342 



A NEW WEST INDIAN SUGAR-CANE ENEMY. 



We have received from gentlemen in Trinidad and Barbados speci- 

 mens of a Scolytid beetle — Xylehorus piceu^ Z\mm.= X.perforans Woll.= 

 X. affinis Eich. — which is said to do great damage to the growing crop of 

 sugar-cane upon these islands. We have received but few particulars 

 as to the method of work of this insect, although canes which have been 

 sent in have been badly riddled by its minute burrows and Mr. F. Car- 

 mody, Government Chemist at Port of Spam, informs us that the healthy 

 growing canes are attacked. Through Dr. W. A. Culpeper, of Bridge- 

 town, Barbados, we learn that the specimens have been referred to Miss 

 Ormerod, who accurately determined them and suggested the possibil- 

 ity of applying a soft-soap wash and kerosene emulsion to the canes. 

 This method it seems to us will be hardly practicable, although it would 

 undoubtedly be efficacicms if it could be applied economically. This 

 insect occurs in this country, boring into many different trees and al- 

 ways perferring diseased or dying wood. In the absence of definite 

 information it seems to us that in the West Indies the sugar-cane feed- 

 ing habit has been acquired through the ovii)osition of the beetles ui^on 

 the more or less moribund cut ends of the canes sometime after harvest, 

 the larvJB subsequently perhaps working into the young sprouts. We 

 look for the best remedy in the line of trapping the insects in cane trash 

 which should be displayed at the proper time and subsequently burned. 

 Fuller information, however, is expected later and we promise a more 

 definite article in the near future. The subject is one of considerable 

 interest on account of the great value of the sugar industry in some of 

 our southern States. 



THE HOP LOUSE IN THE EXTREME NORTHWEST. 



We have had considerable to say in these pages concerning the pres- 

 ence of Phorodon humuli in the hop fields of Oregon and Washington 

 during the past season. As a general thing our recommendations have 

 been followed, and wherever the kerosene emulsion has been projierly 

 made and carefully applied it has been successful. The Entomologist 

 of the Oregon Experiment Station, Mr. F. L. Washburn, has used it 

 with success, and his correspondents, with very few exceptions, are 

 pleased with the treatment. Some discredit has been cast upon the 

 mixture by certain growers, and one firm interested in the sale of quas- 

 sia chips has naturally given the preference to the quassia mixture, the 

 only advantage of which is in use late in the season, when the burrs 

 are formed. The kerosene emulsion should be used earlier, as it is apt 

 to induce moldiness of the burr. 



Early the present spring specimens of the wingless j)lant-louse were 

 found in the ground of hop fields and sent to the secretary of the State 

 board of horticulture of Washington, who forwarded tliem to us under 

 the supijosition that they might prove to be some form of the Hop Louse. 



