6 



shine, as little as possible. Exposure to the sun causes the tubers to turn green, and it is well known 

 that the {»reen parts of a potato contain a more or less poisonous principle, After lifting, the pota- 

 toes should be stored in a dry airy room or shed, but light should be excluded as much as possible. 

 Potatoes are too often seen exposed to the light, and when such are cooked they are yellow in appear- 

 ance and have a decidedly bitterish flavour, whereas if kept in the dark till required for cooking they 

 would be white and floury. 



Varieties. — There are hundreds, probably thousands of varieties of the potato, but those most 

 suitable for Jamaica cannot yet bo named with any degree of certainty. 



Experiments are now being carried out at the Public Gardens, with a number of varieties, with 

 a view to ascertain not only a few of the most suitable kinds, but also the best months of the year for 

 planting. The following are highly thought of, and largely cultivated in England : — Early Ashleaf, 

 Myatts' Prolific, Early Pearl, Victoria, Triumph, Snowflake, Magnum Bonum, Schoolmaster, Flourball, 

 Beauty of Hebron, Regent, Red-skin-FIourball. 



Of course with such an immense number of varieties to choose from, in difi'erent districts difierent 

 kinds are grown, and in the same district one grower will prefer one kind of potato to another for his 

 general crop. The kinds usually grown in market gardens near London are Ashleaf Kidney, Myatts' 

 Ashleaf, Lapstone Kidney, Regents and Victorias. 



Diseases and Insects. — Potatoes are attacked by various diseases and insects, but the most formi- 

 dable of all is the well known potato blight or disease which causes such devastation amongst this 

 crop. Much has been written about, and many remedies suggested for checking this dreaded disease 

 but so far without much success. The disease is a fungus which makes its first appearance on the 

 foliage, and then descends to the tubers. When the plants are attacked, the leaves curl up aud become 

 black, and in a few days the whole haulm is in a state of putrefaction. 



The spores of the fungus float in the air, and are brought into contact with the plants by various 

 sgencies, wind, birds, insects, &c. 



It is well known that wet weather greatly accelerates the progress of the disease, as then the 

 atmosphere is humid, and in a state conducive to the rapid germination of the spores, which, are carried 

 along by the driving rain, and find a congenial resting place on the leaves of the potato plant. 



I attribute the presence ot the disease, and consequent failure of the potato crop at Cinchona this 

 year to the wet seasons which we have had. The plants looked the picture of health, when, after a few 

 showers of rain, the disease was noticed. The affected parts were at once carefully removed, and the 

 ridges watered with a solution of sulphate of iron which is said to check the disease, but all to no pur- 

 pose ; the disease spread, and what was a few days before a flourishing patch of potatoes was converted 

 into a mass of decaying vegetable matter. When once potatoes are decidedly diseased cure would ap- 

 pear to be hopeless. 



Land for potatoes should, where possible be selected in an open situation, and well drained instead 

 of in low-lying, confined spots. In the former the plants will be stronger and better able to resist the 

 disease should it make its appearance, than when grown in close situations tending to produce a rank 

 growth of tops which fall an easy prey to the disease. 



I am indebted for some of the foregoing information to an excellent little book entitled " The 

 Potato in Farm and Garden" by R. Fremlin. W. Hakris. 



NOTES FROM THE MUSEUM, INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA.— IL 



By C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, Curator of the Museum. 

 No 62. The Tobacco or Cigarette Beetle. 



A complaint has come to hand, through the Director of Public Gardens, from a prominent cigar 

 manufactory in Kingston, of the ravages of an insect severely damaging stock tobacco and cigars inits 

 warehouses. Specimens were obtained, both adults and numerous larvae, which proved to be, as was 

 expeced, the common cigarette beetle, Lasioderma serricorne. The small larvae look like miniature 

 "white grubs." The adults are small pale brown beetles a little larger than a pin's head. 



This is a well known cosmopolitan pest to cured and made up tobacco. It bores through leaf- 

 tobacco, cigars and particularly cigarettes. It infests not only tobaccos, but also all sorts of drugs aud 

 spices, Cayenne pepper and other pungent substances. It has causei severe damage in tobacco estab- 

 lishments in Kentucky, Baltimore and North Carolina, and is doubtless the pest which does such a 

 vast amount of damage to cigars in Brazil and the West Indies, where it has apparently never been 

 identified before. 



The damage results from the adults and larvae eating their very small channels through the leaf 

 tobacco, thus ruining it for wrappers ; while the eggs or very young larvae contained in the fillers or 

 binders, in the process of being made into cigars, afterwards grow and eat their way out through the 

 wrappers, thus destroying the draught of the cigar. In the same manner, from infested cigarette 

 tobacco, after being made up, the beetles eat their way out through the paper, thus rendering the cigar- 

 ettes worthless. These beetles easily spread from one establishment to another. They are night flyers, 

 and gain access to warehouses by flying in the windows or other openings at night only. Or they 

 may be brought iu stock tobacco from another establishment. They are sometimes very plentiful one 

 year, and then disappear lor several seasons. They damage cigarettes more extensively than cigars in 

 the United States. 



The best remedy to be employed in an infested manufactory, as advised by Professor 

 Riley, is to thoroughly steum all the tobacco in stock, and ki>ep it in tightly closed boxes 

 when not in use. Thorough steaming will destroy all stages including the eggs. AH possibly iufested 

 cigars and cigarettes should be isolated in a close room apart from the stock, after the latter has been 

 thoroughly steamed, so as to prevent the stock from becoming re-infested. Windows and all openings 

 should be kept closed at night. This steaming may afl'act the peculiar aroma of the tobacco intended 



