CHAPTER XX. 



WHITE ANTS, CRICKETS, AND BLIGHT. 



THESE insects (for blight, too, is said to be an insect) are very 

 destructive to the Tea plants. The cricket, however, only 

 injures it when quite young, so we will consider that little 

 pest first. 



When Tea seed germinates, and the young seedling is 2 

 or 3 inches high, the cricket delights to cut the stem and 

 carry, or try to carry, the two or three green leaves 

 attached to the upper part into its hole. Even after seed- 

 lings are planted out, if the stems are slender, it cuts 

 them. To the young seedlings, in nurseries or planted ' at 

 stake,' they often do great harm, killing in some places one- 

 third or so. 



It is much easier to prevent their ravages in nurseries 

 than in this latter case, simply because the spot in which they 

 must be sought and destroyed is circumscribed in the one, 

 almost unlimited in the other. 



Only one thing can be done. Employ boys (they soon 

 get clever enough at the work) to hunt for their holes and 

 dig them out. The holes are minute, but run down a long 

 way. The only plan to follow them is to put in a thin pliable 

 stick and remove the soil along it. On getting to the bottom 

 of the stick, if it is not the bottom of the hole, you repeat the 

 operation till you do get to the bottom, and there you will 

 generally find the cricket. 



Early in the morning they can be often found and caught 

 outside their holes. The boys employed should be paid for 

 them by the number they catch. They can be placed alive 



