24 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Experiences of Cuba 

 Ants on Citrus Trees. 



Editor CUBA REVIEW. 



Dear Sir: One of the most annoying 

 things I had to contend after setting 

 out my orange trees in the grove was 

 with the httle brown ants (hre ants). 

 They are usually very numerous on new- 

 ly cleared land. After my trees began 

 to make some growth the ants attacked 

 a number of them, mostly grape-fruit, 

 and girdled and killed a few before I 

 got rid of the pests. I tried spraying, 

 white lead, tar, and even sticky fly paper, 

 but of no avail. As soon as these reme- 

 dies were applied the ants proceeded to 

 build a path of dirt and get past these 

 obstacles. Seeing that my efforts were 

 of no use I decided to try the heroic 

 method of using hot water, for the trees 

 were as good as dead anyway, and I 

 considered that remsedy would be no 

 worse than the ants, as nearly all the 

 ants build their nests at the foot of the 

 tree, so the chances of the tree living 

 after receiving a dose of hot water were 

 slim. I heated the water to about 150° 

 and used a gallon twice a week to each 

 tree. Five or eight applications were 

 sufficient to get rid of these pests. The' 

 strangest part is that the trees were not 

 injured by so using the hot water, and 

 have in due time made a fine tree loaded 

 with fruit. 



Cocoanut Bud Rot. 



La Gloria, Cuba, February 15, 



Editor CUBA REVIEW. 



Dear Sir. Some time ago I noticed an 

 article in the Review about the cocoanut 

 tree bud rot, and thinking that your 

 readers would be interested, I shall give 

 you some of my experiences with the 

 same. 



I have a grove of over three hundred 

 cocoanuts which were planted six years 

 ago. During the past three years I lost 

 about four from the heart rot. Although 

 I suspected the cause, I neglected to iind 

 out what killed' them until lately, when 

 the disease manifested itself on three 

 trees. I immediately took pains to find 

 out the cause. Imagine my surprise on 

 tearing the bud open to find it covered 

 with tiny weevils or grubs, one-half inch 

 long and about one-thirty-second of an 

 inch in thickness. They were hardly 

 noticeable unless one looked carefully. 

 In my opinion the sickness is caused by 

 some SDec'ies of fly or beetle which lays 

 its eggs in the tender heart which fur- 

 nishes food for the grubs when hatched 

 and cause the bud to rot and kill the 

 tree. I used the following mixture fight- 

 ing this pest: Two ounces paris green 



Review Readers. 



and two ounces bicarbonate of soda, 

 mixed in ten gallons of ram water, in 

 applying i use it at the rate 01 one gal- 

 lon per tree. I pump tne spray pump 

 to lull pressure and connect the nozzle 

 directly into the heart of the tree. If 

 the tree is in the first stage of disease 

 only one or two applications are neces- 

 sary. I treated the three trees, spraying 

 them twice over two months ago. In 

 examining them lately I find that two of 

 them are showing a healthy green bud 

 under the rotten part of the bud, which 

 shows that they will recover. The 

 other tree was too far gone when I 

 applied the spray, and I think it will die. 

 One thing I have noticed is that the 

 tree is usually attacked after a period of 

 rainy weather, mostly during the fall 

 and winter. The first signs of disease 

 begin by the lower leaves turning a 

 bright yellow color, which gradually 

 spreads to all the other leaves. It usually 

 takes about three or four months from 

 the time it is attacked before the tree 

 dies. Yours truly, 



FRANK MERRICK. 



San Cristobal, Cuba, Feb 22, 1908. 

 Editor CUBA REVIEW. 



Dear Sir : I went over to Cuba four 

 years ago last November and bought a ten- 

 acre tract of land. Had five acres set to 

 orange trees later on, and the other five 

 acres set to oranges and grape-fruit. Have 

 gone over every year to look after same. I 

 have used some fertilizer and have a little 

 less than $2,000 invested on the ten 

 acres. I have one of the nicest groves, 

 best kept, in that part of Cuba. It goes 

 to show what a man can do in Cuba 

 and still hold his position in the States 

 by putting his money into the propo- 

 sition. I should have 500 boxes of 

 oranges to ship this fall on my first five 

 acres. 



J. L. DAVENPORT. 



Havana, March 28, '08. 

 Editor CUBA REVIEW. 



Dear Sir : — The dry weather of last 

 season and this has been hard on oranges 

 land grape-fruit, and for ,'this reason a 

 grower near Santiago de las Vegas said 

 he would prefer to have 10 acres of oranges 

 with facilities for providing same with suf- 

 ficient water during dry spells, rather than 

 50 acres set out without, adding that the 

 dry weather had also affected a neighbor's 

 crops, although not to as great extent as 

 his, as the latter had means of watering his 

 trees. This grower exported very few 

 oranges this season, for the reason that he 

 found a ready sale and good prices for the 

 fruit in Havana. J. K. 



