CHAPTER XXIII 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 



Spraying. — There can be no doubt of the effectiveness of 

 the spraying treatment in ridding certain members of the 

 vegetable kingdom from insect and fungus pests. It is a 

 pitiable caSe, however, when such applications are re- 

 commended, where there exists no possible means of 

 applying sprays in a practical manner ; which may be 

 defined as one in which the method is effective, and can 

 be carried out at a reasonable cost. It has been reported 

 that spraying was once reconamended for an attack of aphis, 

 or " green fly," on a field of sugar-cane, by a gentleman 

 who had seen it effectively apphed for ridding roses of the 

 same class of pest in an English garden. It would have 

 cleaned the canes, no doubt, but its application was im- 

 practicable, or, if partly practicable, too costly to be 

 entertained, and too lengthy an operation to be carried out 

 in time to prevent the greater mischief. The conditions 

 existing on cacao estates are of such a character generally 

 as to prohibit the use of sprays, unless the rows of trees 

 are made more accessible by cutting roads and making 

 bridges for the admission of suitable machines for dressing 

 a large area daily. This is a difficulty which must be 

 overcome before spraying can be confidently recommended 

 generally to cacao planters ; not because it is ineffective, 

 but because existing conditions prohibit its use on the 

 score of expense. It is, of course, an easy matter on flat 

 lands to apply sprays to orchards, in, say, the fruit gardens 

 of California, or in an English hop field, but it is quite a 

 different matter to apply the same methods on a tropical 

 estate, where there are — in the main — no suitable means 



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