262 



[March 1908. 



is nothing like direct sunlight for killing In their natural state, bees have not 



out germs and obnoxious insects. Your this advantage, and many stocks die 



first hive can be transferred to the out. But man can improve on nature 



empty one; and when No. 1. is tho- and insure prosperity to his little 



roughly clean, No- 2 can be transferred labourers, 



to it, and so on. (To be concluded.) 



Correspondence. 



ALGAROBA BEAN. 

 Dear Sir,— On page 233 you answered 

 a question on the Algaroba tree, or Alga- 

 roba beau, which has been introduced in- 

 to Hawaii some time ago. You are quite 

 right, this middle-sized tiee is a species 

 of Prosopis, namely— Prosopis saliflora. 

 It thrives splendidly on dry situations in 

 Hawaii with an average yearly rainfall 

 of thirty to forty inches ; but not so in 

 Guam, with an average of hundred inches 

 per year. The flowers are much fa- 

 voured by bees, and the sweet bean-like 

 pods are much relished upon by all 

 domestic animals. They are somewhat 

 similar to those of the Oarob-tree (Cera- 

 tonia siliqua), and are like them full of a 

 juicy pulp containing sugar, gum and 

 some astringent substance. But the 

 pods of Algaroba are smaller than those 

 of the Carob, and in size like small 

 French beans. 



K. L. V. COSTENOBLE, 

 Supdt., Agri. Expert. Station, 

 Island o} Guam. 

 December 18, 1907. 



GOWR1 SANNA. 

 Sir,— I take leave to give you the 

 result of my experiments with the In- 

 dian wet paddy, Gowri Sanna, a small 

 supply of which the Superintendent of 

 School Gardens kindly sent me in August 

 last. Distributed amongst six of us, we 

 tried it in different soils and in the ordi- 

 nary way. We sowed it for Maha season, 

 at end of August, bone manure being used 

 in what appeared to be poor soil. Not- 

 withstanding unseasonable weather and 

 floods, the plants thrived well enough, 

 and, just like the indigenous, with the 

 little difference of the foliage which was 

 brighter. 



Strange to say, with one exception, the 

 ears, which began to appear in the fourth 

 month, lacked sap or the "milk" as we 

 call it. No flies attacked it ; nor could 

 it be said to be immune, for what of 

 the plot so successfully grown under 

 same conditions ? In his memo. Mr. 

 Drieberg says that this paddy is sown 

 in June. The cause, therefore, is to 

 be looked for in this direction. 



Where it yielded a return was a 

 deniya, protected on three sides by gar- 

 dens, ana although the land was com- 



pletely under water for five days, the 

 plants, which were about one month old, 

 emerged unscathed. 



Another danger had to be encountered 

 in an unexpected direction. Birds had to 

 be kept off. This plot yielded six mea- 

 sures, quantity sown being \ measure, 

 or 24 fold. It is hardly sufficient to meet 

 the demand, so many people are asking 

 for it. 



Here is proof, if proof were necessary, 

 of practical methods rather than lec- 

 tures and pamphlets, etc., which no 

 doubt are good in their own way. 1 

 know seed paddy procured from a dis- 

 tance yields far better crops ; and, as if 

 by instinct, people take to "new " kinds. 

 See the acclimatization of Samba, Sulai, 

 Murungwi, Rata-wi, etc- 



The country paddy sown at same time 

 is about one month behind. So that 

 Gowri Sanna must go with our Maspassa. 



GEO. WEERAKOON, 



Mudaliyar. 



Talangama, 11th Feby., 1908. 



RUBBER PESTS. 



Sir, — The one thing which, with all 

 respect to Mr. Herbert Wright, I think 

 is wanting in hi3 standard work on 

 rubber is a chapter on "Pests," treating 

 fully all such— fungoid, animal, or insect. 

 The subject is, however, such an import- 

 ant one that a separate book might 

 almost be written. At the present 

 moment I know of no book or pamphlet 

 on the subject ; and those (like myself) 

 who have not been so fortunate as to 

 take in the "T. A." since the rubber 

 " craze " started, have either to weary 

 you with " damned reiteration " by ask- 

 ing questions on matters replied to be- 

 fore, or do without information and 

 worry through by ourselves. Unfortun- 

 ately, in Burma, the " T.A" is not a Gov 

 ment publication, so I cannot follow the 

 advice once given to a seeker after 

 knowledge — to go and look through the 

 files of the "T.A." in the nearest Kach- 

 cheri. I am sure that planters from 

 Malaya, India and Burman, and of course 

 Geylon, would give all help and inform- 

 ation in their power to any one writing 



