recorded for 

 my report, but will not enlarge upon here. Acting on the advice of Pro- 

 fessor Herrera, and armed with credentials from him to the Jefe Political 

 or Chief Magistrate of the different districts, I left Mexico City on the 

 15th for Puebla, reaching there late in the afternoon. I engaged an in- 

 terpreter, and visited the Governor's Secretary, who gave me letters to 

 the President of the University of State, where there was a small collec- 

 tion of Mexican insects. With a letter to the Mayor of Tehuacan, 1 

 left at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning for that town, where I met two of the 

 chief ranch owners, and went with them to the fruit market. Here I was 

 told that a white grub often destroys a great deal of the maize by gnaw- 

 ing off the roots. Maize, barley and fruit are the chief crops grown by 

 irrigation, but hardly anything is exported. 



On the 1 8th I left Puebla for Orizaba, and reached that town the 

 same afternoon. I obtained an interpreter and called upon the Judge 

 of the district, who gave me letters to the managers of the two large plan- 

 tations in the neighbourhood, San Antonio and Galapella, which I visited 

 next morning, going through the orange orchards which were free from 

 scale and fruit fly, but badly infested wth melanose. As the oranges 

 are not used for sale, the orchards are much neglected. I drove through 

 coffee plantations and sugar cane, and visited the mill, which is a verv 

 jtrimitive affair with one pair of rollers. The sugar is all made up into 

 loaves, the loaf sugar of three grades ; a large amount of raw spirit is 

 also manufactured. In another orchard visited I noticed a very curious 

 mandarin orange tree with short sessile leaves almost like holly. 



On the 20th I left for Vera Cruz, passing through large tracts of 

 coffee (grown under shade trees) and banana plantations between Orizaba 

 and Cordoba. On ariving at Vera Cruz the same afternoon I found an 

 interpreter and called upon the Chief Magistrate, who advised me to go 

 down to the tropical country of the Isthmus, and offered to give me a let- 

 ter to his brother, the owner of a large ranch and plantation; this I ac- 

 cepted. Finding there was a boat going down the coast to Coatzacoalcos, 

 1 made my arrangements to leave, and though the boat was advertised 

 to leave early in the day, did not get away till dark. After a smooth 

 I>assage of about 100 miles we arrived at the mouth of the river at mid- 

 day, where I found an Indian with a canoe, and engaged him to row me 

 up to Signer Ignacio Velo's, about six miles up a lagoon, and arrived 

 there that evening. Here I spent two very interesting days; the estate 

 consists of 6,000 acres of rich tropical land, growing vanilla, coffee, and 

 oranges. Signor Velo also supplies the town with milk, and on the 

 swampy land grows coral grass, which he cuts and sells in bundles for the 

 town horses. He has 500 cocoanut trees, and is planting out more. His 

 cattle are chiefly of the Mexican type, but he is a very enterprising man, 

 and has imported four fine Holstein bulls from California. On the Mon- 

 day morning I left Coatzacoalcote for San Lucrecia, the junction of the 

 train from Vera Cruz and Salona Cruz on the Pacific coast. Here I had 

 to remain until 5 o'clock next morning, when I took train to Vera Cruz, and 

 arrived there that night. The following day I packed up and took m\ 

 passage in this boat for Cuba and Jamaica, leaving at 6 o'clock yester- 

 day. 



