DISEASES AND PESTS 71 



obtained in their operation. The results have been so 

 conspicuously good that these Acts should stand with 

 the Laguna bud-rot resolution in a class by themselves, 

 as legitimate models. 



The methods to be followed then in getting rid of 

 black beetles are : 



First. — To get rid of every possible breeding-place 

 for the larvae. This must be done for considerable 

 districts in order to be effective. Any single planter 

 who takes the proper care will naturally fail to obtain 

 the proper immunity for his coco-nuts if the plantations 

 of his neighbours are not kept in equally good condition. 



The campaign against the black beetles should be 

 carried out in the way which has already been described 

 in the case of the bud-rot. The individual owners of 

 coco-nut trees and plantations, and other occupants of 

 lands in the neighbourhood of coco-nuts, must be made 

 individually to understand the evils of permitting any 

 breeding-place for the black beetles to exist on their 

 premises. Laws or ordinances, varying more or less in 

 their application as the circumstances may demand, must 

 be passed and must be enforced. The thoroughness of 

 practical enforcement will depend on the thoroughness 

 with which the campaign of education has been carried 

 out. It must be kept constantly in mind that there are 

 many other substances in which these beetles breed just 

 as rapidly as they do in the decaying wood or rubbish 

 of the coco -nut, and that these other substances — 

 manure, cane waste, or of whatever nature — must be 

 got rid of just as carefully as the wood of the coco- 

 nut itself. It should also be understood that Oryctes, 

 at least at times, breeds in the ground, where it is 

 in general beyond the reach of effective attack. The 

 destruction of visible or accessible breeding -places, 

 however it may abate the nuisance, can therefore not 

 be expected to get rid of the pest completely. 



Second. — When all of the measures provided for in 

 the preceding paragraph have been vigorously executed, 

 then, and then only, it is worth while to undertake a 



