Plant Sanitation, 



330 



[April, 1910. 



let it dry, aud then tarred. A tree often 

 recovers after this, sometimes it does 

 not. As has already been remarked, 

 trees also recovered in mauy instances 

 without any treatment at all. 



Although it is certain that trees can 

 recover without excision of the diseased 

 tissues, we know a3 yet too little about 

 this to dare trust to it alone. Therefore, 

 the old treatment of carefully looking 

 for diseased spots and excising them, 

 and removing trees killed by the disease, 

 must for the present be recommended 

 as being the safest method. 



[There is no doubt that the common 

 pod disease in Ceylon is caused by Phy- 

 tophthora, and that this disease is distinct 

 from the stem canker. But the cause of 

 the latter has not been definitely ascer- 

 tained. The results quoted by Wright 

 must be attributed to the removal of 

 shade, with some possible assistance 

 from weather conditions, since the estate 

 as a whole was not sprayed until 1905, 

 while his diagram relates to 1902-1904.— 

 T. Petch.] 



TERMES GESTROI. 

 By Walter Towgood. 



(Prom the Agricultural Bulletin of the 

 Straits and F. M. S., Vol. VIII., No. 3, 

 March, 1909.) 



In the whole of the past history of 

 tropical agriculture in tea, coffee, cocoa, 

 cinchona and spices, there have been 

 four causes for disappointment aud an 

 awakening from the golden dreams 

 with which various enterprizes were 

 originally commenced ; i.e. 



1. Substitutes. 



2. Synthetic production at a low cost. 



3. Over-production. 



4. Pests and Blights. 



The first three are beyond the control 

 of the individual, and if any reliance is 

 to be placed on expert opinion the rubber 

 planter in the East has nothing to fear 

 from them in his comparatively new 

 venture, but the fourth, i.e., Pests and 

 Blights, come well within his scope, and 

 it is his duty to leave nothing to chance 

 and do everything within his power to 

 assure the success of the enterprize. 



So far we have one blight and one pest 

 which may be considered as serious, i.e., 

 Pomes semitostus aud Termes gestroi. 



Fomes semitostus is a blight which, if 

 taken in hand at once and treated accord- 

 ing to the advice of the Government 

 Mycologist, Mr. W. J. Gallagher will, I 

 am sure, be easily overcome, as we have 



successfully dealt with the same class 

 of blight in tea, coffee, etc. by drainage 

 and application of lime, 



Termes Gestroi, however, is a very 

 serious pest, and it was in recognition of 

 this fact, that, in my various endeavours 

 to exterminate it, I collected a large 

 number of queen termites ; these I 

 showed to Messrs, Carruthers and Pratt, 

 who were much interested, as the queens 

 evidently belonged to two or more 

 species, and it was quite possible the 

 Queen Gestroi, which had hitherto never 

 been found, was amongst the collection. 

 This resulted in the investigation by 

 Mr. Pratt, and I have been fortunate in 

 being in possession of the valuable dis- 

 coveries made by him for a consider- 

 able time before they were published. 

 Previous to Mr. Pratt's discoveries with 

 regard to the habits of T. Gestroi, I was 

 much afraid that the pest would prove 

 to be a heavy handicap to the Malay 

 Peninsula in its competition with other 

 rubber-producing countries in the future, 

 and a serious though unseen and there- 

 fore unrecognized loss, in the present. 

 I am now quite satisfied, however, that 

 it can be altogether eradicated. In my 

 endeavours to exterminate the pest as 

 expeditiously and as cheaply as possible, 

 I have arrived at some conclusions and 

 methods which may be of use to my 

 brother planters. 



The following notes refer to flat 

 alluvial land :— 



Timbers containing Termitaria op 

 Termes Gestroi. 



The determination of these is of the 

 utmost importance and rests largely 

 with planters themselves. In different 

 localities the trees affected may vary, 

 and if planters were to publish either in 

 the Agricultural Bulletin or in the local 

 papers the names of trees and their 

 localities in which, the termitaria of 

 T. Gestroi have been found, they will be 

 performing a great service to the rubber 

 industry in Malaya. So far, in this 

 particular locality, i.e., North Bank of 

 the Selaugor River, I have found the 

 termitaria exclusively in Kumpas and 

 Meranti logs aud roots, but chiefly in 

 Kumpas ; this, I think, is due to the fact 

 that about two- thirds of the planted 

 area consists of reclaimed land in which 

 Kumpas, owing to its great hardness and 

 durability, is practically the only timber 

 left to deal with. 



Both Kumpas and Meranti appear to 

 grow in greater abundance in land at all 

 inclined to be peaty, and this no doubt is 

 the reason for the opinion of some 

 planters that peaty soils encourage T. 

 Gestroi, as mentioned in Mr. Pratt's note. 



