lo Aug., 1908.] lined Pests in Foreign Lauds. 4^5 



they all went under the press." Next day I called upon the Minister 

 and the Director of Agriculture, and the latter so strongly advised me to 

 visit the Valencia district that I arranged to take my interpreter, and visit 

 the place, where the Department also has a large Experiment Station. 

 1 left Madrid the following night for Valencia via Barcelona. On 

 arrival at the last-named town early next morning we found that we 

 could not get a train till evening, and so were all night in the train, but 

 saw all the country when returning. 



The whole of the land between the sea and the mountains south of 

 Barcelona is well cultivated, the poorer land growing olives which can 

 grow apparently without any soil, as long as they can get their roots into 

 the limestone — where nothing else will grow the olive tree fmds a living. 

 At Tarragona there is a large well irrigated alluvial plain where a great 

 many different kinds of fruit trees and vines are grown, then more 

 poor country growing olives. At Castellon the orchards between the sea and 

 the mountains right down to Valencia are all oranges, and the whole of 

 the land is under irrigation. The crop was being gathered and great piles 

 of low-grade fruit were scattered about the orchards and lying about the 

 railway stations where they were packing. Dr. Marti (Director of the 

 Station) says that fruit fly is practically unknown in the Valencia orchards, 

 but further south, at Malaga, Halterophora capitata often does a great 

 deal of damage in the months of September and November ; but no methods 

 are adopted to deal with it, though there is at present a Bill before the 

 House of Parliament to give the Department of Fomento power to destroy 

 all infested fruit in the orchards. Outside Valencia great quantities of 

 vegetables, particularlv potatoes, are grown in small fields which are all 

 under-irrigated from the mountain streams. 



From Valencia I went straight through to Montpellier (France) to the 

 celebrated Viticultural and Horticultural School, and though the Director 

 was away in Paris, through the kindness of the Secretary I went over the 

 Entomological Division under Professor Mayet, and through the experi- 

 mental grounds. Among some interesting experiments noted were those 

 of growing plots of vines in ground covered with a porous cement made 

 of slag and concrete, with the surface painted in different colours, and, under 

 similar conditions, ground covered with a coating of river gravel and flag- 

 stones. From here I went to Marseilles, and was fortunate in catching 

 a boat leaving for Naples next morning. 



I landed at Naples on the 27th March, and went out next morning to 

 Portici to the R. Scuola Superior di Agricoltura. where I met Professor 

 Silvestri and the members of his staff, and obtained a great deal of 

 interesting information regarding the destruction of the olive oil industry 

 by the ravages of the olive fruit fly {Dacus olece). To give some idea of 

 the actual damage done, the following figures from their reports may be 

 quoted : — 



In 1879-83 the yield of olive oil in Italy was 3,390,000 hectolitres. 



In 1884-89 it dropped to 2,354,000 hectolitres. 



In 1890-94 it rose to 2,514,000 hectolitres. 



In 1895-99 it fell to 2,005,000 hectolitres, 



and has not improved since the last records were compiled, and as each 

 hectolitre (22 gallons) is valued at about ^4, the pest is a national one. 

 There is a standing reward offered by the Italian Government of 6,000 

 lire (i lira~9|"d.) for any effective remedy for the destruction of the 

 olive fly, so that all the Italian entomologists are turning their attention 

 to this pest. Professor Silvestri is a great believer in its control by 



