SUGAR-CANE PESTS. 



By O. W. Baebett, Chief, Division of Experiment Stations, 



AND 



D. B. Mackie, Agricultural Inspector. 



While most cane-producing countries of the world suffer more or 

 less severely from fungi and insects, the Philippines are practicall}' 

 exempt from such damages. There are, of course, a few blights and 

 fungus troubles, especially in the rainy season, and in some districts 

 there are rather severe damages occasionally from locusts, rats, wild pigs, 

 monkeys, and the cane root beetle. 



The only pests worth serious consideration at present by the Philip- 

 pine cane growers are, in order of importance, as follows : 



MAMMALIAN PESTS. 



Rats. — This pest seems to be confined almost entirely to the Island 

 of Luzon, though a few districts in the Visayas and the Island of Marin- 

 duque are reported as suffering more or less in some seasons. On the 

 Island of Luzon the heaviest infestation seems to be in the sugar belt of 

 Pampanga and the contiguous provinces. The species responsible for 

 most of the damage are Miis rattus, M. alexandrinusj and M. norvegi- 

 cus; these species are aU more or less brownish in color and vary from 

 gray to whitish underneath, mature individuals measuring from B30 to 

 350 millimeters. As in other countries, damage by rats in Luzon is 

 not so much due to the amount of canes actually eaten by the rats 

 themselves as to the danger from entry of secondary fungi and 

 insect pests into the more or less slightly gnawed canes. The red 

 cane weevil {Sphenophorus sp.) is attracted to the injured cane, and 

 various bacteria and fungi find a suitable field for their operations 

 therein; in fact, after a cane is damaged merely in one place it is 

 practically certain that the entire cane will become not only worthless, 

 but if ground with the other canes it would probably cause a consider- 

 able amount of reduction or inversion in the juice by reason of its 

 fermented sap. 

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