no 



Speyer (E. R.). Recommendations for the Control of Shot-hole 

 Borer of Tea. — Trop. Agriculturist, Peradeniya, liii, no. 1, July 

 1919, pp. 36-37. [Received 5th January 1920.] 



Young tea plants are seldom attacked by the shot-hole borer beetle 

 [Xyleborus fornicatus], and if they are not left more than 18 months 

 in the nurseries and are cut down to six inches before planting out, 

 thfe danger of introducing the borer into new, isolated clearings is 

 minimised. After cutting down, the upper portions should be 

 immediately burned. In new clearings, when " centering," the 

 branches of each bush in the clearing should be bent down and all 

 that break owing to borer infestation should be cut from the base 

 and burned. When bringing the tea into bearing, all slashing should 

 be avoided and the bushes should be allowed to grow for an extra 

 period and then pruned down as low as required. The prunings should 

 be burnt or the leaves and small twigs cut off and buried and the 

 larger wood burnt. If the tea, or the surrounding fields, are badly 

 infested, the bushes should be painted immediately after pruning, 

 with a paint composed of 10 lb. bar soap, shced up and heated until 

 it melts, and five pounds of fir resin added and stirred in ; this 

 should be allowed to boil at an even temperature, over-boiling being 

 avoided, until all the water in the soap is boiled of! and a dark amber- 

 coloured liquid results, into which 1 gal. of crude fish-oil is poured. This 

 liquid is allowed to cool and set, and is cut into bars. For application, 

 6 lb. of the emulsion is squeezed with the hand into 2 gals, warm 

 water, and the thick white liquid, which must be kept stirred, can 

 then be put on the bushes, by hand for preference. If this paint 

 cannot be procured, all branches that do not put out new shoots after 

 pruning should be cut off and burned within 2 months at elevations 

 of 100 to 2,000 feet ; within 3 months at elevations of 2,000 feet to 

 4,000 feet; and within 4 months at elevations of 4,000 feet and 

 upwards. Tea in the flush should be cut as described when 

 " centering," within 9 months after pruning, or, at high elevations 

 when pruning is done at more than two years' interval, once within 

 the first 12 months after pruning and once again between the 16th 

 and 24th months after pruning. The only economic method of dealing 

 with tea prunings is to slash off the leaves and small twigs from the 

 branches after they have been cut from the bushes. The latter are 

 buried in holes or forked into the soil and the thicker wood 

 immediately burned. Prunings, whether left on the ground or buried, 

 allow the beetle to escape. Good cultivation is essential, and insoluble 

 manures such as cattle bulk, and such green manure plants as dadap, 

 are recommended. Dadap (Erythrina), Tephrosia, Crotalaria and 

 Albizzia are all attacked by X. fornicatus, and should be kept under 

 control. Castor-oil plants are favourite food-plants, and should not 

 be grown near tea. They are not recommended as traps. 



HuTSON (J. C). Progress Report of the Entomologist for Quarter, 



July-September, 1919. — Trop. Agriculturist, Peradeniya, liii, no. 5, 



November 1919, p. 341. [Received 8th January 1920.] 



Xyleborus fornicatus is reported from several estates previously 



uninfested. Other pests of tea include a termite, probably Calotermes 



militaris, which apparently enters the bush high up and works up and 



