COCOA-NUTS. 235 



cial attention, urged thereto by appeals from planters all 

 over the island, and below is what he has to say regarding 

 his investigations and search for a remedy : 



' ' I have had reason to look upon the depredation by 

 rats in cocoa-nut trees as one of the most serious troubles 

 of the cocoa-nut planters. Numerous letters have been 

 addressed to me on the subject, and in addition to this I 

 estimated that at the Palisadoes plantation, under my 

 charge, the loss caused by rats among the cocoa-nuts 

 amounts to nearly 100 per annum. 



"Dr. Ferguson, of Port Maria, reports the destruction 

 caused by rats on his extensive cocoa-nut walks as ' im- 

 mense,' and the subject has necessarily occupied his atten- 

 tion for some time, while numerous other correspondents 

 speak in similar terms. 



"The question of protecting cocoa-nut trees from the 

 attacks of rats is therefore a matter of considerable impor- 

 tance, and with the view of contributing something toward 

 this end I have lately been in communication with cocoa- 

 nut planters in different parts of the island, and from the 

 replies received I select one or two which, as the result of 

 actual experience, will no doubt commend themselves to 

 careful consideration. This first of these replies is from 

 Mr. Joseph Shearer, Vale Royal, Duncan's P. O., and is 

 as follows: 



" ' I got out, in 1882, 1,000 sheets galvanized iron 36x12 

 (they stood me, with cost and charges, 35 14s.), and 1,000 

 tin sheets 36x12, the cost of which was 28 7s. IQd. 

 Although dearer at first the zinc are preferable, as near 

 the sea the tin sheets soon become rusted. The rats were 

 so bad in the cocoa-nut walks where I used these sheets 

 that I reckoned they paid their cost fully the first year. 

 In putting them on I nailed them flat to the trees with two 

 or three sheathing nails in each. If the cocoa-nut trees 



