April, mo.) 



338 



Plant Sanitation. 



Importance op Distinguishing the 



Various Termites. 

 Mr. Pratt mentions that T. pallidus 

 occupies the disused termitaria of 

 T. Malayanus and T. carbonarius. I 

 have since found that they also occupy 

 the termitaria of T. Gestroi, and have 

 had several queens brought to me for 

 reward ; these were contained in timber 

 and surrounded by unmistakable in- 

 dividuals of T. pallidus. 



On one occasion the coolies were follow- 

 ing up T. Gestroi under my personal 

 super vision when they came on a small 

 piece of timber, two feet below the 

 surface of the ground, it was about one 

 foot in length and four inches in diameter 

 and contained the Queen and myriads of 

 individuals of T. pallidus as well as 

 many soldiers and workers of T. Gestroi. 



I have found T. Gestroi in close asso- 

 ciation with T. Malayanus an.l T. car- 

 bonarius as well as T. pallidus, but there 

 is no difficulty in distinguishing one 

 from the other by their soldiers ; there 

 is also a wide difference in the general 

 appearance of the Queens though a great 

 similarity in the workers- 

 Mr. Pratt gives us the difference of 

 the various termites as far as possible 

 on page 3 of his notes, but I think 

 it would be of more practical value to 

 planters if specimen cases of the ter- 

 mites, showing the individuals separate- 

 ly, were exhibited in some convenient 

 and central spot. 



Insecticides for the Eradication of 

 Termes Gestroi. 

 To anyone who has followed up a 

 T. Gestroi tunnel, ramifying as it does 

 sometimes for hundreds of feet, or has 

 seen the interior of a termitarium with 

 its myriads of individuals, the utter 

 futility of attempcing to eradicate the 

 pest by means of insecticides must be 

 apparent, but insecticides will be found 

 useful in killing the comparatively 

 few individuals which continue their 

 attack for some time after their termi- 



tarium is destroyed. I see that the 

 custom of applying lime to the tree 

 attacked still continues on some estates. 

 This is utterly useless as a preventative, 

 or even as a means of keeping the 

 termites in check ; but it is useful as a 

 means of marking the trees attacked. 



Crotai-aria and Green Manures as 

 affecting t. gestroi. 



Crotalaria is undoubtedly of great 

 advantage as a green manure, but it has 

 yet to be proved if it is a means of 

 cheapening the cost of weeding. There 

 are two objections to it which can how- 

 ever be overcome. 



Firstly, the difficulty which is expe- 

 rienced in eradicating T. Gestroi and 

 Fomes semitostus, will be euormously 

 increased by the fact that all timber is 

 hidden by growth, rendering it necessary 

 to closely inspect each rubber tree and 

 to search about amongst the crotalaria 

 for timber containing T. Gestroi. This 

 can be overcome by first eradicating 

 the pest and then planting green 

 manure. Secondly, when the green 

 manure is eventually killed out by shade, 

 the rubber trees will experience a shock 

 from their customary supply of nitrogen 

 being cut off. This can be obviated by 

 interplanting Avith leguminous trees, 

 such as Afbmm moluccana. These trees, 

 together with others of the leguminoste, 

 have been grown with great benefit to 

 tea and coffee in Ceylon and elsewhere 

 for at least twenty-five years, such 

 growths as Crotalaria, Mimosa, etc., 

 being utterly uusuited to this class of 

 cultivation. 



In conclusion, there are no grounds for 

 the alarmist's view of the T. Gestroi pest 

 though it is imperative that it should be 

 taken in hand at once and dealt with 

 very thoroughly, and although the initial 

 cost may be heavy, it will be more than 

 justified by the subsequent saving in 

 expenditure, on keeping the pest in 

 check, to say nothing of the saving in 

 loss of trees. 



HORTICULTURE. 



THE ORANGE AND HOW TO 

 GROW IT. 



By P. Geo. Schrader. 



A good orange is to a great extent a 

 luxury in Ceylou, the reason being that 

 no systematic propagation, planting, 

 and cultivation is carried on. A villager 

 has a few seeding trees growing in his 



compound. If they bear, the fruit is 

 carried round for sale, and it is nothing 

 uncommon to be asked to pay 10 or 12 

 cents for an orange— the usual price in 

 Colombo being from 4 to 8 cents. I do 

 not maintain that large orange groves 

 would pay, although if first-class oranges 

 can be grown they would always com- 

 mand a good price in the London mar- 

 ket, but still, there is room for a vast 



