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reported. This is probably due to the fact that in Montserrat 

 it is usually possible to plant early in the year (May or June), 

 and the crop is thus assured before the time of the attack of 

 this pest (November and December). 



Lcaj-hlistcr Mite. 



The leaf-blister mite made its appearance as a pest of cotton 

 almost as soon as the attempt was made to re-establish the 

 cotton industry.^ It was first noticed in Montserrat, but 

 was found very shortly after to occur in all the islands where 

 cotton was grown, with the exception of Barbados, in which 

 island its appearance was not recorded until the beginning of 

 the present year (1912), although it is likely that it had occurred 

 for several years in certain districts on the leeward side of the 

 island without having been discovered.'" 



The leaf-blister mite injures cotton by causing such deformities 

 of the leaves, flowers, and bolls as to interfere seriously in the 

 performance of their normal functions, and these attacks often 

 result in the death of the plant. The attack is made in the 

 bud, the leaves being more or less deformed, according to 

 the severity of the attack, when they first unfold. Late in the 

 season the attacks of leaf-bhster mite in the axillary buds 

 prevent the development of secondary lateral shoots, thus inter- 

 fering with the production of what is known in the West Indies 

 as a second picking. It follows from this that when leaf-blister 

 mite is present in a cotton-growing district, it will be possible 

 to produce cotton profitably only when the entire crop can be 

 produced in the first picking. If this can be done, and if infested 

 leaves are picked on and destroyed as soon as they appear on 

 the young cotton plants, and the method is practised of destroying 

 by burning all old cotton plants as soon as the first picking is 

 finished, say in February in each year, cotton can still be grown 

 at a profit in spite of the presence of the leaf-blister mite. 



Insects and their Natur.\l Enemies. 



The control of insect pests by their natural enemies is a 

 feature of entomological work which at the present time is 

 attracting a very consiclcral)!^ amount of attention on account 

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