233 



PLAGUE OF CATERPILLARS. 



The following correspondence appeared in the " Gleaner" News- 

 paper : — 



It may not be generally known that some of the country parishes 

 have for sometime past been, and still are suffering from a plague of 

 caterpillars, which have caused great loss to penkeepers, doing almost 

 incredible damage to cultivations, more especially those of grass, and 

 almost equalling the devastation of locusts in other parts of the world. 



In St. Catherine, and, particularly, in the districts ranging from 

 Gregory Park on to Spanish Town, thousands of acres have been simply 

 swept away by these insects, and in one case, that of a penkeeper who 

 ships large quantities of grass to the city for sale upwards of eight 

 hundred acres have been eaten down in the short space of about two 

 months. 



This plague, in its incipiency, is first observed by the approach of 

 millions of butterflies, which, settling down into the grass pieces, lay 

 their eggs there, and fly off again. These eggs quickly develop into 

 caterpillars, which devour the blades of the grass totally, leaving 

 nothing but the stalks, and then, changing into butterflies transport 

 themselves into the next grass piece, depositing their eggs in turn as 

 their progenitors did, and repeating the same process ad infinitum. 



Possibly, this new plague is due to the destruction of our birds by 

 the mongoose as the eggs of the butterflies, and indeed, the caterpillars 

 then selves, formed excellent food for these birds and were quickly eaten 

 ~»y them. 



.Perhaps, Sir, you or some of your readers, may be able to give useful 

 information on this subject. 



Explorator. 



[We have noticed these large flights of butterflies in St. Catherine 

 ourselves. From an article which appears in the current number of 

 the " J ournal of the Board of Agriculture" it appears that the attacks 

 of caterpillars have been unusually noticeable this year in England. 

 To prevent a recurrence of the attack it is recommended to lime 

 infested fields with ordinary lime or gas lime and to plough it in 

 deeply. Weeds should be kept down in fields and gardens as they 

 afford shelter for eggs and food for the young caterpillars. Fresh 

 pure, finely powdered soot scattered on both sides of infested plants 

 and lightly chopped in has proved to be a considerable benefit. Lime 

 mixed with soot in the proportion of 3 or 4 bushels of very finely 

 triturated lime to one bushel of well powdered soot forms a pungent 

 compound found to be very useful in similar catterpillar attacks and 

 should be sprinkled close to infested plants. A little sulphur mixed 

 with this composition at the rate of 1 lb. to a bushel of soot adds to its 

 offensiveness. In market gardens and gardens and in the case of 

 valuable crops, as cabbages, lettuces, celery, radishes, carrots and herbs, 

 hand picking is advocated. In America baits of clover, lettuce, etc., 

 sprinkled with Paris green are placed near infected crops to attract 

 and poison the caterpillars. Our Correspondent's remarks about the 

 birds receive confirmation, the article stating that " birds as partridges. 



