142 
special industries likely to be successfully pursued in the island. - 
chair was taken the ministrator. Information was giv 
regard to the borer (Chilo (Diatrea) saccharalis) which had lately 
attacked the sugar-cane, and suggestions offered for dealing with it. 
This е which is the larva of а small moth, was € noticed at Si. 
Vincent 28, and it is now found almost everyw in the tropics. 
It has in uad sugar- cane at Jamaica (in 1841) ; at Macsition (in 1856) ; 
at а уы (їп 1857); at British Guiana (in 1879); and latterly it 
dealing with the pest, and if the recommendations then made are fully 
carried out there is every reason to believe that the injurious effects о 
the borer can be almost entirely kept in check. 
The cireumstances of the arrowroot industry were also discussed. 
This has for a long period been a staple iue À of the island. Latterly, 
however, St. Vincent arrowroot has fallen so low in price that it has 
hardly paid to export it. At the anan o ы Governor an inquiry 
was lately made at Kew into the cause of this. It is probable that in 
some cases the кб не been exhausted, and in others that the process of 
manufacture has nof been maintained at so high a standard as не 
Possibly both tege circumstances have been at work at one time. 
any case, a firm of city merchants to whom Kew applied for Жэне AA 
on the subject, expressed the opinion “that during the last few years 
€ cwn has been a considerable falling off in the quality and appearance 
.* of St. Vincent arrowroots, so much so that they have now reached the 
“ iih level of inferior brands. In other words they have lost their 
* reputation.’ 
pinion was confirmed by other merchanis. It was suggested 
that systematic effort should be made to bring about a more satisfactory 
state of things, and that the planters should “energetically grapple т 
the situation and realise that the matter was practically within their ow 
control. А series of St. Vincent soils in which arrowroot had been 
1 
manures is evidently called for. In the process of manufacture there were 
numerous improvements capable of being inirof gad, while the nature 
and purity of the water and other circumstances also bore directly upon 
the subject, A fungoid disease attacking the тен had been noticed 
on one estate, but this is not believed to have had any injurious influ- 
ence on the general quality of St. Vincent arrowroot. 
December 28.—At the invitation of Мт. Duncan MacDonald I left 
Kingstown for Wallilabo, an estate on the west coast. We travelled by 
at, and arrived at our destination about 11 o'clock, After lunch we 
rode into the interior, visiting small cultivations of cacao and coffee in 
course of being established “by Мт. MacDonald. In good soil and 
жеб, situation the plants were doing very well. An excellent view 
was obtained of the interior valleys. The mountain slopes were being 
extensively cleared for Brerisiop, grounds y the negroes, but little or 
no permanent cultivation was seen, In the afternoon Mr, nal 
was go 
Nothing could be better done, and 1 was not surprised to find that his 
wroot was of the best quality, It is evident that if all the planters 
Maiden highly and paid the same careful attention to the manufacture, 
