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Ants have frequently been accused of attacking rubber seed in 

 the bed and one has often found the seed testa cleaned out by them. 

 I have always considered this however, to be due to the seed having 

 been injured or killed just after germination by some accident and 

 then attacked by ants. Cracked seeds are often thus destroyed. 

 I have never previously come across seedlings being attacked by 

 ants, nor indeed do I know of any ant here which naturally eats 

 growing and living plants though there are many which do so in 

 other parts of the world. 



There are however many seed eaters here, which carry off small 

 seeds such as grass seeds, or rice to their burrows and devour it. 

 To protect small seeds against these pests, the seed (such as that of 

 Ficus elasticd) is sown in boxes supported over water so that the 

 ants cannot get at them. This would be impracticable of course in 

 raising large quantities of Para rubber seed. 



An ant quite similar to the one sent by Mr. LEASE was at one 

 time a nuisance in my house. I succeeded in evicting it in the fol- 

 lowing way: Its nest was beneath the boards in one of the rooms 

 so I mixed some white arsenic with white sugar and made a little 

 pile near the entrance to the nest. In a surprisingly short time all 

 the sugar and arsenic was carried by the ants into the nest. Not a 

 grain was left, and not an ant survived the meal. I served several 

 nests in this way. It is of course easy to find out where the nests 

 are, by strewing a little sugar or some such bait and watching where 

 the ants carry it to. Of course, care must be taken to prevent domestic 

 animals from getting at the arsenic, and so much must not be 

 thrown about as to poison the soil. A salt spoonful of the mixture 

 will do for most nests, if piled up near the entrance. 



In ground infested by these pests 1 would suggest breaking up 

 the nurseries in plots surrounded by ditches full of water. The 

 nurseries should be put in low lying wet ground when it might be 

 possible to flood them whenever the ants become troublesome. 

 Flooding a seed bed for a few hours does not hurt the seeds, or if 

 not too deep the seedlings but it is fatal to ants and they soon quit a 

 flooded spot. There are a good many safe insecticides known also 

 with which the beds might be watered. Most are strong preparations 

 of Nicotine. Clubicide is as good an insecticide as can be got and is 

 quite harmless to plants. These liquid insecticides however are apt 

 to be washed away by heavy rains, and a bed might require to be 

 treated several times. 



With respect to Mr. LEASE'S two suggestions at the end of his 

 le.ter we would point out that correspondence and queries are 

 invited. In the earlier days of the Bulletin we did receive both 

 kinds of correspondence and had what might be called a notes and 

 queries column but this has fallen off, and as all correspondence and 

 queries (other than enquiries as to the rudiments of coffee planting 

 and such like queries) are published, readers will judge for them- 

 selves what amount of such correspondence the editor receives. 



As to the publishing more figures and descriptions of the latest 

 things in machinery more perhaps might be done. The difficulties 



