476 



[December, 1912. 



is £l-ls. or a total of £9-16s. per acre, not reckoning the value of the stalks 

 as fodder. Where family labour is employed, there should be no diffi- 

 culty in making a clear profit (on a low estimate) of £5 or £6. 



Besides the profit on the fibre a useful fodder will be available. The 

 seed is useful for feeding poultry, pigs, and even horses. 



The fibre is utilised for the manufacture of American brooms and 

 whisks, for which there is a large and growing demand. The product 

 will not flourish in hot wet countries, but prefers cool and dry climates. 



THE MEXICAN COTTON BOLL WEEVIL. 



The Mexican cotton boll-weevil (Anthonomus grandis) has spread so 

 rapidly in the southern States of America during recent years as to 

 become the most serious pest with which cotton-growers have to contend. 

 A detailed report on this insect and its ravages has been published by the 

 Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture (Bulletin 114), 

 with twenty-two plates and thirty-four text figures. An exhaustive 

 account is given of the investigations carried on since 1895, the chief 

 contents of previous publications on the boll-weevil being incorporated 

 in this important memoir. The area infested by this pest has increased 

 from 1,400 square miles in 1892 to no fewer than 271,000 square miles in 1911, 

 the average rate of spread during the last six years having been 27,000 

 square miles a year. At present 400,000 square miles of cotton-producing 

 area remain unaffected, but the alarming rate of spread has led to the 

 adoption of energetic measures for the repression of the weevil. The 

 report is largely devoted to elaborate descriptions of the life-history, dis- 

 semination and hibernation of the insect. Under the heading "natural 

 control," the compilers describe the effects of temperature and other 

 climatic conditions upon the weevil, the fungus and bacterial diseases 

 (unfortunately very few and sporadic) to which it is subject, and the 

 extent to which it is kept down by parasitic and predatory insect enemies 

 and by birds. Finally, they enumerate the various methods of repression 

 which have been tried j the most successful is that of destroying the 

 weevils in autumn by uprooting and either ploughing-in or burning the 

 cotton plants.— Nature, November 21st, 1912 



DESTROYING FLIES. 



The following article has been contributed by Mr. W. W. Fioggatt to 

 the Agricultural Gazette of N.S, W:— Blow-flies always go on to the 

 windows, consequently insecticides dusted along the window-sills or on 

 the edge of the windows is very effective if done every few days. The 

 essential oil in the insecticide or Pyrethrum powder kills by contact. 



For house-flies, we find a saucer containing 15 parts water (or water 

 and milk in equal parts) and 1 of formalin, in the centre of which is placed 

 a crust of bread sprinkled with sugar, is very attractive to flies. They 

 come to the saucer and die all round it. Measure the proportions of water 

 and formalin with a teaspoon. 



When closing up a room or kitchen infested with flies, cover up all 

 food and liquid, place the saucer on the table on a sheet of newspaper or 

 in the brightest place in the room, and the flies will soon die out. 



