Mo. 2. ] Notes. 113 



The following is an abstract taken from Dr. Watt's Note published 

 in Selections from the Records of the Government of 



A possible insecticide. T , . -*-. -, , • ? , ' » -n ± ± t /i\ 



India, Revenue and Agricultural Department, 1, (1) 



8, 1888-89 : — Adhaloda vasica {Adoolsa), a common wild plant, which 



occurs all over India, and is reputed to kill weeds and insects, besides being 



generally recognised as a valuable manure. It is also supposed to hasten 



the germination and the ripening of fruits, and has a high reputation 



as a medicine for coughs and lung diseases generally. A number of 



reports from different localities on this plant are given, but the insecticide 



property is only noticed in two, and does not appear to be established 



with any certainty. 



The Conservator of Forests, Northern Circle, Bombay, writes (August 



1887)— 



" I am aware that it is used for rah in the ordinary way for rice-fields, and that 

 the leaves are much prized for their manurial value in connection with the cultivation 

 of vegetables and fruit ; and, moreover, that an infusion of Adoolsa and tomato 

 leaves, combined, is applied to cabbages, hnolkhol, and other vegetables, in order to 

 kill the insects which feed upon the young seedlings." 



In the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue, Madras, No. 166, dated 

 10th April 1888, the Collector of Nellore states that natives place the 

 leaves of Adoolsa among clothes to keep off insects. 



XII.— A REMEDY FOR COFFEE SCALE. 



Kerosine emulsion, which has long been in use in America as an 

 insecticide, and which on several occasions ' has been suggested for use 

 in India against pests allied to those for which it has been found effective 

 in America, is now gradually becoming recognised as a practical remedy 

 against the " Greeu Scale Bug " {Lecanum viride) which attacks coffee 

 plants in South India and Ceylon. From Mr. R. H. Morris's experi- 

 ments, 2 carried out last year in the Nilgiris, there seemed every pro- 

 bability that kerosine emulsion could be effectively employed against 

 the pest; and information has now been received of its having been suc- 

 cessfully used in Ceylon over a sufficiently large area to test its practical 

 applicability. 



In the beginning of the present year (1889) Mr. E. E. Green, of 

 Ceylon, wrote 3 that Green Scale "has practically wiped out coffee culti- 

 vation in many districts. Its vigour, and the rapidity with which it is 

 propagated, have defied any remedial measures that we could afford to 

 apply, and consequently planters are everywhere turning their attention 

 to the cultivation of tea in the place of coffee/' This account would 



1 Journ. Agri. Hort. Soc. Ind., Vol VIII, pt. II, new series ; also Notes on Economic 

 Entomology, No. 2. 



2 Recorded in Indian Museum Notes, Vol. I, No. I, page 49. 



3 Insect Life, March 1889, No. 9, page 293, 



