xl Remedial Measures and Insecticides. 



The two mixtures (Strawson's and McDougall's) were tested upon 

 OrtJiezia with similar beneficial results. It is used as a spray. 



The above two insecticides may be safely employed against 

 ' green bug ' or ' mealy bug ' on coffee, and would be found very 

 beneficial in checking these pests where they are confined to a small 

 area. The treatment would be too expensive over a large acreage, 

 and would be useless unless applied very thoroughly. 



Adhatoda. — A decoction made by steeping the leaves of 

 AdJiatoda vasica (an Indian plant) in water is said to have proved 

 beneficial against various insect pests in India, but I can find no 

 record of its effect upon scale insects. Dr. Watt (Reporter on 

 Economic Products to the Indian Government), who first brought 

 into notice the properties of the plant as an insecticide, states that 

 it has a distinctly paralysing effect upon many insects. But he 

 appears to have found it unsatisfactory and uncertain in general 

 use. The plant grows in Ceylon. In Trimen's Handbook of the 

 Flora of Ceylo7i it is said to occur in the ' low country, common in 

 hedges and waste places, especially in dry regions, but usually 

 planted, and scarcely a native.' I obtained a few leaves and made 

 a strong decoction from them. The amount of material was 

 insufficient for extensive experiment, but leaves affected by various 

 insect pests were dipped into the mixture. I was surprised to find 

 it absolutely ineffectual. Even such soft-bodied insects as aphides, 

 when thoroughly wetted with the mixture, were as lively as ever 

 the next morning. Possibly the Ceylon-grown plant does not 

 acquire the insecticidal properties noticeable in the Indian plant. 



It may here be as well to mention a few other supposed 

 remedies for the cure of scale bug, that are really quite valueless 

 for the purpose. The beneficial results that have been attributed 

 to them are probably due to some fortuitous circumstance, such 

 as the treatment having been applied at a time when the pest 

 was declining from natural causes. Such errors of observation 

 have led to much waste of time and money. 



The application of * Mana grass' {Andropogoji 7iardus),'WdiS at 

 one time considered a cure for the coffee bug {Lee. coffece). Nietner, 

 in his Efieniies of the Coffee Tree, mentions that it Vv'as customary 

 to bind the grass round the stems of the trees. I have repeatedly 

 tried this plan, at various times of the year. I have tied the grass 

 round the stems as directed, have spread it on the ground, and 

 strewn it over the foliage. But in no case have I been able to 

 observe the very slightest benefit from its use. 



