May, 1912.] 



423 



Plant Sanitation. 



planted crop would be, practically speak- 

 ing, free from the peat. 



We very often see a grower plant a 

 piece of land which was covered with 

 healthy weeds and at once start to plant 

 all kinds of small crops in the field. The 

 seeds sprout and suddenly disappear, 

 and Mr. Grower can't understand what 

 is killing the plants. He calls in the 

 Bugman, who shows him some fine fat 

 cutworms. Nature had provided a feast 

 of weeds for this pest, but Mr. Grower 

 destroyed the food and planted new 

 food. Had he any knowledge of clean 

 cultural methods, he would not have 

 allowed these weeds to grow long enough 

 to attract the cutworm ; also, he should 

 have ploughed the weeds under several 

 weeks before planting his crop, so as to 

 starve the cutworm or prevent their 

 development. 



No matter where we go or where we 

 look, we find some cause for all the 

 trouble with our fruits, plants or veget- 

 ables. The other day a shipper received 

 word from the Coast that his bananas 

 had to be fumigated on account of scale 

 insects. He said: "Just think of it, 

 bananas infested with scale, never heard 

 of such a thing before, though that only 

 trees could be infested with scale." Well, 

 he wanted me to go and take a look at 

 the plantation. I told h im that I knew of 

 three species of scale insects infesting 

 the banana plaut and fruit, and that we 

 would probably find the plantation 

 badly infested if the scale had been 

 found plentiful on the fruit. Just as I had 

 expected, the plants, in fact the whole 

 grove, was in a terrible condition. Old 

 stumps had been left standing, the dry 

 leaves were hanging over the old and 

 new growth, and were all badly infested 

 with scale insects, which as the leaves 

 diied up, readily crawled to the new 

 leaves and to the forming bunches. The 

 existing condition was absolutely un- 

 necessary, and the chances of re- 

 establishing a clean plantation by the 

 application of clean cultural methods 

 should be a very easy task, but it must 

 be done on a thoroughly systematized 

 plan. 



To illustrate how important clean cul- 

 tural methods are, I may mention that 

 the cotton growers, who, under ordinary 

 conditions lose from 50 % to 75 % of the 

 cotton crop, owing to the serious attack 

 of the cotton boll worm (Celechia gossy- 

 piella), can and have proved, that by 

 collecting the affected bolls, or on a 

 larger scale, by pruning the cotton 

 plants, removing all infested bolls and 

 the late stragglers which generally har- 

 bour the cotton worm, the pest can be 

 reduced to a very small percentage. 



Clean cultural methods, when carried 

 out in conjunction with spraying, or if 

 carried on where the natural enemies of 

 the various pests abound, always show 

 a decided improvement owing to the 

 action of two or three factors working 

 together, but clean cultural methods 

 alone will do much toward a very good 

 check on some of our worst pests. The 

 old saying, " An ounce of prevention is 

 worth a pound of cure," is as applicable 

 to man in relation to insects or fungi 

 which injure his crops as to other 

 matters which affect his well being. 

 The enterprising grower who employs 

 practical methods for the control of the 

 insect-pests which menace his crops has 

 a distinct advantage over oue who does 

 not. He is enabled to obtain a good 

 yield, while the careless grower only gets 

 loss and disappointment. Eternal vigil- 

 ance is the price of a good crop, especi- 

 ally in a country where the summer sea- 

 son always prevails. 



Co-operation in the control of pests is 

 another feature of success and should be 

 instituted on business lines. The great- 

 est damage to a thrifty farmer or grower 

 is very often caused by his negligent and 

 indifferent neighbour. It does not seem 

 just to the clean culture grower that his 

 next door neighbour should be allowed to 

 breed all kinds of peets which soon find 

 their way to his clean farm, and it is not 

 just and should be remedied. The careless 

 banana grower should not be allowed to 

 produce scale infested fruit which, when 

 sent to the outside market is held up, 

 fumigated and condemned, and will, if 

 such infested fruit is permitted to be 



