323 



DuTT (H. L). Potato Storage Work in Bihar and Orissa in 1913.—' 



Bihar & Orissa Agric. Jl.,Pat)ia, ii. (double no.), 1914, pp. 48-68, 

 5 tables. [Received 30th March 1915.] 



This is a record by districts of the results from potato storage under 

 sand, which is being urged upon the local growers as a good method of 

 saving their stock from pests. Details are given as to the percentages 

 saved, rejected and lost. Fungus disease was difficult to combat, and 

 the following facts in the life-history of the potato moth {Phthorinmea 

 opercullela) are pointed out as important. The moth first appears in 

 the field a few weeks before the crop is ready for harvest and lays eggs 

 on the eyes of the exposed tubers in the ridges ; the larvae bore into 

 these and feed on them. After harvest these bored potatoes are 

 carried to the godown with the sound ones and it is here that the bulk 

 of the damage is done, as the conditions favour the increase of the 

 pest ; one moth may lay from 100 to 150 eggs and, in the laboratory 

 at Sabour at all events, 14 broods a year are possible. The life-cycle 

 in the laboratory varied from 18 to 21 days from June to October, rose 

 to 30 in November, to 54 in January, fell to 40 in March, to 23 early 

 in April and through April, May and later, 17 to 18 days. The pest 

 gradually disappears from a godown in August and September, but 

 occasionally may be found as active in October and November as in 

 May and June. The following advice is given to storers of potatoes. 

 The ridges in a potato field should be not less than a foot wide ; as soon 

 as the harvested potatoes are fairly air-dried, all with black spots on 

 their eyes and all bruised and cut tubers should be picked out and only 

 healthy ones stored. Potatoes should never be stored on floors, but 

 always on staging covered with matting on which an inch of sand is 

 laid ; the tubers are to be stacked on this in one uniform, thin layer 

 not exceeding 1 foot in height. After a month, they should be taken 

 out of the sand and all that are apparently attacked rejected and the 

 remainder covered with sand as before. When the moths disappear 

 the heap should be left exposed, but if the moths return it should be 

 covered again at once. Picking should be done once a month in the 

 dry season and more frequently during the rains. By these methods 

 60 per cent, of the stored quantity may be saved. All affected tubers 

 whether attacked by moth or Rhizoclonia should be burned or buried 

 deep, and potatoes from different fields should be stored separately, 

 as infection is apt to be local. 



Richards (P. B.). Note on the Occurrence of three Caterpillar Pests 

 on Coconuts. — Agric. Bull. Fed. Malay Stales, Kuala Lumpur, iii, 

 no. 2, November 1914, pp. 43-45. 



In June 1914, a caterpillar pest was reported on coconut palms. 

 From the larvae kept under observation, adults were bred and identified 

 as Hidari irava, Erionota thrax, and Corone palnmrum, all belonging 

 to the Hesperiidae. The first two are distributed throughout the 

 Malay Peninsula, feeding on wild palms. Precise details of the life- 

 histories are unknown. Eggs are laid on both sides of the frond ; the 

 larva passes through the pupal stage in the folded leaf. The whole 

 cycle probably occupies from 6 to 8 weeks. The larva connects together 

 with silk the two edges of a pinna, thus forming a tunnel in which^it 



(C161) b3 



