THE CUBA REVIEW 



27 



the helpless condition of the Cuban farmer. 

 As he cannot read, the pamphlets issued from 

 time to time by the station are of no use to 

 him. This ignorance is great and natural 

 under such conditions. He still believed, in 

 this twentieth century, that the full moon 

 produces tetanus in his cattle, although the 

 farmers in the neighborhood of the station 

 are enlightened in this regard having seen 

 the curative work of Dr. Luaces on their 

 horses, and received his professional advice. 



The farmer's ignorance brings much un- 

 intentional suffering to their stock and only 

 one instance will suffice to show this. Young 

 oxen have trouble with their te^th forming. 

 Their gums become sore and they avoid food 

 because the process of mastication is painful. 

 Being ignorant of the true condition of the 

 animal the farmer has in his ignorance classed 

 it as a disease wliich requires most radical 

 treatment. And it has come to pass that 

 when an animal is afflicted in this way and 

 refuses food and drools at the mouth that 

 igiaorance plus ignorance, has established a 

 fiendish custom. The animal is taken to the 

 blacksmith who, with a knife matle red hot, 

 cuts the membrane in the mouth of the 

 animal. 



A new law suggested by President Menocal 

 takes the station's affairs entirely out of the 

 politicians' hands. 



Prof. J. T. Crawley, director of the station, 

 is rapidly getting his work in hand and he 

 hopes, by the first of the fiscal year, to be 

 able to start out with competent help and a 

 full complement of experts which will once 

 more place the Cuban experiment station on 

 the high plane it occupied in former years. 



CACAO INSECT PESTS 



In an article on "Entomological Pests and 

 Problems of Southern Nigeria," by A. D. 

 Peacock, in Bulletin of Entomolo'jical Researcfi , 

 London, 1913, the writer gives an account of 

 the results of a journey made in Southern 

 Nigeria with the object of studying the 

 economic conditions of the colony in connec- 

 tion with the insect pests of cultivated plants 

 including cacao. 



He found that Cacao is attacked by leaf- 

 eating caterpillars widely distributed through- 

 out Africa; the caterpillars are voracious 

 feeders of the leaves. The writer enumerates 

 many other insects found on cacao, but little 

 is known as to their economic significance. 



The leaf-eating beetle, Adoretus hirtellus 

 Castn., common in West Africa, feeds on the 

 leaves of cacao, eating only the soft tissue. 

 After describing some experiments made to 

 control this pest, the wTiter advises clean 



Opening cacao pods at Beola & Co.'s farm at Tacajo, Oriente, Cuba. 

 Abnendo y recogiendo cacao de la Empresa Agricola de Beola & Co. de Tacajo, Oriente, Cuba. 



