MONTHLY NOTES ON GRUBS AND OTHER CANE PESTS. 19 
elay loam and sticks to the ploughs when wet. Mr. Bunn told me he had 
no trouble from grubs for several years after clearing the land, but for 
a number of years now the grubs have been always in evidence. He 
has used meatworks manure alone, and stated that he found many large 
grubs under the stools which were blown out by the recent cyclone. 
I submit this evidence, for it appears to me that it may be far- 
reaching in controlling the pest in other districts. At any rate, the 
practice of these better cultural methods have their principal value 
outside of their relation to grub-control. 
Hersert River DIstrict. 
The principal canegrowing areas lying along the river have ideal soil 
to work, but I was surprised to find the fields in such a weedy condition. 
The great drawback, as I learned later, is the labour market during the 
cutting season, the men demanding up to 30s. a day for chipping. Meat- 
works is practically the only manure in general use, though sulphate of 
ammonia has given excellent results wherever tried. Furthermore, 
there has been no general practice of green manuring in recent years; 
and I was also surprised to learn that the growers do not recognise the 
value of the mill compost, for hundreds of tons of this valuable manure 
is piled up in ricks and has been leaching away for years. The present 
supply is being used for ordinary filling of mudholes, and the ashes for 
surfacing the roads. If put up in bags this product should command 
a considerable market value. 
As is well known, this district was once subject to serious injury 
from grubs; and, since the pest has largely disappeared in recent years, 
I was interested in mvestigating the matter. 
There seems to be a definite relation of grub-infestation, on the 
Herbert, to feeding trees, for the areas which were infested in the early 
days are now free, while the farms that suffer at present are the outlying 
ones, bordering the scrub and forest, especially those in proximity to 
the hills, which are covered with timber. 
The management at Macknade gave me every possible assistance 
and kindly furnished me itemised figures of the beetles collected in their 
district during the past twenty years, with the amount of cash expended. 
These figures show that decidedly the worst infestation was from 1897 
to 1901; then, from 1902 to 1915 the numbers were greatly reduced, and 
after the latter date, which was the year of the drought, the pest 
practically disappeared, except on the farms most distant from the mills. 
It may be interesting to note that during the above period the mill 
paid out £11,272 17s. 10d. for 334,022 quarts of beetles, without any 
noticeable decrease in the pest from year to year. The marked reduction 
after 1915 was evidently due to natural causes, and was probably in no 
way connected with the hand-picking. 
