"94 THE AGRICULTUEAL PESTS OF INDIA. 



granaries : Bruchus, sp., larvse and imago ; Calandra, 

 perfect insect ; dipterous larvae ; Sitona, sp. ; Tetranychus 

 papaverae ; Tipula, sp. 



The protection of the poppy plant is an object of 

 great moment to the Government of British India, as 

 will be recognised when it is mentioned that in the ten 

 years 1875 to 1885 inclusive, the Indian revenue from 

 opium averaged Es. 9,47,10,229, or deducting the ex- 

 penditure, an average net receipt of Es. 7,20,30,816. 

 In the year 1885-86, the value of the opium exported 

 from India was Es. 10,53,75,180. 



In 1878, Mr. John Scott, writing from Deegah on the 

 enemies of the poppy, reported that classes of moths 

 appear there at two periods, one in February and March, 

 when in their caterpillar state they are the foes of the 

 young poppy ; another class appearing in August, and 

 disappearing in the early part of September, the cater- 

 pillar form of which feed chiefly on the young crops of 

 the rainy seasons, legumes or pulses. 



He recommended earlier sowings, rotation of crops, 

 and on the appearance of the vernal insects, sprinkling 

 the young plants in the evening with quicklime mixed 

 with ashes or soot. Liberal irrigation, he says, brings the 

 cricket and grasshopper class to the surface, where hand- 

 picking and birds aid in their destruction. 



In February and March 1871, the poppy crop in 

 Behar was very seriously injured by heavy rain, accom- 

 panied by hail, and this was followed in March by blight 

 of an unusually injurious character, under which the 

 plant withered and turned black, and eventually died. 

 The poppy in the Benares district became similarly 

 diseased. The disease was attributed to the inclement 

 cweather. But in the south of the Patna district a grub 



