366 



with yearly iucreasiug proportions. At tlie rate naeutioncd above, V2 pounds per day, 

 and allovriug three hundred working days in twelve months, one man could only pro- 

 duce about Iff tons ; and for 500,000 bales, or, perhaps, 200,000 tons, it would require 

 the constant labor of about 150,000 men all the year round. Nor can wo sufficiently 



wonder at the extraordinary low earnings of these Indians — not exceeding the price 

 in the islands of his half-share of the hemji, namely, 6 pounds, worth there about 13 

 cents. And yet, this insignificant pittance suffices for the wants of himself and family. 

 This variety of hemp plantain is unknown in the United States. If some specimens 

 were to bo imported and propagated, it might become a source of immense profit in the 

 Southern States. No species of the genus Miwa examined in the South, or South 

 America, posseses the mauilla fiber. The plantains of this continent are too watery 

 to allow of the formation of riseful fiber in the trunk. 



The writer calls atteution to the importauce of iuveutiug au effective 

 machine for yeparatiug the fiber. He states that such au invention, in 

 order to bo of value to the islanders, must combine cheapness, sim- 

 jilicity, and portability, "with economy as compared "svith their hand- 

 process. There are no slaves in the islands. According- to established 

 custom the laborers work cither oh shares, or as small proprietors. If 

 a machine is costly, they cannot buy it ; if it is complicated, there is 

 not the requisite skill either to work or to repair it ; if it is not light 

 and easily moved, there are not facilities for transporting the hemj)- 

 trecs to that, or that to the hemp-trees ; and if it cannot be worked 

 economically, there is no advantage in it. 



EiNTOMOLOGICAL RECORD. 



Bv Tow^;E^'D Glower, EKXOJioLOGit;!. 



Beetles in decaying peaches. — Mr, Eichard H. Day, Baton 

 llouge, Louisiana, wrote to the Department July S, inclosing a specimen 

 of a beetle that he had reared from infested branches and fruit of the 



