454 Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



months remains to be seen. The great moisture 

 of the air prevailing in Samoa throughout the 

 whole year favours very considerably the effect 

 of the fungus. Undoubtedly excellent results 

 have been obtained, and this success should 

 incite us to set up infected trap heaps every- 

 where. To do this, however, the assistance of 

 all the planters is needed, and some of them 

 have already begun to render it.' 



" Should we succeed in transplanting this 

 fungus all over the country then we may hope 

 that within two years the beetle pest will 

 assume a very different aspect to that which 

 it offers at present." 



" As regards possible remedies to get rid of 

 the rhino beetle, we have found that young 

 coco-nuts, viz., those of one, two, and three 

 years old, which are carefully and lightly 

 tarred every four months, are protected from 

 the rhino beetle ; but as the trees advance 

 in size, and grow faster, the operation to be 

 effective has to be repeated very often, and 

 would be too costly in labour to continue all 

 the time. Nothing that we have so far tried 

 has been very effective in destroying the 

 beetles on the trees. We make breeding beds 

 for them in beetle-infested places by digging 

 up the soil and adding to it a lot of cacao 

 pods buried about six inches beneath the 

 loose dirt. The odour arising from the fer- 

 menting pods underneath seems highly attrac- 

 tive, and brings the mother beetles to these 



