January, 1910.] 



89 



Plant Sanitation, 



ed. Bushes here and there over the 

 whole garden were slightly affected, 

 and these were sprayed with Soap 

 Solution, being thoroughly saturated, 

 which was repeated after 7 to 8 days, 

 the result being that the Blight dis- 

 appeared from the busines so treated." 



"Throughout the months of May, June, 

 July and August, wherever blight ap- 

 peared, it was sprayed with soap solu- 

 tion with good results. During Septem- 

 ber Blight began to show up in places 

 where it had appeared before and had 

 been treated with soap solution. The 

 Blight during September and October 

 was of a very malignant type, so much 

 so, that although only in small patches 

 it completely destroyed all signs of leaf. 

 Spraying was continued, but it was 

 found necessary to use 50% more soap 

 in the mixture. Wherever it was pos- 

 sible to give the bushes a downright 

 thorough saturation followed by another 

 washing after a space of 7 or 8 days 

 the leaf came through." 



" In conclusion, the soap solution was 

 found to give as good results as other 

 insecticides formerly used — with advant- 

 age of being less expensive. After a 

 somewhat lengthy battle with Mosquito 

 Blight the conclusion arrived at has 

 been that it is quite impossible to eradi- 

 cate, but that by continually worrying 

 it the same can be kept in check, only 

 appearing to do very serious damage 

 when assisted by favourable condi- 

 tions." 



Commenting on this report, Mr Ant- 

 ram remarks :— " I think we may say 

 that the experiment has been a success, 

 in that, on the first appearance of the 

 insect and punctures in the young 

 leaves on individual bushes and on 

 blocks of tea from the 8th of May, the 

 immediate application of soap solution 

 to the affected parts, carrying out com- 

 plete saturation, resulted in the dis- 

 appearance of the disease from the 

 bushes so treated all over the garden." 



"It will be noticed from the above 

 report that, up to and including August, 

 wherever the Blight appeared, it was 

 treated at once and repeatedly with 

 soap solution with good results, and I 

 am confident that if measures are taken 

 in time, i.e., at the very first appearance 

 of the insect, by going round a garden 

 and spraying affected bushes and blocks 

 of tea, the insect is unlikely to obtain 

 the upper hand and leaf will be got from 

 all blocks of the garden throughout the 

 year. On my visit to Rampore at the 

 end of October I noticed that the garden 

 was practically free of Mosquito Blight. 



The very serious nature of the blight 

 which suddenly visited many gardens 

 of Cachar in September absolutely ruined 

 a very large portion of the tea, and 

 leaf was entirely stopped for the rest 

 of the season. This, in a less or greater 

 degree, might have happened at Ram- 

 pore tea estate if it had not been for 

 the methods of prevention that were 

 carried out. In the Manager's report 

 it is remarked that the attack at that 

 time was of a very malignant type. 

 For that reason we decided to use the 

 soap solution stronger, and applied it 

 to the affected areas most thoroughly, 

 getting through the work as quickly 

 as possible." 



The report from the other estate 

 (Koombergram) is as follows :— 



" With reference to the results of 

 experiments carried out here during 

 August, Ssptember, and October, I may 

 say that blocks Nos. 1 and 5 (which 

 are on either side of Nos. 2 and 3, the 

 sections treated with soap solution) have 

 been practically closed up since the 

 beginning of September, while Nos. 2 

 and 3 continued to flush throughout 

 September and October. On block No. 

 8 the Mosquito had got the upper hand 

 when operations were started, but I 

 would like to mention the fact that 

 after two applications of soap we got 

 a little leaf off this section, although 

 during the three previous rounds of 

 plucking I did not consider it worth 

 plucking. Whether this was- due to the 

 spraying or to some other influence I 

 am unable to say." 



Mr. Antram remarks on the above :— 

 " At Koombergram, blocks Nos. 1, 2, 3, 

 and 5 were blighted to the same degree 

 and all giving some leaf when oper- 

 ations were started on Nos. 2 and 3. 

 After application of Soap Solution to 

 blocks 2 and 3 these improved while 

 the others became worse. Nos. 2 and 

 3 were never closed througout the sea- 

 son, while the rest of the China por- 

 tion of the garden was for several 

 months." 



"When I last visited Koombergram 

 Tea Estate in November I noticed that 

 the treated blocks, Nos. 2 and 3, had 

 made more growth than the bordering 

 numbers which had received no treat- 

 ment, and the appearance of the treat- 

 ed area was in September and Octo- 

 ber far healthier than that of the un- 

 treated. Blocks Nos. 2 and 3 were giving 

 quite a fair quantity of leaf at each 

 round of plucking during those months, 

 while the untreated China portion of 

 the garden was closing. The results of 



